Dr. Krishna Bhat received a $1.16 million grant from the National institutes of Health to study Amyloid Precursor Protein, a protein that has shown to be important in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Bhat is a professor with the Department of Neuroscience & Cell Biology.

Dr. Christopher Fry was accepted as one of only 15 trainees to the prestigious NIH 2015 Buck Institute Summer Training Course on the Biology of Aging. The 23rd Annual Summer Training Course provides intense exposure to current concepts in experimental aging research for 15-20 research scientists. Fry is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition & Metabolism and studies factors influencing sarcopenia.

Dr. Marlo Cochran is UTMB’s new director of the Regional Maternal Child Health Program (RMCHP). Cochran has been employed with UTMB since 2003, when she began her career as a nurse clinician in Labor & Delivery. In 2006, Cochran transitioned to the role of Women’s Health Care nurse practitioner for RMCHP. In 2012, she accepted responsibilities as Regional Director for RMCHP, and in 2014, Cochran became the interim director for RMCHP, WIC and Maternal Fetal Ultrasound. Commitment to underserved women and children has been the hallmark of her career.

Michael Cupito is the new director of Health System Special Projects for Ambulatory Operations. In this role, Cupito will be responsible for directing ambulatory-wide efforts to ensure that performance improvement programs are developed using a data-driven focus that aligns priorities with health system objectives. Prior to UTMB, Cupito served as senior staff officer for the Office of Surgeon General, Air Force Medical Operations Agency, in San Antonio. From 2008–2010, Cupito was an ambulatory administrator for Columbus Air Force Base. Cupito is a certified Lean Six Sigma manager with a strong background in performance improvement.

Dr. Michael Laposata, chairman of the Department of Pathology, delivered the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences annual Dean's Lecture during the UTMB Homecoming 2015 activities on March 27. His lecture was titled “Personalized Medicine and the Amazing Progress toward Life-Saving Treatments for Patients with Cystic Fibrosis.” Laposata joined UTMB in July 2014 as chairman of the Department of Pathology and holds the 1955 Teaching Professorship in the School of Medicine.

UTMB Health Angleton Danbury Campus hosted the Greater Angleton Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class of 2015 Healthcare Session on March 18. More than 20 leaders from local businesses toured the Angleton Danbury Campus. Katrina Lambrecht, vice president for institutional strategic initiatives, and Ann Varghese, associate administrator for patient and support services at Angleton Danbury, gave a presentation on the past, present and future of UTMB Health Angleton Danbury Campus. The GACC Leadership Class also met with team members from Respiratory Therapy, Cardiac Rehabilitation and PT/OT for a mini-health fair that included pulse-oximetry screening, balance testing, blood pressure testing, and sleep study information.