UTMB Officers Daniel Bowen and Duran Martinez recently helped recover stolen family heirlooms during a routine traffic stop. After
observing a person in a moving car throw a piece of paper out of the window, the officers conducted a traffic stop that resulted in the apprehension of a subject with an out-of-state warrant for his arrest. Several items were recovered from the vehicle, including a United States Military Academy class ring. A second ringmalso was recovered, which turned out to be an 85-year-old family heirloom. Through some quick investigative work, the rightful owners of the rings were located. Great work, Officers Bowen and Martinez!
Dr. Andrea M. Glaser joined UTMB as the director of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics in July. She received her medical degree from the UT Health Science Center at Houston and completed her Pediatric residency and Pediatric Gastroenterology fellowship there as well. Glaser sees patients with gastrointestinal diseases from birth through adolescence and has a particular interest in nutrition and infant-feeding disorders. She has conducted research regarding medications used to treat reflux in infancy. Glaser is board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in General Pediatrics and board-eligible in Pediatric Gastroenterology.
Dr. Robert Beach, professor emeritus in UTMB’s Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, and faculty advisor for
St. Vincent’s Hope Clinic in Galveston, received the 2015 Houston’s Heroes Award at the ministry’s annual St. Vincent’s Day celebration on Sept. 26. In addition to Beach, 21 UTMB student directors of the Hope clinic also were recognized for their volunteer service. The student-run clinic is a cooperative effort between UTMB and St. Vincent’s House, committed to providing quality health care to the underserved population in Galveston County.
Kyriakos S. Markides, PhD, a professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, is this year’s winner of the Robert W. Kleemeier Award—the highest honor given by the Gerontological Society of America—in recognition of his “outstanding research in the fi eld of gerontology.” Markides, editor of the Journal of Aging and Health, is the author or co-author of more than 340 publications, most of which focus on aging and health issues in the Mexican-American population, as well as minority aging issues in general. His research has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health since 1980, and he is credited with coining the term “Hispanic Paradox,” a finding that Hispanic and Latino Americans tend to have health outcomes that are comparable to, or in some cases better than, those of their U.S. white counterparts, despite lower average income and education.
Dr. Abbey Berenson, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and director of UTMB’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research in 
Women’s Health, received NIH funding to continue UTMB’s Building Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health Program for another five years. This is the third cycle of funding for this program, which trains junior faculty to conduct research in women’s health. Only five other BIRCWH programs in the U.S. were successfully renewed (Harvard, Mayo, UCSF, UNC-Chapel Hill and UC-Davis). Great job, Dr. Berenson!
The Texas Nurses Association has named David Marshall, JD, DNP, chief nursing officer at UTMB, as one of the 25 outstanding nurses in the Houston/Galveston area. The honorees are nominated by their peers and co-workers as exemplary registered nurses. Marshall will be honored at the group’s 25th annual Nursing Celebration on Nov. 12 in Houston.
Sheryl L. Bishop, PhD, professor and director of the bio-behavioral research laboratory in the School of Nursing, is featured in a
new film about how the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, various government entities and the scientific community might react to an extraterrestrial visiting Earth. “The Visit” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was featured at SXSW in Austin. The film has been released through Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/on-demand/thevisit.
Dr. Ben Raimer, senior vice president for Health Policy and Legislative Affairs, and Doug Matthews, assistant vice president for Government Relations at UTMB, hosted Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee on Sept. 2 for a tour of UTMB’s biocontainment unit that could be used to treat Ebola patients. UTMB is one of nine hospitals in the country selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be a regional treatment center for patients with Ebola or other highly infectious diseases.