Congratulations UTMB medical student, Sean Kelly, for being the recipient of the UTMB Excellence in Professionalism Award for the month of November. Kelly was nominated by a fellow classmate who said, “Sean had put in more hours at St. Vincent's Clinic than anyone I know. He even volunteers when everyone else is studying for an upcoming test. He doesn't do it for personal gain or recognition, but because he enjoys helping people in the community.”  The award is given each month to recognize a student who has shown exemplary professionalism within the UTMB community.

UTMB Health Ambulatory clinics touched many lives this Thanksgiving season by collecting over 500 lbs of food to help families in need enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner. The food was delivered to the Specialty Care Center at Victory Lakes for delivery to the food drive.  A special thanks to the team that organized, loaded and delivered the food to the food banks. 

The Office of Community Health Plans and UTMB HealthCare Systems recently collected food and items from a local family’s wish list to help them have a happy holiday season. 

Pictured (left to right) are: Marina Flomina, Executive Director Craig Kovacevich, Mary Gonzalez, Sara Torres and Susan Renken.  Not pictured is Sandra Benigar.

The annual Shrimp Scamper run/walk falls each year during the Wild Texas Galveston Island Shrimp Festival sponsored by Yaga’s Entertainment. The run/walk raised $1,798 all of which was donated to the Justin David Hughes Fund at UTMB, founded by the Hughes family in memory of their son Justin, a UTMB School of Medicine student who suffered from depression and committed suicide. The funds help to raise awareness and provide assistance to medical students suffering from depression. Accepting the check on behalf of the UTMB School of Medicine are Dr. Steve Lieberman, vice dean for academic affairs and Dr. Judith Rowen, assistant dean for educational affairs. Pictured with them is Mike Dean of Yaga’s.

UTMB Health web sites were recognized by peers in the 2011 eHealthcare Leadership Awards, presented during the 15th annual Healthcare Internet Conference held earlier this month. UTMB Health was honored with three Silver Awards in the under 400 bed category:

• Best Interactive Site,
• Best Doctor Directory, and
• Best Overall Interactive Site.   

UTMB Integrated Medical Curriculum was one of six exemplary higher education programs to receive theTexas Higher Education Star Award from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. “The winners represent the state’s most effective efforts for closing the education gaps that challenge our state,” said Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund A. Paredes. “The Coordinating Board is proud to recognize the people and the institutions that develop and implement these programs, as well as the organizations and others who support them.”