UTMB Announcements for 12/8/2023

Updates to UTMB’s web infrastructure will require our intranet to be temporarily offline beginning at approximatrely 4 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 10.

The upgrade will affect all sites hosted from intranet.utmb.edu, including iUTMB, the UTMB staff directory, and access to many other internal sites behind the UTMB firewall.

Public-facing UTMB websites, including www.utmb.edu and utmbhealth.com, will NOT be affected. Epic and many other application websites such as Kronos will also remain online.

If you have questions or experience problems after the upgrade, please contact the ITS Helpdesk.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2024 Excellence In Public Health Award, a prestigious award given annually by the United States Public Health Service (USPH) that increases awareness of the USPHS and recognizes students who are involved in addressing public health issued in their community.

Any medical student at UTMB is welcome to apply.

Submissions Deadline: Applications are due by Wednesday January 3^rd, 2024, at 5PM to Arielle Bennett. Information about the award, the criteria, and application instructions can be found here. Please contact Arielle Bennett if you have any questions.

This holiday season, help bring smiles to the children that will be in-patient at the UTMB Galveston and Clear Lake campuses. UTMB PD and Dept of Pediatrics are accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys for all ages (0 to teens) by December 12.

Donation box locations are located at all campuses!

Galveston – Administration Bldg, Rebecca Sealy and Research Bldg #6

Angleton – 1^st floor main lobby

Clear Lake – 1^st floor main lobby

League City – Police Office at the Emergency Room

For more information – contact Regina Burdett rburdett@utmb.edu, Lizette Perez lcperez@utmb.edu or Lori Blackwell loblackw@utmb.edu

The Center for Health-system Improvement (CHI) is dedicated to bridging the gap between the desire to improve clinical care and rigorous research methodology, helping to transform UTMB into a learning health system.

We hold bi-monthly works-in-progress seminars where UTMB faculty and trainees discuss projects in various stages of development.

This week's presentation will be given on December 12th at 12noon in JSA 4.108 IM Admin Conference Room or Zoom by Patrick Karas, MD on the "Combining epileptogenic zone localization algorithms and machine learning methods to improve surgery outcomes for drug-resistant epilepsy”:

Drug refractory epilepsy (DRE) affects 34% of patients with epilepsy and can be successfully treated with surgery. Surgery involves identifying and removing the epileptogenic zone (EZ), defined as the brain region where the seizures begins. Identification of the EZ by a trained neurologist using intracranial electrodes (iEEG) is the clinical standard. However this method, which relies on visual review of hundreds of electrode recordings, is time-consuming and has mixed inter-rater reliability. Moreover seizure-freedom rates after surgery are unsatisfactory, varying from 30 to 80% based on individual patient complexity and difficulty localizing the EZ. Automated localization of the EZ with computational algorithms is an active area of development, but currently requires costly software licenses, computational science background, and statistical expertise. The most promising algorithms for automatic localization of the EZ have reported significant improvements compared to clinician manual localization in the recent literature (+20% accuracy and specificity).

We will review several automated EZ localization algorithms and present recent work we have performed to implement these algorithms within RAVE, a compelling open-source, free, user-friendly, intuitive, NIH-supported software for consistently replicable statistical analysis and visualization of iEEG data. We will also discuss the development of supervised machine learning algorithms with a goal of combining the predictions from existing EZ algorithms. The final goal of this research is to provide clinicians with a free user-friendly application, easily accessible through any web browser, to assist and improve EZ localization, and ultimately improve patient outcomes after seizure surgery. Completion of this research project will allow consistent evaluation and development of new and/or improved algorithms, machine learning models and extensive clinical validation. This compelling application will be freely available for researchers and physicians treating DRE worldwide.

Dr. Patrick Karascompleted his undergraduate education at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH with degrees in mathematics and chemistry. He then obtained his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, NY. Dr. Karas completed his neurosurgery residency at Baylor College of Medicine. During his residency he was awarded an NIH R25 grant to study multisensory integration using human intracranial recordings. His training also included over a year of time dedicated to brain tumor surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center. After completing residency, he continued his study of epilepsy surgery techniques at the Charles Shor Epilepsy Center at the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Karas’s clinical interests include epilepsy surgery, brain and skull base tumor surgery, and functional neurosurgery. He performs the full range of modern techniques for epilepsy surgery, including robotic sEEG placement, open resection, minimally invasive laser ablation, and neuromodulation techniques (responsive neurostimulation and deep brain stimulation). He also offers awake surgery and advanced brain mapping techniques for difficult to remove brain tumors. Additional clinical interests include deep brain stimulator insertion for movement disorders, as well as percutaneous and open techniques for the treatment of facial pain. Dr. Karas also runs a lab studying human electrophysiology. Current projects focus on using intracranial brain recordings to understand how auditory and visual signals are combined in multisensory regions of the brain. Dr. Karas currently serves as a full-time faculty Neurosurgeon at UTMB, operating at both Galveston and Clear Lake campuses. He is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American Association of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgeons, Texas Association of Neurosurgeons, and the American Epilepsy Society.

Please email rlmccler@utmb.edu or visit https://www.utmb.edu/chi if you would like to be added to the email and event list.

UTMB is retiring the Teletime phone-entry timekeeping system in early 2024. This update will improve the security and enhance the reliability of Kronos.

The change will only impact hourly/non-exempt employees who use Teletime to clock in and out .

Affected employees should contact their manager or timekeeper to learn more about their area’s replacement system and strategy.

For additional information, please visit utmb.edu/Time. Thanks for your support.

The Epic Electronic Medical Record wil be unavailable Tuesday, December 12th from 10:00pm to Midnight due to maintenance.

During this timeframe, Epic access will be prohibited, including the read-only version. All users should follow established procedures for their area.

UTMB Resiterns and HOA are teaming up this year to collect unwrapped toys, books and art supplies for pediatric patients at Shriners Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House in Galveston.

We have partnered with local businesses and organizations to set up additional drop off points.

Starting Dec 5, you can drop off Toys and Books at:

UTMB LOCATIONS:

- UTMB GME Office (Rebecca Sealy)

- UTMB League City Campus Hospital (entrance greeter)

- UTMB Clear Lake Campus Hospital (entrance greeter)

LOCAL BUSINESSES

- Rosenberg Library Circulation Desk

- Freckleberry Tea House

- Galveston's Own Farmer Market (Sunday December 10th & 17th)

VENMO

Financial donations to purchase toys/books can be made via venmo to @utmbresiterns 

Amazon Registry

We also have an Amazon Registry for more online donations! This Registry was hand picked by nurses and staff who know these patients. 

Click here

Thank you!!

UTMB Resiterns

K’S CREATIONS WILL BE IN LEAGUE CITY MONDAY, TUESDAY, AND WEDNESDAY!!!

Drop by and visit with the nice folks from K’s Creations and you’ll find an easy and

  convenient way to shop for great gifts or something uplifting for yourself.

 Discover a fun assortment including women’s clothing and accessories, scarves,

fashion jewelry, and a large selection of new merchandise (Christmas t-shirts

and Christmas floral), and clearance items to choose from for yourself,

your family, and all of your friends.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 11^TH

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12^TH  

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13^TH

8:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.

LEAGUE CITY CAMPUS (CLINIC SIDE) – 1^ST FLOOR

Cash, MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express are all accepted.

Proceeds benefit patient and volunteer programs.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

18-49 years old

No previous Pneumonia Vaccine (Prevnar, Pneumovax)

Interested in taking part in a Phase I, First in Human, Pneumococcal Vaccine Study

Able to attend 9 in-clinic visits and be available for 6 telephone calls over approximately 13 months

For information contact Robert Cox, RN

Email: roacox@utmb.edu or sivsctp@utmb.edu

Tel: (409) 772-5278

Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences is looking for healthy volunteers:

18-49 years old

No previous Pneumonia Vaccine (Prevnar, Pneumovax)

Able to attend 9 in-clinic visits and be available for 6 telephone calls over approximately 13 months

For information contact Robert Cox, RN

Email: roacox@utmb.edu

sivsctp@utmb.edu

Tel: (409) 772-5278

🌟 Unwrap the Gift of Clear Vision this Holiday Season! 🌟

Discover major savings at our UTMB Health Optical Centers going on now through December 8!

Choose between two fantastic offers to elevate your eyewear experience:

 💸 Enjoy $100 off our Featured Frame with the purchase of lenses! Elevate your style while maximizing your savings.

 OR

 💰 Take $50 off our Entire Collection! Explore a world of eyewear possibilities and enjoy exclusive savings on every pair.

Visit us at either of our convenient locations Monday through Friday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM:

📍 700 University Blvd, Galveston

📍 10121 Emmett F Lowery Expressway, Texas City

But hurry – this festive offer is available for a limited time only!

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call us at 409-747-5823 or 409-978-4315. And don't forget to utilize your FSA benefits before they expire!

🚨 Terms and Conditions:

🔸 Not to be combined with any other promotion, discount, or insurance plan.

🔸 Sale excludes sunglasses for Maui Jim, Oakley, and Costa.

Academic Computing is excited to announce that Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation (UBN) will be implemented on December 18, 2023! 

What is Ultra Base Navigation (UBN)?

It is a modern, intuitive navigation menu that lives outside of courses. It includes links to new pages that provide quick access to the most critical information consolidated from all your courses. 

What does this mean for you?

• UBN will not affect the current look and feel of your courses. They will operate as they do now. 
• Starting December 18, 2023, you will see the new navigation as soon as you log into Blackboard.
• New features and functionality View: Resources

Contact Academic Computing, edtech@utmb.edu, with any questions. 

The medical school has 2 exciting Spring 2024 opportunities for pre-clerkship educators. There are open Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Facilitator slots in the Spring Semester 2024. Remember, there is no need to be a content expert for PBL, you are there to facilitate student directed inquiry, not to lecture!!! And we will provide faculty development needs!!

Opportunity 1:

Below is a table documenting the current available course, dates, times and PBL facilitator needs.

Opportunity 2:

We are actively seeking an MD or DO faculty to join our clinical education team in the pre-clerkship curriculum as a co-director for the Practice of Medicine course, which is transitioning from the standalone courses (META, POM 1 and 2) to a collaborative, team-driven format.

As a course co-director, you will play a vital role in a team of 6 who are shaping a comprehensive clinical curriculum, focusing on interpersonal communication, physical examination, and clinical reasoning skills for pre-clerkship medical students. This immersive program covers biostatistics, epidemiology, and medical ethics, initially concentrating on Year 1 students beginning in January 2024.

The 8-month course allows ample time for evaluation and revision in the summer. Ideal for faculty with educational experience, this leadership role offers mentorship opportunities under seasoned directors, fostering collaborative work on standardized assessments, curriculum development, and a substantive role in shaping the professional identities and clinical skills of early physicians.  We aim to fill this position promptly.

Interested faculty should contact Dr. Lisa Elferink (laelferi@utmb.edu), Jennifer Earl (jsfaircl@utmb.edu) or Mary Mallini (mmmallin@utmb.edu).

The goal of this conference is to explore the range of topics addressed in reproductive ethics.

The controversies and challenges of reproductive ethics arise from new technologies, political

and ideological divisions, theology, and changing cultural norms.

We welcome individuals from all professional fields to create a rich and robust discussion.

Reproductive Ethics Conference

Thursday & Friday
January 11 & 12, 2024

Registration for the 2024 Reproductive Ethics Conference is now open.

Please find registration and conference information below. We look forward to hearing about your work in January!

Register HERE

Registration Deadline December 26, 2023

The registration includes:

Attendance to all Paper and Poster Sessions

Continental Breakfast Thursday and Friday

Lunch Thursday and Friday

Refreshment Breaks

OptionalDinner on Thursday evening for an additional fee

Conference Information HERE

Deadline for conference hotel room rate is December 11, 2023

If you have any questions, please reach out to us reproeth@utmb.edu

Are you caring for a loved one with dementia who is 65 or older, is receiving Medicare and are you 21 or older?   If so, you could be a valuable participant in this research study aimed at improving the experience and wellness services provided during an Annual Wellness Visit for individuals with dementia. 

Qualified volunteers are needed to participate in a 30-minute interview, conducted via telephone or Zoom.   

Interested? Contact: Mr. Samuel David, study coordinator (409) 772-5514 or savdavid@utmb.edu   Learn more about participating in this study at https://utmb.us/a6c

The Human Pathophysiology and Translational Medicine
Graduate Program presents:

Translational Research Seminar Series

"SARS-CoV-2 Molecular Hijacking:

Insights into NSP3 Interactions with Fragile X Protein during Infection"  

Rojelio Elias Alvarado

Human Pathophysiology and Translational Medicine PhD Student

Mentor: Dr. Vineet Menachery, PhD

Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

4:00pm - 5:00pm

Health Education Center 2.220

The Academy of Master Teachers (AMT) is calling for nominations for Educator of the Month.

AMT presents this honor in recognition of educational excellence at UTMB to acknowledge, thank and reward outstanding teachers.

Nominations can be submitted by the following link by students/residents, faculty, and staff.

https://www.utmb.edu/amt/educator-information/educator-of-the-month

The UTMB Bylaws documents have undergone extensive revisions this past year. 

As required by our UTMB Medical Staff Bylaws, those revisions have now been approved by the Bylaws Committee, Medical Executive Committee, Medical Staff and President. 

Please visit the Medical Staff Services link https://www.utmb.edu/mss to view the revised documents.

DO YOU NEED....

Guidance with a research ethics issue?  Help preparing your IRB application (protocol, consent)?

Assistance with understanding an IRB deferral?  Advice on handling a research integrity issue (team dynamics, power dynamics, authorship)?

Highly qualified experts in these areas are available for consultation at NO COST during the

Institute for Translational Sciences Research Ethics Consultation Walk-in Studio

2nd Tuesday of each month

1:00pm - 3:00pm

6.162 Research Bldg 6

Walk-in assistance available on a first-come, first-served basis.  All consultations are confidential.

For questions, please contact RECS@utmb.edu

Department of Pediatrics Annual Holiday T-Shirt Sale!  Pre-orders now being accepted. Sizes Small-XL, $20; Limited Sizes 2X-3X, $22.  Proceeds from every t-shirt sold will benefit the Pediatrics Annual Toy and Book Drive.  Artwork provided by a pediatric patient.  Wear your shirt and spread holiday cheer!

Registration is now open!

International Symposium on One Health Research: Improving Food Security and Resilience

When: April 21 – 23, 2024

Location: Moody Gardens Hotel and Conference Center

https://utmb.us/ab8

Our International Symposium Planning Committee of 22 diverse experts is designing a program to engage leaders in agricultural industry, public health, veterinary health, food safety, and environmental health institutions. The Symposium will be unique in that food productions experts will be centrally featured with the goal of identifying common ground from which new interdisciplinary research partnerships might arise and lead to better food resilience. We will feature lectures from the beef, dairy, egg & poultry, pork, aquaculture, fresh produce, and processed food industries. Other research topics will include emerging infectious diseases (viral, bacterial, and other), and the environmental, social, and public communication factors that impact Food Security.  We will particularly highlight successful One Health mitigation approaches to Food Security problems. We will also feature a poster competition with monetary awards. For more information check out the symposium website,  https://utmb.us/ab8.

Please share with your colleagues who might be interested in attending the symposium.

Early registration expires January 31, 2024. 

Email UTMBOneHealth@utmb.edu for registration information.