Appointments and awards
Eileen T. Breslin, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, dean of the School of Nursing, has been chosen president-elect of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). She will serve as president from 2014 to 2016. The AACN is the national voice for university and four-year college education programs in nursing, representing more than 690 member nursing schools at public and private institutions. Her longtime service on the AACN Board of Directors includes the role of treasurer (2005-2009), member-at-large (2001-2005), and member of the Government Affairs Committee (1994-1998). She also represented the AACN at the American Nurses Association Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics and as a member of the AACN/Department of Veterans Affairs Liaison Committee. Her most recent honors include the President’s Award from the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and the Sigma Theta Tau Image Maker Award. Dean Breslin is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She also is a Distinguished Practitioner in Nursing of the National Academies of Practice.
Lily T. Garcia, D.D.S., M.S.
Lily T. Garcia, D.D.S., M.S., professor and director of the Division of Advanced Education and External Affairs in the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, was named president of the American College of Prosthodontists (ACP) during the College’s 41st Annual Session in Scottsdale, Ariz. Dr. Garcia is an accomplished author, having published numerous articles and abstracts. She has edited several dental textbooks, served as a reviewer and editorial board member for several scientific journals, and co-authored the text “Osseointegration and Occlusal Rehabilitation.” Dr. Garcia is a diplomate and fellow of the ACP.
Kenneth Kalkwarf, D.D.S., M.S.
Kenneth Kalkwarf, D.D.S., M.S., dean of the Dental School, was named vice president of the American College of Dentists (ACD). The ACD is the oldest national honorary organization for dentists and selects less than 3 percent of U.S. dentists to be part of its fellowship, one of the profession’s highest honors. Dr. Kalkwarf is one of 26 UT Health Science Center Dental School faculty members who are fellows of the ACD. “Over the past few years, the ACD has developed a great program to allow health professionals to assess the ethical and professional challenges that face us in today’s complex environment,” Dr. Kalkwarf said. “My goal is to move this program and the discussions it stimulates into the grassroots of our profession – and into our educational programs.”
David Katerndahl, M.D., professor of family and community medicine who is the Dr. Mario M. Ramirez Distinguished Professor of Family & Community Medicine, received a lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contributions to primary care research. The 2011 Maurice Wood Award was presented to Dr. Katerndahl at the annual meeting of the North American Primary Care Research Group in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Dr. Katerndahl has published 200 research papers and book chapters during his 30-year career. Many of those publications focus on identifying and managing panic and anxiety disorders within primary care clinics, rather than in specialty mental health settings. Recently, Dr. Katerndahl has found innovative ways to apply complexity theory to primary care. This has allowed him to study nonlinear patterns in domestic violence, aided by consecutive grants from the National Science Foundation, and to compare the complexity of primary care patient visits with specialist visits.
Robert Quinn, M.D.
Robert Quinn, M.D., from the University of New Mexico, has been named chairman of the UT Health Science Center’s Department of Orthopaedics in the Long School of Medicine. A native of Bryn Mawr, Pa., Dr. Quinn obtained his M.D. degree at Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, completed an orthopaedic residency at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and a fellowship in orthopaedic oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. An internationally renowned musculoskeletal tumor specialist, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and member of several multidisciplinary research groups, including the Children’s Oncology Group, Southwest Oncology Group, Radiation Oncology Group, American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, and International Ewing’s Sarcoma Research Forum. In addition to orthopaedic surgery, Dr. Quinn is actively involved in the specialty of wilderness medicine.
Robert S. Schenken, M.D., professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology and the Humana Foundation Distinguished Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology, was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top reproductive endocrinologists in the country. Selected by a peer-nomination process, Dr. Schenken is in the top 1 percent of his specialty in the nation. He practices with UT Health San Antonio, the clinical practice of the Long School of Medicine.
Kathleen R. Stevens, Ed.D., RN, ANEF, FAAN, professor in the Department of Health Restoration and Care Systems Management in the School of Nursing, received one of the nursing profession’s most prestigious research honors – the Episteme Award. The award, presented biennially by the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, acknowledges a major breakthrough in the development of nursing knowledge that has resulted in a significant and recognizable benefit to the public. Dr. Stevens is director of the Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice (ACE), a School of Nursing center of excellence that she founded in 2000. Through ACE, Dr. Stevens improves patient care through her efforts to build a workforce and work environments that move research quickly into high-quality care. To accomplish this, Dr. Stevens developed theories of evidence-based practice, established a national consensus on new skills needed in clinical care, and initiated a series of professional development conferences for clinicians, scientists and hospital leaders.
