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.

At the start of every day, Rina Kalariya sits at her desk checking the latest performance reports for the point-of-care-testing (POCT) equipment she helps maintain and manage. It’s just one part of her role as technical supervisor for the POCT group within UTMB’s Laboratory Services department, but it’s an important one. “It’s my job to do this initial review every day to ensure there are no outliers [out-of-the-ordinary figures] and that the machines are producing accurate results,” says Kalariya. Producing rapid results and taking place as the patient is receiving care, POCT allows patients to receive faster diagnoses. This means they can more quickly receive the appropriate care they need. To perform this type of diagnostic screening, UTMB has specialized equipment that receives routine quality control checks and maintenance.

Defined as patients who return to the hospital within 30 days of their most recent discharge, 30-day readmissions at UTMB have been on the decline recently—boasting a 14.5 percent drop over the last two years. This notable trend has saved the institution nearly $2 million and was made possible in part by the development of programs and operational measures identified through the use of the Readmissions Explorer Application within UTMB Discover--an enterprise data warehouse and analytical toolkit that, through the use of various applications within it, aggregates real-time, accurate data generated by UTMB’s mission areas.