"HealthMatters"
The UTMB Speakers' Bureau

The UTMB Speakers' Bureau is one of the many ways members of the university serve the community. Our experts share their expertise on a wide range of health-related topics for community organizations and schools.

Since 2003, UTMB speakers have presented more than 200 public talks through the program. There are more than 150 speakers enrolled in the bureau.

Service to the community is a core value for UTMB, and this program supports that value by freely making available important information about:

  • the changes taking place in health care,

  • medical advances and staying healthy,

  • making difficult choices, and

  • a variety of other topics near and dear to the hearts of our faculty and professional staff. 

The UTMB Speakers' Bureau is a volunteer organization and is offered free of charge. Requests for speakers should be made at least six weeks in advance. Speakers may be available days or evenings for groups of at least 20 people.

Note: The UTMB Speakers' Bureau presentations are not specifically accredited for Continuing Medical Education. If you are interested in accredited Continuing Medical Education for physicians please contact UTMB's Office of Continuing Education, a program of the Office of Community Outreach at http://www.utmb.edu/oce/.

To find out more about this program, to schedule a UTMB Speakers' Bureau representative for your group, or to inquire about becoming a speaker, please call the UTMB Community/School Connection at (409) 772-4100.


Here are some sample topics:

Understanding Emerging Threats to Global Health

We live in a complicated world full of mind-boggling technology and scientific know-how. We have cured diseases, defied the elements and shrunk the globe­­but at a price. Our relatively new ability to travel the world has allowed once-isolated diseases to jump geographical boundaries into our own backyard. And the technology that provides our modern standard of living can also poison our nest. Emerging threats to human health may be organic, such as the Ebola virus or dengue fever. They may be environmental, such as lead in the water supply or improper disposal of hazardous waste. As home to the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases and the Centennial Center for Environmental Toxicology, UTMB is uniquely qualified to address these and related issues, such as :

Bioterrorism

Tropical Diseases

Environmental Contaminants and Safety

Infectious Diseases

Travel Medicine

Lead Poisoning


 

Good Health: How to Get It--How to Keep It

Achieving and maintaining good mental and physical health is a goal of most Americans, but an apple a day may not be enough to keep the doctor away. Proper diet and exercise, a positive outlook on life, and an ounce of prevention are components of a healthy lifestyle. Learn how to hitch a ride on the road to good health. The following is just a handful of the myriad topics UTMB’s experts are willing and eminently able to speak about.

Prenatal Care

Stress Reduction

Infant Nutrition

Skin Health and Care

Men’s Health Issues      

Exercise Training

Speech and Hearing

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Women’s Health Issues

Cardiovascular Disease

Geriatric Health Issues


 

Doing the “Right” Thing

In health care, the “right” answer can be difficult to find. That is particularly true when individual, professional, societal and institutional values collide. The medical advances that can allow us to live even in times of severe illness or injury also present us with hard ethical questions. How much medical intervention is too much? How can we communicate our wishes in the event we can’t speak for ourselves? How do we reconcile quantity of life versus quality of life? UTMB speakers, including those on the faculty of the university’s Institute for the Medical Humanities, can provide information on finding the “right” answer about a wide variety of issues, including:

End-of-Life Decision Making

Medical Ethics

Telling the Truth

Keeping Confidences

Recent Developments in Health Care Reform


 

Preventing, Treating and
Coping with Chronic Illness

Modern medicine has transformed how we think abou--and live with--certain illnesses. Once thought of as imminent death sentences, conditions such as cancer, heart disease and AIDS have for many people become chronic diseases. Still, they exact a heavy toll on society: money spent on tests and years’ worth of medicines; lost productivity in the workplace; stress and anxiety for patients and their families alike. Our experts have valuable information to share about the prevention of disease and living a full life with chronic illness if it does occur. Following is just a partial list. 

AIDS

Epilepsy

Alzheimer’s Disease

Osteoporosis

Cancer

Attention Deficit Disorders

Arthritis

Depression and Anxiety

Diabetes

Preventing, Treating and Coping with Chronic Disease


 

Advancing the Practice of Medicine

Medical advances run the gamut from astonishing breakthroughs that make the evening news to more low-key changes that make day-to-day life easier for patients. Take a telemedicine system that allows physicians to cost-effectively treat patients at distant sites, patients who otherwise would have limited access to high-quality care. Or, a new medicine that cuts in half the time it takes wounds to heal. Or even the discovery that a comforting session in a rocking chair can also reduce postoperative bowel troubles for hysterectomy and C-section patients. From the laboratory bench to the bedside, UTMB researchers and clinicians are at the forefront of a medical revolution¾one that takes place every minute of every day. Our experts can talk about a wide range of advances, including:

Imaging Technology and Advances

Laser Technology

Telemedicine

Technology Transfer

Distance Learning

Oslerian Medicine


 

Navigating Today’s Health Care Environment

While the promise of sweeping, legislated health care reform has yet to materialize, forces operating in today’s health care market have brought continuous change to the medical environment. The days of house calls and fee-for-service treatments have given way to the gatekeepers of managed care. Understanding these changes can provide greater access to the care you and your family desire and deserve. Our knowledgeable speakers can help you navigate this medical maze with educational presentations about a number of topics, such as:

UTMB Overview

Managed Care in the Correctional Setting

Medicare and Medicaid Issues

Strategic Planning in Health Care

Managed Care Products and Partnerships


A reminder: If you don’t see a preferred topic in the list that follows, please don’t hesitate to contact us. With more than 13,000 faculty and staff in the UTMB community, listing all of the topics they can and do speak about would be a difficult task. Just call the Community/School Connection at (409) 772-4100 and we’ll put you in touch with one of our many experts.

Attention Deficit Disorders

Anger, Aggression and Violence

AIDS

Alzheimer’s Disease

Arthritis

Biomedical Engineering

Breast-Feeding

Cancer

Cardiovascular Health

Children

        Childhood Development

        Daycare Health and Safety

        Infant Nutrition

Depression and Anxiety

Diabetes

Dyslexia

Environmental Contaminants and Safety

Epilepsy

Gastrointestinal Health

Gene Cloning and Medicine

Genes and Your Health

Genetic Disorders

Health and Wellness

        Exercise Training

        Nutrition

        Stress Reduction    

Hospice Care

Human Genetics

Imaging Technology and Advances

Infectious Diseases

Interferons

Laser Technology

Lead Poisoning

Medical Ethics

        End-of-Life Decision Making

        Keeping Confidences

        Recent Developments in Health Care Reform

        Telling the Truth

Men’s Health Issues

Mental Health

Molecular Biology

Neurological Disorders

Osteoporosis

Prenatal Care

Rural Health Care

Safety Issues

School Health Education

Seniors’ Health Issues

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Skin Health and Care

Speech and Hearing

Sports Medicine

Stroke

Technology and Medicine

Telemedicine

Toxicology

Travel Medicine

Tropical Diseases

Wellness and Preventive Medicine

Women’s Health Issues

Wounds and Healing




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