Anuka Das, a medical school student enrolled in Global Health track courses, has been appointed to a two-year term to the trainee advisory committee for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health.

Dr. Tricia Elliott is president-elect of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. Elliott, an associate professor, is the director of UTMB’s Family Medicine residency program.

Bridget Hawkins, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, received an Alzheimer’s disease research grant totaling $150,000 from the Darrell K Royal Research Fund for Alzheimer's Disease to test an intranasal spray’s effects on injured nerve cells.

Old Red and the Open Gates Carriage House on Broadway, two UTMB properties designed by Nicholas Clayton, were designated Galveston Landmarks as part of a city program to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Nicholas Clayton’s birthday.

Mike Shriner joined UTMB in 1993 and is the vice president of Business Operations and Facilities. In his role, he oversees more than 400 employees working in various support areas, including Property Services, Design and Construction Services, Supply Chain, Campus Planning, Real Estate, Utilities, Environmental Health and Safety, Institutional Emergency Preparedness and Auxiliary Services.

Patricia Valdes isn’t grossed out by ticks—you know, those tiny bugs that burrow in your skin and suck your blood. She’s interested in them and fascinated by the microorganisms they transmit. As the assistant director of the Walker Research Lab at UTMB, she’s dedicated the last 25 years to learning more about the biology of the pathogens that ticks carry.

Betsy Clardy joined UTMB as vice president and chief development officer in 2008. In her role, she has led development efforts to secure philanthropic funding to support UTMB’s priority research, education and patient care initiatives. This includes the largest campaign in UTMB’s 125-year history, “Working Wonders—The Campaign for UTMB Health.”

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.

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.

UTMB Officers Daniel Bowen and Duran Martinez recently helped recover stolen family heirlooms during a routine traffic stop.

A new concept for UTMB in which leaders head out “on the road” to meet employees where they are, launched Sept. 2 at the CMC Summer Conference in Houston. UTMB President Dr. David L. Callender presented his first Town Hall “On the Road’’ during a meeting of roughly 500 UTMB Correctional Managed Care (CMC) leaders.

Shawn Carr never imagined she would be responsible for operating a giant medication-dispensing robot when she started as a pharmacy tech at UTMB 25 years ago. Located on the seventh floor of the new Clinical Services Wing, Carr and her colleagues at UTMB’s Central Pharmacy are responsible for dispensing and delivering about 6,000 doses of medications each day for hospital patients on UTMB’s Galveston Campus.

As vice president of Budget and Analysis, Celia Bailey-Ochoa assumes responsibility for UTMB’s overall budget process. She plays a vital role in ensuring coordination of budget and planning efforts across UTMB’s Health System, Academic Enterprise and Institutional Support departments, as well as coordinating UTMB’s legislative appropriations requests.

It’s not even 8:30 a.m. and Kirsten Emanuel, a nurse practitioner specializing in women’s health and OB-GYN at the Regional Maternal and Child Health Clinic in Conroe, is already on her fourth patient of the day. At 26 years old, she is the youngest NP in the building and radiates energy and enthusiasm when she talks about her job, which she’s held for the past year and a half.

Ann Varghese, director of Ambulatory Operations at UTMB Health’s Angleton Danbury Campus, joined the Angleton Danbury Medical Center in 2004 and held a variety of positions, including director of Managed Care and Rehab Services and assistant administrator. In August 2014, she made the transition to UTMB employment as the associate administrator for the ADC.

Coffee, lots and lots of coffee. That’s pretty much the only constant in Mark Kinonen’s work day as a photographer at UTMB. So it only makes sense that I find him – surprise! – drinking industrial-strength coffee in his office on a Friday morning, charging camera batteries for a shoot later that day and jamming out to an eclectic mix of music (think Miles Davis/The Black Keys/Bryan Adams) as he answers emails and gets his creative juices flowing.

James LeDuc, Ph.D., is the director of the Galveston National Laboratory, one of the largest active biocontainment facilities on a U.S. academic campus. LeDuc joined UTMB in late 2006 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, where he was the influenza coordinator and director of the Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases. With more than four decades of experience working in the fields of biodefense and public health, LeDuc’s work has taken him around the world.

“Organized chaos.” That’s how nurse manager Bryan Hicks describes most days at the TDCJ Hospital in Galveston. And when I join him shortly after 10 a.m. on a Friday morning, I quickly understand why.The hospital, which is commonly referred to as “HG” or Hospital Galveston, sees between 200 and 300 patients a day. And by patients, I mean offenders that have been brought in by bus, ambulance and van from prison units all over the state.

Deb McGrew has been at UTMB since 2013 and serves as vice president and chief operating officer of the UTMB Health System. She is responsible for leading, planning and integrating numerous aspects of the Health System, including its hospitals, clinics and ancillary services, as well as Correctional Managed Care.

Jeremy Brynes joined UTMB as associate vice president for Health System Business Development in July 2014. Prior to that, Brynes served as the assistant administrator and director of business development for Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital, where he oversaw a number of health service lines and was involved in the strategic planning process. Under his leadership, patient satisfaction and physician satisfaction rates increased above the 90th percentile.

If you or a family member have ever been a UTMB patient, it’s likely you have interacted with a patient services specialist, or PSS as they call themselves. And if you have been to the Orthopaedic Clinic at the Specialty Care Center in League City, you may have been greeted by a smiling Rosana Gomez.

They’re the smallest and most fragile patients at UTMB’s Galveston campus, and Registered Nurse Norma Salinas has the privilege of providing their care. Some people find their calling, but as a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Salinas’ calling found her.

As the vice president for offender health services and the chief physician executive for UTMB’s Correctional Managed Care (CMC) program, Dr. Owen Murray oversees the medical, mental health and dental services for more than 120,000 offenders within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)—that’s 80 percent of the state’s inmate population.

Kathryn A. Cunningham, Ph.D., serves as the Chauncey D. Leake Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, the director of the UTMB Center for Addiction Research, and the vice chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Cunningham is known as a mentor and a world leader in cutting-edge research in neuropsychopharmacology. She has pioneered the investigation of complex interactions among behavior, neurobiology and drug abuse.

David W. Niesel, Ph.D., has been at UTMB since 1983 and was appointed dean of UTMB’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in March 2014. As the outgoing and passionate chairman of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology for 10 years, he saw the department rise to a top 5 ranking in NIH funding among microbiology and immunology departments nationally.

If you haven’t used one recently, you probably soon will. They’re information support specialists, better known as IS (formerly known as IT). They’re the people you’re happy to see coming when you’re computer is on the fritz. Without them UTMB would probably come to a screeching halt, but computers aren’t their only responsibility.

Dr. Ben Raimer isn’t new to UTMB – in fact, he’s worn numerous academic and administrative hats in Galveston over the past four decades. As a tenured professor in the departments of Pediatrics, Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Raimer was most recently appointed as senior vice president for the Office of Health Policy and Legislative Affairs in 2008.

When you hear the word social worker what comes to mind? Do you envision a government employee who makes visits to people’s homes who are in crisis? Do you think of a person who has someone’s child placed in child protective services?

Dr. Selwyn O. Rogers, surgeon and public health expert, joined UTMB as vice president and chief medical officer in December 2014. He also serves as assistant dean for clinical affairs in the School of Medicine. Rogers provides leadership for the quality, safety, service, efficiency and outcomes of UTMB’s clinical services.

If you work in the Rebecca Sealy Building on the UTMB Galveston campus, then you’re probably familiar with Jarvis Givens. He’s the eight-story building’s sole trash technician and on any given day, you can see him in his bright red shirt, hustling and bustling through the hallways as he greets everyone with a “Hello, how are you doing?” and a chuckle.