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 UTMB News

  • U.S.-China relationship, good news with the bad amid public health response to virus outbreak

    James LeDuc, director of UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory, outlines public health advancements in China since the SARS outbreak of 2003. The advancements have allowed the country to much more rapidly identify and begin to deal with the most recent novel coronavirus. In that time the National Laboratory has welcomed Chinese health officials to learn about biocontainment facility design and construction, biosafety training and laboratory operations.

  • Galveston Marks 100 years since deadly plague outbreak

    A 1920 plague outbreak on Galveston Island, and the work of UTMB’s Paula Summerly to document the efforts that resulted in elimination of the illness, is revealed in this story originally published in The Galveston County Daily News. Summerly’s discoveries have turned up newspaper articles and a doctor’s journal documenting the city’s fight with plague, which included the extermination of more than 46,000 rats.

  • Inside UTMB

    The Galveston County Daily News, January 15, 2020 - UTMB appoints chief nursing, patient care executive - Thayer Awards for excellence in teaching - UTMB’s 2019 by the numbers - Spatial neglect topic of next SCI Café

  • China's swift ID of a new virus is a win for public health

    China’s announcement that researchers have quickly identified a microbe causing an outbreak responsible for one death and many hospitalizations is being seen as progress compared to the SARS outbreak in 2003. According to UTMB’s Jim LeDuc, “The biggest challenge in 2003 was the initial reluctance of China to explain what was going on.” Since that time, China has opened its first biosafety level 4 lab in Wuhan, and many of its scientists have trained with LeDuc in the Galveston National Laboratory.

  • 100 years later, legacies of Galveston's plague outbreak persist

    A 1920 plague outbreak on Galveston Island, and the work of UTMB’s Paula Summerly to document the efforts that resulted in elimination of the illness, is revealed in this local story. Summerly’s discoveries have turned up newspaper articles and a doctor’s journal documenting the city’s fight with plague, which included the extermination of more than 46,000 rats.

  • Old Red to house permanent medical museum collection

    Dr. Ben Raimer, UTMB president ad interim, recently announced the formation of the official Old Red Medical Museum steering committee, part of an effort to establish a medical museum in UTMB’s oldest building. At the time the building was completed it housed one of the finest human dissection labs in the United States.

  • UT System holds open forum on presidential search

    Local coverage of the UT System’s town hall meeting seeking input on the search for a new UTMB president. “This is the beginning of the search process and a very important part of it,” said Dr. John Zerwas, UT System executive vice chancellor for health affairs.

  • Virologists weigh in on novel coronavirus in China's outbreak

    A novel coronavirus has been identified in some patients who are part of a cluster of unexplained pneumonia cases in China. UTMB’s Vineet Menachery is one of this story’s contributors. He would like to see more details on patients’ serologic findings and if the virus is a member of the 2B coronavirus family a group that includes SARS.

  • Inside UTMB

    The Galveston County Daily News, January 8, 2020 - Sealy and Smith Laboratory earns national reaccreditation - 2020 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award - Medical humanities, health care subject of upcoming John P. McGovern lecture - Temporary closure of John Sealy Hospital second floor

  • UTMB at Galveston creates violence prevention research center

    Houston media coverage on the opening of UTMB’s new Center for Violence Prevention. The facility will help research the causes of various forms of violence in hopes of finding tools to prevent such acts and their effects on society. “We spend a lot of time and energy and money and resources on responding to violence. If we just put a fraction of that into preventing it, we’d save so much money in the long run,” said Jeff Temple, founding director of the center. Becker’s Hospital Review also reported the opening.

  • CAP Accredited

    UTMB's Clear Lake Campus CAP Accredited

    The Clear Lake Campus laboratory has earned its College of American Pathologists accreditation following a recent, initial inspection in which 860 regulatory standards were met and zero deficiencies were found—a rare accomplishment, especially for new labs. This recent success speaks to the lab team’s day-to-day attention to detail and commitment to ensuring all UTMB patients receive the best quality of care.

  • 2019 Get with the Guidelines - Stroke

    Stroke program 2019 success

    UTMB was awarded with the American Heart Association's (AHA) Gold Plus Stroke and Target Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll. The AHA Get With The Guidelines program is a continuous quality improvement program developed with the goal to save lives by measuring hospitals' adherence to secondary prevention guidelines (pharmacological and lifestyle interventions) for coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

  • 2019 Get with the guidelines - resuscitation

    UTMB recognized by the American Heart Association for patient care excellence

    For the fifth year in a row, the University of Texas Medical Branch has been recognized with the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Resuscitation Gold Quality Achievement Award. This award signifies that UTMB has reached an aggressive goal in using guidelines-based care to improve outcome for patients who suffer cardiac arrests in the hospital. Guidelines include following protocols for patient safety, medical emergency team response, effective and timely resuscitation (CPR) and post-resuscitation care.

  • 2019 Vizient Award

    UTMB recognized for quality care for 3rd consecutive year

    The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has been recognized for the third consecutive year for delivering high quality patient care, receiving a 2019 Vizient Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award. The award recognizes top performing comprehensive academic medical centers for demonstrating superior quality and safety performance as measured by the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study.

  • employees holding CDC recognition for UTMB

    UTMB’s Diabetes Prevention Program receives full recognition from CDC

    UTMB is now the only institution in the Greater Houston Area—and 1 of only 5 in the State of Texas—to have a Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) fully-recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). DPP providers like UTMB can help people with prediabetes prevent or delay type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems by offering evidence-based, affordable and high-quality lifestyle change programs.

  • Mobile Mammography Bus

    New UTMB Mobile Mammography Unit Unveiled in Galveston

    Thanks to a $1.4 million grant from the Moody Endowment, the University of Texas Medical Branch has a brand new, ultramodern, Mobile Mammography Unit that will enable women across the region to have access to screenings for Breast Cancer.