UTMB Newsroom

 GALVESTON, Texas - The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a five-year, $10.9 million contract to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to establish the Clinical Proteomics Center for Infectious Diseases and Biodefense. Researchers at the center will analyze human blood and other tissue samples from completed or ongoing clinical studies with the aim of discovering proteins that could serve as biomarkers of infectious disease.  (more) (more…)

U.S. Senator Hutchison secures federal funding

and center welcomes distinguished director

GALVESTON, Texas - A nationally recognized training center dedicated to preparing infectious disease scientists to work safely and securely in high-containment research laboratories is moving ahead at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison recently announced $5 million in additional federal funding for the center and a center director was announced today.  (more) (more…)

  UTMB president to discuss Hurricane Ike recovery effort

WHAT:  Dr. David L. Callender, president of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and Dr. Kenneth I. Shine, interim chancellor for the UT System, will speak about the effect of Hurricane Ike and provide a progress report on UTMB’s recovery efforts.

WHEN:  1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7.

WHERE:Levin Hall auditorium, 10th and Market streets. Use the north entrance on 11th Street, between Market and Mechanic streets. Please call the media hotline at 409-772-6397 for directions.

 Nurse.com, Sept. 22, 2008

Photos include members of St. David’s Medical Center Transport and NICU Interdisciplinary Care team in action, transporting nine of UTMB’s NICU babies. If you look closely, the babies are in isolettes with hand-written notes attached to their blankets to help communicate feeding times, special medications and other pertinent information.

 Galveston County Daily News, Oct. 4, 2008

Elizabeth J. Protas has been named dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences at UTMB.

 Galveston County Daily News, Oct. 6, 2008

UTMB’s Ahmed E. Ahmed is quoted in this article about the Galveston Islamic Center dispensing hurricane supplies to the needy at the same time that the center, which sustained heavy water damage, needs help. “I’m talking with my colleagues to start a mini health care center. We need volunteers to dispense the food and help clean up the containers that are here. Our main goal is to target the needy.”

USA Today, Sept. 17, 2008

UTMB’s Dr. Joan Richardson is quoted in this article that describes how she helped reassign medical students and residents to other schools and hospitals and bucked up other hospital employees. “You’re off,” Richardson told an exhausted Kelly Carmichael as she stopped the pediatric orthopedic surgeon and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “We have room in the tower. We have air conditioning. I want to get everybody out of the children’s hospital. So get yourself a room. That is my job. Take care of the people who are taking care of patients.”

KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, Sept. 17, 2008

This Associated Press article written in Washington, D.C. was published all over the nation, incuding this television station.   The article states how UTMB scientists sealed up highly infectious germs days before Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf coast and officials say the deadly agents have stayed safely stored despite the mighty storm.

Los Angeles Times, Sept. 16, 2008

UTMB’s John Koloen from Public Affairs is quoted in this article about when Galvestonians will be allowed to return to the island. Koloen rode out the storm at the hospital. His mother in Wisconsin is ill, he said, and he had planned to fly there this week.  “If I leave, when will I be able to come home? ” wondered Koloen, 60, whose home flooded in the storm. There’s no resources. There’s no people. There’s only uncertainty and feeling helpless.”

National Public Radio, Sept. 16, 2008

This NPR report broadcast on “All Things Considered” features Dr. Joan Richardson saying that she can hardly wait for “her babies to come back” to UTMB.