On April 6, I had the pleasure of announcing the three UTMB employees who were chosen as inaugural recipients of the Regents’ Outstanding Employee Award. Hearty congratulations to Chad Connally, Mike Mastrangelo and Scott Woodby—you have done UTMB proud! We received so many great nominations for this award that truly reflected the far-reaching influence such outstanding employees can have on UTMB and our mission. I’m proud of all of our 34 nominees. It’s truly an honor to work among such talented, dedicated individuals. You can read more about the award in the Working Wonders section of this issue.
Also this month, I announced the restructuring of our executive reporting structure and roles to improve communications, streamline operations, leverage our resources and strengthen accountability within our organization. As we all know, the operating environment for academic health science centers is changing rapidly. This restructuring is essential to helping us plan and implement the necessary organizational responses that will ensure our success in this climate of constant and rapid change. You can see my original announcement at www.utmb.edu/president/communications/messages, as well as a revised organizational chart at https://utmb.us/2o6. Thank you for your support as we make this transition, and please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you have about these changes.
Lastly, I’d like to thank everyone who attended the Mondays in March sessions or viewed them remotely. This year’s series concluded on March 26 with a leadership panel discussion, where we spent the majority of the time taking questions from employees. We addressed a variety of topics including employee compensation, telemedicine initiatives, quality rankings, strategies for strengthening our basic and translational research, and much more. If you weren’t able to attend, each session is now posted at www.utmb.edu/mondays-in-march.
Among the stories included in this issue of Impact:
- A day in the life of patient service specialist Tasheda Johnson, who works at UTMB’s Angleton Urgent Care Clinic
- A Best Care in Action segment highlighting UTMB’s Opioid Stewardship team and their efforts to promote safe prescribing
- A patient feature showing how adult congenital heart surgery at UTMB is giving patients a second chance at life
- Coverage of Match Day 2018, including how one UTMB couple traveled their way to a “match”
- Insights into employee burnout, from the first Provost’s Lecture Series event of 2018
- An introduction to our newest employee-led group, the UTMB Women’s Leadership Network
- 10 ways to practice green living at home and in the workplace by Angela McDowell, UTMB’s sustainability coordinator
- A fun “UTMB Trivia” question to test your knowledge and enter your name for a chance to win a UTMB swag bag
- Numerous accomplishments and kudos in the Working Wonders column and throughout the newsletter
As always, I hope you enjoy reading this issue. If you have any story suggestions for future editions, please let the Impact team know.
Dr. David L. Callender
UTMB President