The Otitis Media Research Team led by Tasnee Chonmaitree, M.D., was well-represented at the
International meeting on Recent Advances in Otitis Media in Stockholm, Sweden, June 12-16, 2013.
The team had 5 research presentations, including 3 podium and 2 poster presentations, as listed below.
In addition, Dr. David McCormick chaired the round table session on “Family Medicine and Otitis Media”. Dr. Chonmaitree gave an invited seminar on “Viral vaccines for otitis media”.
A team of researchers led by Suresh Bhavnani, associate professor of biomedical informatics, received a Distinguished Paper Award for Translational Bioinformatics at a meeting organized by the American Medical Bioinformatics Association.
The award-winning paper “How Cytokines Co-occur across Rickettsioses Patients: From Bipartite Visual Analytics to Mechanistic Inferences of a Cytokine Storm,” was co-authored by an interdisciplinary research team including Juan Olano, Bi-Hung Peng, Justin Drake, and Bryant Dang from UTMB, Shyam Visweswaran from the University of Pittsburgh, Gowtham Bellala from HP Labs, and Jose Antonio Oteo and Paula Santibañez-Saenz from the Centro de Investigación Biomédica de La Rioja in Spain.
The 2013 Dr. and Mrs. Seymour Fisher Academic Excellence Awards in Neuroscience were presented to medical students Mathieu Bakhoum, for work on aging and neurodegeneration; Dan W. Branch, for a study of virtual reality spine surgery; and graduate student Jordan Jahrling, for research on memory and Alzheimers disease.
The National Institute of General Medicine Sciences has awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant to professor Xiaodong Cheng and assistant professor Jia Zhou in the department of pharmacology and toxicology, that will further their research in signaling molecules and human diseases.
The National Cancer Institute has awarded a five-year, $1.4 million grant to professor Satish Srivastava to continue his research on colon cancer and the role of the aldose reductase enzyme. He has been studying the enzyme for 40 years and also has a merit award for 10 years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Katherine Becker, Sr. admin manager for the Center for Addiction Research, is the 2013 recipient of Center for Addiction Research - Community Outreach and Engagement Award. Becker was presented the award by Dr. Kathryn Cunningham, director, Center for Addiction Research at a recent lab retreat.
Becker joined UTMB’s Center for Addiction Research in December 2009. In addition to conducting the business operations of the Center, she has also served as the CAR coordinator and lead volunteer during all Educational, Outreach, and Community Activities such as: A Reel Science screening- which used a popular film to focus on the pain of addiction, loss & recovery; Mondays in March on the UTMB Campus, and Education Fest held each spring in Galveston, and Ball High’s project graduation. At those events she went above and beyond to set up and man the Impaired Driving Simulator, in order to help educate participants of all ages on the dangers of driving while distracted or impaired by drugs or alcohol.
She plays a key role in coordinating CAR’s participation with the Bay Area Council on Drugs and Alcohol events, and helps organize events honoring NIDA’s National Drug Facts Weeks and Alcohol Awareness Week Activities both at held at local middle schools. In appreciation of CAR’s support of these two important activities, The City of Galveston and Mayor Lewis Rosen, have twice honored the Center with proclamations in 2012 and 2013.
Becker also serves on the planning committee for The Cruisin 2 Recovery Festival held in Galveston each September. In addition to her outstanding dedication, support, and service to CAR and UTMB, she has also found time to participate in long-standing events that support the Galveston community at large including Volunteer Chairman for Dickens on the Strand each December and as the Volunteer Chairman, for the Historical Homes Tour held each Spring.
She holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of Health Care Administration degree, both from the University of Houston- Clear Lake. She earned both advanced degrees while working full time at UTMB during her first tour of duty on our campus.
The UTMB Sunday Screening Mammogram Program visited St. Augustine Episcopalian Church in Galveston, Texas.
From left to right are: transportation technician Jose Martinez, Karen Lidstone, director of Radiation Oncology, Denise Shaw, mammography technologist, Elizabeth Paniagua, mammography technologist and Dr. Angelica Robinson, Breast Imaging radiologist and her children.