The Osler Student Societies of the John P. McGovern Academy of Oslerian Medicine hosted a discussion of “Human suffering: Zen Buddhism versus Western perspectives,” featuring Zen master Dae Gak, founding member and director of the Furnace Mountain Zen Buddhist Retreat in Clay City, Ky., and a doctorate level clinical psychologist.

Joining Gak was Mark Clark, assistant professor in UTMB's Institute for the Medical Humanities.
 

Research volunteers needed

• Volunteers are needed for a NASA-related study examining muscle metabolism and nutrition during inactivity. Volunteers must be nonsmokers age 45 to 60 years and be of normal height and weight. The study involves a 26-day stay at UTMB’s Clinical Research Center. Volunteers will be reimbursed for their time. For information, contact Kirk English, 281-231-8960 or kienglis@utmb.edu, or Christopher Danesi, 409-772-8126.

• Healthy adults 18 to 45 are needed for the study of a dengue vaccine. The study will require 13 visits during about a four-month span, and reimbursement for time and travel is provided. For information, contact Carrie Harrington, 409-772-1696 or clharrin(at)utmb.edu, or the clinical trials group, 409-772-5278 or scvd.ctg@utmb.edu.

• The department of anesthesiology is seeking healthy volunteers 21 to 60 to participate in studies to evaluate a noninvasive hemoglobin monitor. Volunteers must have occipital (back side of the head) baldness or a shaved head and will be reimbursed for travel and time. For information, contact Roger Seeton, rseeton@utmb.edu or 409-772-2039.

Visiting campus

• “Treatment of combat-related PTSD in returning war veterans” was the topic of Alan L. Peterson, professor of psychiatry and director of the Strong Star Multidisciplinary PTSD Research Consortium at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

• Terence Wright, professor of visual arts at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, and a visiting scholar at the Institute for the medical Humanities, presented “A mirror with a memory: Image, narrative and reminiscence.”

• Dr. Riccardo A. Superina, professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, presented “Surgical approaches to portal hypertension in children,” as the John C. and Virginia Scott Kennedy Lectureship.