Time flies when you’re telling all the great stories of our UTMB family of employees, faculty and students! Last July, the Office of Marketing and Communications (re)introduced the print edition of Impact, which is a monthly publication dedicated to providing useful news and engaging stories about you, your UTMB colleagues and the great work going on at UTMB campuses and locations throughout the state.

Few things scream “summer” more than soaking up some rays while enjoying a salt water breeze and sand between your toes. But it’s important to make sure a relaxing beach weekend stays injury-free. Follow these tips to help keep your summer beach trips as safe as possible.

A volunteer crew including current and retired UTMB employees sailed Texas’ official tall ship, the Elissa, into the Gulf of Mexico for her 2016 annual sea trials from April 4–16. The ship, built in 1877, is a true survivor and one of the few remaining authentic square-rigged sailing vessels in the world that still sails today.

We have had an eventful spring with the openings of Jennie Sealy Hospital and, on June 4, the League City Hospital. Each is a major milestone in UTMB’s historic mission, and I’d like to thank each of you for contributing to the successful launch of these new facilities and your ongoing work to improve health through excellence, innovation and compassion.

Nursing staff from UTMB’s Blocker Burn Unit coordinated a surprise baby shower for the wife of a patient who had been receiving care in the unit for three months.

When you walk into the UTMB’s League City Campus Hospital, it’s clear that it was built with the needs of the growing community in mind. With its convenient location and extra patient room amenities, the 150,000-square-foot hospital opened to patients on June 4, complete with inpatient and emergency care.

As part of nurses week in May, more than 20 UTMB leaders shadowed nurses from across the Galveston, League City and Angleton Danbury campuses to get a glimpse of the successes and challenges nurses experience every day.

When you first meet Tonya Visor, two words immediately come to mind: energetic and passionate. As a senior communications specialist at UTMB’s Angleton Danbury Campus, she has made it her mission for more than17 years to embed herself in the local community and spread awareness of the critical health care services offered in a small-town setting.

Thanks to a $1.3 million agreement, researchers from UTMB’s National Biocontainment Training Center will embark on a two-year research development program to collaborate with and help train Cuban scientists at the Instituto Pedro Kouri in Havana to better fight infectious diseases, including the Zika virus, which is currently infecting millions internationally.

Joan Nichols, PhD, a professor of Internal Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology, and associate director for research and operations for the Galveston National Laboratory, is one of 10 professors in Texas to be selected by the Minnie Steven Piper Foundation as a 2016 Piper Professor.

A multidisciplinary team led by Pei-Yong Shi, PhD, UTMB endowed professor of Human Genetics, is the first in the world to genetically engineer a clone of the Zika virus strain. For 60 years, the Zika virus remained obscure with few identified cases in people and mild disease symptoms. However, since 2007, the virus has sparked frequent epidemics associated with serious diseases such as microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome.

UTMB’S Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences awarded 39 degrees during its 48th commencement ceremony May 20 in Levin Hall.

More than 750 UTMB supporters attended the “Milestones Gala—125 Years—The Best is Yet to Come.” The event generated $3.7 million in gifts that created 19 faculty and scholarship endowments.

UTMB Police Chief Tom Engells joined UTMB in 2010 and is responsible for the delivery of comprehensive police and progressive security services for UTMB and the Galveston National Laboratory.

UTMB leaders and participating health care providers breathed a sigh of relief on May 1, when the federal government announced it was extending Texas’ 1115 Medicaid Waiver program for another 15 months.

UTMB and the Galveston Historical Foundation are partnering to find new life for historic homes as part of a relocation and rehabilitation project that began in May.

The start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1 provides another opportunity for UTMB and its employees to ensure that emergency preparations are up-to-date.

Not sleeping as well as you’d like? Healthy sleep habits can make a big difference in your quality of life. Check out these 10 tips forgetting the sleep of your dreams.

On May 25, six teams kicked off UTMB’s 2016 Co-Ed Softball League. More than 100 UTMB students, faculty, staff, contract employees and their families play games every Wednesday night from 6 to 8 p.m. at the UTMB Fieldhouse fields through July.

Many of you may know that this October marks the 125th anniversary of the first meeting of the founding members of the University of Texas Medical Department at Old Red. The past few months also have included some new historic milestones for UTMB as we opened the state-of-the-art Jennie Sealy Hospital in April and held the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new League City Hospital earlier this month.