I’d like to wish you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season as we come to the conclusion of another calendar year, one that has been historically significant for UTMB in many ways.

UTMB Police Officer Hector Martinez designed a special challenge coin which was selected to commemorate The University of Texas System Police’s 50th anniversary (1967-2017). “The UT System Police are especially proud of the skilled artistry demonstrated by Officer Martinez, for these coins will be circulated across the United States during our anniversary year,” said UTMB Police Chief Tom Engells.

Providing safe and effective patient care is the top priority for UTMB’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. So when they learned UTMB would face penalties of $2.5 million—due to new state rules for Medicaid reimbursement regarding Obstetrical cases for potentially preventable complications (PPCs)—it surprised many.

Employee Advisory Council members got a closer look at how the Texas prison population receives medications and health care during a recent visit with UTMB Correctional Managed Care employees in Huntsville and Livingston on Oct. 17.

UTMB is the winner of a Grand Challenges Explorations grant, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The $100,000 grant will help Alejandro Castellanos-Gonzalez, PhD, assistant professor at UTMB, and his team pursue an innovative global health and development research project aimed at defining targets for drug development against a diarrhea-causing parasite.

A new UTMB study offers important insight into how Alzheimer’s disease begins within the brain. The researchers found a relationship between inflammation, a toxic protein and the onset of the disease. The study also identified a way that doctors can detect early signs of Alzheimer’s by looking at the back of patients’ eyes.

Edwina Moore is full of creative energy when it comes to keeping UTMB’s Campus Store exciting and fresh. “I love new ideas,” she says as she hops into the Galveston shop’s glass display window and starts arranging holiday-themed décor. It’s a Thursday morning in mid-November, and Moore, a UTMB Campus Store clerk, is getting into the holiday spirit.

Tobin (Toby) Boenig is responsible for planning, implementing and maintaining an effective compliance program at UTMB. He monitors and reports results of compliance efforts across the institution and provides guidance to executive management regarding compliance issues and requirements, as well as regulatory law advice.

Nov. 20 concluded the EAC election, with more than 2,000 votes cast—a record! Congratulations to newly elected Employee Advisory Council Members: Lori Kocian DeWillis, Laura David, Gopakumar Manikandaseril and Truc Phuong Tran.

When people at UTMB say “working together to work wonders,” zombies aren’t the first thing that come to mind. But this fall, the university community’s amazing success with the State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC) illustrates that together, what we can do is quite wonderful.

The biggest philanthropic effort in UTMB history—our $450 million Working Wonders Campaign—officially concluded on Nov. 17, having exceeded the goal by raising $450,954,995 as of that date for various initiatives at our university. President David L. Callender announced the record-breaking total at a special celebratory gathering of UTMB’s Development Office staff.

UTMB Discover, an enterprise data warehouse and analytical toolkit for the volumes of data generated throughout the institution, will enable better, more efficient decision making by UTMB’s leadership while supporting front-line initiatives that improve patient care, enhance research initiatives and support our academic mission.

As you make holiday purchases online, remember to think before you connect. With the uptick in website traffic, the holiday season is the perfect time for attackers to target online shopping sites and steal personal information for the purpose of identity theft and financial fraud. Follow these simple tips to keep your season merry and reduce the risk of becoming a cybercrime victim.

The Provost’s Office got into the holiday spirit during UTMB’s annual holiday lighting ceremony on Dec. 1, in front of Jennie Sealy Hospital on the Galveston Campus. Guests enjoyed the lights, music, cider and hot chocolate, and celebrated the wonderful work the UTMB community does to brighten the lives of patients, families and visitors.

On Nov. 11, our nation celebrated Veterans Day. This issue of Impact celebrates UTMB veterans with articles on two of our dedicated and talented health care providers who are continuing their legacy of service to others following exemplary careers in the military.

Erika Parker, practice manager of the Mainland Cardiology Clinic, and Suzanne Wilson, assistant director of Care Management, received President Callender’s Way to Go Awards for going above and beyond to help patients navigate their health care.

When the Texas City Urgent Care clinic opened on Oct. 3, UTMB’s Epic Support team was there to help ensure every patient received the best care. Although team members don’t provide hands-on medical care, the expert support they provide to physicians, nurses and other caregivers regarding UTMB’s electronic health record has a significant impact on the care patients receive.

At the UTMB Nursing Interprofessional Simulation Center, “pretend” is a bad word. So, when first-year School of Nursing students practice intramuscular injections, they use a “task trainer” that looks and feels like an actual piece of flesh—with layers representing skin, fat and muscle

UTMB researchers have developed new potential vaccines that protect animals against the bacteria that causes the deadly plague. These findings are detailed in NPJ Vaccines.

There has been a three-fold increase in prescriptions of opiate painkillers among older adults for chronic pain not related to cancer. Yong Fang Kuo, PhD, and Dr. Mukaila Raji, professors of internal medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, were awarded $1.4 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to conduct the first nationally representative study to examine variations in use of opiates in older adults and their relationship to outcomes, different state regulations and federal policy.