Impact

This issue highlights the contributions of our faculty and staff and your ongoing commitment to improving health for the people of Texas and around the world. In particular, this edition includes an article on the annual Employee Service Day celebration, which was held May 22.

Across UTMB, there are 116 employees in Property Services, including 98 technicians, who maintain the institution’s 10.5 million gross square feet of facilities that are part of our operations. Ron Krenek, a Facilities Operations Technician is a part of that team and helps keep UTMB's buildings and structures up and running.

In October 2018, a shuttle bus transporting industrial workers overturned and rolled several times down an embankment on the ramp of Highway 36 and 288, resulting in a range of injuries and one fatality. UTMB’s Angleton Danbury Campus Team did an amazing job handling this medical emergency while also demonstrating constant kindness and compassion to the many families affected by this tragedy. The team also managed the media who came to cover the accident in a highly professional manner, and for their efforts they received the President’s Way To Go Award from UTMB President David Callender on April 25.

DSRIP(Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment) program is technically a Medicaid-focused program, but at UTMB it's used as an incubator for larger population health initiatives that tackle issues like diabetes, heart disease and more.

A collaborative team from UTMB, Saudi Arabia and Canada has developed a potent and safe vaccine that protects against the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS

During the recent UTMB School of Nursing Commencement, more than 400 other graduates, each with their own stories of learning and growth, participated in the festivities, celebrating those journeys, what’s to come and the unifying experience of now being proud UTMB alumni.

MORE THAN 1,600 UTMB EMPLOYEES WERE CELEBRATED for reaching important milestones in their careers during the annual Employee Service Day ceremony in late May.

For Geoff Fish, medical laboratory scientist with UTMB’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology, playing guitar has been a passion and a pastime for more than 40 years.

Learn about some of the common myths about vaccines from two of UTMB's experts.

The annual Employee Service Day ceremony on May 22 paid tribute to employees who have marked milestones of service at UTMB, including six people who were celebrating more than 40 years at the institution.

April marks the 50th anniversary of what is now known as the UTMB Health Angleton Danbury Campus. Opened in 1969 as the Angleton Danbury General Hospital by the Angleton Danbury Hospital District, the campus has served the health needs of the surrounding area for decades.

Sara McDaniel smiles as she looks up from the stack of papers she’s busily preparing for patients. Every Wednesday morning, she’s the first person a patient sees as they enter the Angleton Danbury Campus Hospital.

Sonya Schiwart, a care coordinator in UTMB Health’s Care Management department, and Lisa Moore, a social worker on the Galveston Campus, were recently recognized by UTMB President Dr. David Callender with President’s Way To Go Awards for helping to reunite an oncology patient with his mother in Georgia whom he had not seen in more than two decades. The recognition marked the second time that Moore has received a WTGA from President Callender. She was previously honored in July 2017.

Five months after officially announcing it had signed a 15-year agreement to lease the facility formerly known as Bay Area Regional Medical Center, UTMB opened its new Clear Lake Campus Hospital on March 30.

Whether working on the front lines in patient care or in another role at UTMB, everyone contributes to Best Care. Here are a few examples of employees in different roles who are demonstrating Best Care.

UTMB researchers have developed a promising drug that significantly increases muscle size, strength and metabolism in aged mice.

Every year, on the third Friday in March, Match Day reveals to graduating medical students where they will fulfill residency training for their chosen specialty. UTMB students gathered with family and friends on March 15 to learn the next step of their long journey toward a career in medicine.

In an effort to modernize its content management and business processes across the institution, UTMB is replacing iSpace with two applications that are a part of Microsoft’s Office 365 Suite.

Jill Sanchez says she was immediately hooked on POP Pilates, a derivative of the popular exercise regimen that is choreographed to music and feels like a dance on a mat, because of the seamless transitions between exercises.

The warmer days of spring are here and with the associated outdoor activities such as barbecues, festivals and sporting events comes a wave of allergies that can spoil a great day.

Today, the women’s unit at the Angleton Danbury Campus Hospital bears the name of the couple who made the single largest donation in the history of the Auxiliary of Angleton Danbury.

With the arrival of spring comes a time of tremendous activity for UTMB—opening a new hospital, moving some of our clinics to improve access and continuing expansion and renovation work in League City and Galveston. Please stay tuned in this and future issues of Impact to learn more about these projects, which are so important for the long-term success of our mission.

Diane Ugartechea is an occupational therapist at the League City Campus where she helps patients recover and heal in both the hospital and rehabilitation gym setting.

School of Medicine students present an illustration of “Old Red” to State Rep. Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville. UTMB students visited the Texas Legislature in early March as part of the Texas Medical Association’s First Tuesdays at the Capitol event. According to the TMA, the March 5 event gave physicians in training a chance to meet with legislators to discuss issues related to medicine and the future of practicing in the state.

Favour Onwukwe, a nurse in a Hospital Galveston facility known as 7A, is just one of the 3,000 CMC employees who provides constitutionally mandated levels of care to more than two-thirds of the state’s incarcerated offenders.

Scientists have gained new insight on a poorly understood key player in the timing of labor and delivery, bringing researchers closer to being able to prevent pre-term births.

Dr. Ford Ben-Okoli, second-year UTMB family medicine resident, shares his passion for dance with other members of the UTMB community as one of three instructors of the social dance class offered weekly at the UTMB Alumni Field House.

Leonard LaComb, a principal facilities project manager for UTMB Design and Construction, oversees the exterior construction of the new South Tower that will add five stories and boost the patient bed count to nearly 100 as the campus rapidly expands to meet growing patient demand.

UTMB is now the only institution in the Greater Houston Area—and one of only five in Texas—to be fully recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). More than 84 million U.S. adults have prediabetes, a condition where blood sugar is higher than normal but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as diabetes. People with prediabetes are at high risk for type 2 diabetes (the most common type of diabetes), heart disease and stroke, making this program particularly significant in improving health in our communities. Congratulations to the following UTMB team members for making the CDC full recognition a reality: Dr. Nicola Abate, professor and chief in the UTMB Division of Endocrinology; Dr. Hanaa Sallam, research scientist and coordinator of UTMB’s Diabetes Prevention Program; Michael Washburn, program manager of UTMB’s Angleton Danbury Campus Community Resources, Wellness and Volunteer Services; Dr. Raquel Pena, research scientist in the UTMB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science; Dr. Ben Raimer, senior vice president, Office of Health Policy and Legislative Affairs; Dr. Michelle Sierpina, founding director, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI); Dr. Cynthia Judice, chief medical officer for UTMB’s Primary Care Services and Community-Based Clinics; Dr. Hani Serag, research fellow in the Office of Health Policy and Legislative Affairs; Gene Felter, business manager for UTMB divisions of Cardiology and Endocrinology; Ann Varghese, director of Ambulatory Operations; and Julie Kuper, business coordinator in the Division of Endocrinology.

Stephen Pearson, a construction inspector with UTMB Design & Construction, has built more than 4,000 surfboards by hand.