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News for BCM Faculty, Sept. 16, 2021
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College News

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Hurricane Nicholas: Flood gates were closed on Monday in preparation for Tropical Storm Nicholas, which later became a hurricane before landfall. A 60 person "ride-out" team stayed the night at Baylor as the storm moved through the Houston area to ensure that essential functions of the College were not affected. 

TRISH and SpaceX: SpaceX Crew Dragon launched Inspiration4 last night as the first all-civilian space mission to orbit Earth. The Translational Research Institute for Space Health EXPAND (Enhancing eXploration Platforms and Analog Definition) Program will be collecting in-flight health data of those involved. The goal is to reduce health risks for astronauts and uncover advances for terrestrial healthcare. Learn more.

Healthiest in Texas: The BCM BeWell Program has earned the 2021 Healthiest Employers award from the Healthiest Employers program, powered by Springbuk, a leading-edge health intelligence platform. To learn more about our award-winning program, please visit the BCM BeWell page. For questions, please email wellness@bcm.edu.

Faculty Kudos

image Dr. Parag Jain, assistant professor of pediatrics – critical care, and Dr. Craig Rusin, associate professor of pediatrics – cardiology, were awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The objective is to develop a new Bluetooth-enabled vital sign monitoring sticker, called "e-tattoo." This technology will be integrated with a state-of-the-art virtual patient monitoring system called Sickbay, with the goal of diagnosing pneumonia in both inpatient and outpatient settings (home monitoring).

Dr. Nora Vanegas-Arroyave, assistant professor of neurology and director of neuromodulation research for the Department of Neurology, has been awarded a $3.7 million R01 research project grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to support her work, "Investigating the neuroanatomical underpinnings of apathy in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases."

Dr. Salim Virani, professor of medicine, has been named a technical advisor to the World Health Organization as a member of the World Heart Organization's Technical Advisory Group on Noncommunicable Diseases related to research and innovation. The focus is to promote quality research and development while incentivizing innovation and to support and facilitate NCD-related research and its translation to enhance the knowledge base for ongoing national, regional and global action.

Dr. Xiaolong Jiang, assistant professor of neuroscience, has been awarded the 2021 John S. Dunn Collaborative Research Award from the Gulf Coast Consortia with teammate Dr. Jun Wang from UT McGovern. The John S. Dunn Collaborative Research Award fosters new, exemplary, interdisciplinary, and interinstitutional engagement in the quantitative biomedical sciences. The grant builds the collaborative environment of the Gulf Coast Consortia and funds projects with high potential for impacting human health. Read more.

Faculty Opportunities

Virtual symposium: The Texas Collaborative Center for Hepatocellular Cancer is hosting its second annual symposium from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9. The virtual symposium will cover the latest liver cancer research and treatments and will feature speakers from Baylor College of Medicine and other leading medical institutions. Register for the event and find more information about the speakers.

Diversity showcase: The Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in collaboration with mission leaders will host a forum to provide selected academic departments/centers, programs, trainee groups/organizations the opportunity to highlight their programs, efforts, and activities advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at Baylor. The Showcase will be held from 5 - 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 5. Please register online. If interested in submitting a proposal for potential selection for the showcase, please submit this brief application form.

Healthy Habits – Doc-umentary series: Dr. Jill Weatherhead and Dr. Christie Ballantyne have participated in the Baylor College of Medicine video series Healthy Habits: A Doc-umentary Series, sharing with the community what they do to have a healthy day. If you are a faculty member who would like to document your healthy habits throughout the work day contact blogteam@bcm.edu for more information. See past Healthy Habit contributions in the Momentum blog.


Questions or Comments?

Faculty Senate: Please contact your senator for faculty-related questions or suggestions.

Institutional Policy Committee: Contact the Policy Committee to learn more about College policies and procedures.

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