June 09, 2016
Hello,
In case you missed commencement, here’s a quick highlight reel, courtesy of the Office of Communications: https://youtu.be/QEHliqV-hAo
This past week was busy, meeting with faculty, visiting programs, and working together with colleagues at Memorial Hermann. Together with Dr. Tom Murphy, assistant dean for community affairs and health policy, I had the opportunity to visit our UT Physicians clinics at Bellaire and Dashwood. These are wonderful clinics, providing care to the greater community—clinics where any one of us would be fortunate to receive our own care. McGovern medical students will have earlier patient care experiences with the advent of the new curriculum this year. Working and learning in our UTP clinics will be a great experience for our students and very rewarding.
I have several “wows” to share with you this week:
McGovern Medical School has had several recent successes with support from the UT System STARS program. Dr. Cesar Arias, associate professor of internal medicine, is the recipient of a UT System Faculty Translational STARs Award — an award geared to senior established investigators; Dr. Ann-Marie Krachler is joining the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics as a Rising STAR; and Dr. Jordan Lake (story to come) has been recruited to the Division of Infectious Diseases as a Rising STAR. This is a tremendous opportunity for our school to build our programs with additional funding from UT System.
Congratulations to Dr. Roberto Arduino (see photo, left), professor of infectious diseases and director of clinical research at the Thomas Street Health Center. Dr. Arduino was recently recognized by the Argentine Society for Infectious Diseases (SADI) for his outstanding work in HIV care and research. Dr. Arduino is the site leader for the NIH-funded Community Program for Clinical Research on AIDS Clinical Research Site Houston and the principal investigator for the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials. He gave the award lecture “Immune activation and inflammation associated to HIV infection.”
Dr. Richard Smalling, professor of internal medicine, cardiology; Jay Brent Sterling Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine; and James D. Woods Distinguished Chair, Cardiovascular Medicine, has been named to the new class of Master Interventionalists of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the professional medical society for adult and pediatric invasive/interventional cardiologists. This is a tremendous honor awarded a small number of SCAI Fellows who have demonstrated leadership and clinical excellence throughout their careers.
And congratulations to Dr. Gerard Francisco, chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, who was unanimously nominated by the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM) as the Sidney Licht Award recipient. The award honors physiatrists who have made consistent contributions to the advancement of international physical and rehabilitation medicine. Dr. Francisco gave the award lecture, “A Vision for Global Academic Physiatry” June 2 at the 10th World Congress of ISPRM in Malaysia and is just the fourth American recipient of this award since its inception 34 years ago.
I know you share the pride I have for our amazing faculty. It is so rewarding to see their accomplishments win national and international recognition.
Have a great weekend,
Barbara
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