Reaching out
A $600,000 three-year grant from the Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation is supporting a new nurse-led clinic for children who attend the AVANCE-San Antonio Head Start program at the Fenley Center, a child-development campus in the Harlandale Independent School District.
The clinic offers preventative screenings and primary health care through an agreement between the UT Nursing Clinical Enterprise, an initiative of the School of Nursing, and AVANCE-San Antonio, which provides Head Start Services.
All children enrolled in Head Start in the Harlandale ISD and their parents and guardians also will receive health education from certified pediatric nurse practitioners, a registered dietician, licensed vocational nurses and AVANCE-San Antonio staff.
A contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program also helped fund the clinic expansion.
Appointments and Awards
Bandana Chatterjee, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine, is a new fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has conducted almost a quarter-century of prostate cancer research in the Long School of Medicine.
Andrea Giuffrida, Ph.D., was appointed vice president for research after serving as ad interim since May 2014. Dr. Giuffrida is an associate professor of pharmacology and served previously as the director of biomedical research development in the Office of the Vice President for Research. He joined the Long School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences faculty in 2003.
Virginia Kaklamani, M.D., was named director of the breast cancer program at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center. A professor of medicine in the division of hematology/oncology, her research interests include studying high-risk families and identifying genetic mutations that are associated with an increased risk for breast, colon and prostate cancer.
Jan E. Patterson, M.D., M.S., was appointed to serve on the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The committee provides guidance regarding infection control practices and strategies for surveillance and prevention of health care-associated infections, antimicrobial resistance and related events.
Daniel Lodge, Ph.D., a psychiatric disorders researcher, was chosen as the first recipient of the Neuropharmacology Division Early Career Investigator Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Dr. Lodge is an assistant professor in pharmacology.
Four stars: School of Medicine faculty honored
Four School of Medicine faculty were honored at the national meeting of the American College of Physicians:
Marvin Forland, M.D., MACP, professor emeritus of medicine who helped launch the Long School of Medicine, received the Texas Chapter Centennial Award. A founding faculty member of the Health Science Center, Dr. Forland recorded a video history interview. View
Ralph DeFronzo, M.D., FACP, professor of medicine and chief of diabetes, received the Samuel Eichold II Memorial Award for Contributions in Diabetes.
Ruth Berggren, M.D., FACP, professor of medicine–infectious diseases and director of the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics, received the Nicholas E. Davies Memorial Scholar Award for Scholarly Activities in the Humanities and History of Medicine.
George Crawford, M.D., MACP, professor of medicine and associate director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, was installed as governor of the Southern Texas Region of the ACP.
Salud America! receives $1.3 million grant
A national online network to reduce obesity received a one-year, $1.3 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children, created in 2007, is a San Antonio-based network of 10,000 parents, leaders, academics and advocates seeking environmental and policy solutions to Latino obesity. The funding will allow the program to expand its membership and build new scientific evidence and policy recommendations to guide efforts to reduce obesity.
“Latino childhood obesity remains a national health threat, but we believe our research and multimedia educational content will continue to motivate people to push for healthy changes in their areas,” said Amelie Ramirez, Dr.P.H., professor and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center and director of Salud America!
Matchmaking at Match Day 2015
Stressed out? Blame your genes
Scientists have long believed that the tendency of experiencing stress-related disorders such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and obesity is inherited or is the result of traumatic events. But scientists from the Health Science Center who study depression in teens are looking into another factor—the role that changing genes play.
Subtle changes in a gene can predict how the brain reacts to stress, they found. And those genes may change over time, making some with the same genetic makeup more likely to experience stress than others.
The studies, led by the Health Science Center’s Douglas E.
Williamson, Ph.D., and Ahmad Hariri, Ph.D., from Duke University, looked at the serotonin transporter, a gene that regulates the amount of serotonin signaling that occurs between brain cells and is frequently the target for antidepressant drugs. They proved the existence of a mechanism impacting the brain that also may play a role in an individual’s reaction to stress, which may be a stronger predictor of stress than DNA sequencing.
Attached to the serotonin transporter’s DNA are chemical marks called methyl groups. They help regulate when, where and how much of the gene is expressed. This is one form of gene modification, which scientists are studying to understand how the same genetic code can produce different reactions to stress, and a wide range of cellular responses in the body.
“Our work is helping to identify the specific mechanisms that are involved in the onset of depression, which is involved in 70 percent of people with PTSD,” said
Dr. Williamson, an associate professor of psychiatry, epidemiology and biostatistics in the Long School of Medicine, and the Dielmann Chair of Genetic and Environmental Risk.
“The findings of the current study and our ongoing research are contributing to a paradigm shift in how our field examines genetic contributions to psychiatric conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. We are moving beyond simple inherited genetic sequence variation to examine what is being modified during one’s lifetime and how this may in turn be passed on to our children.”
An Evening of Promise
Annual gala honors Frost family legacy
The link between Patricia and Tom Frost and the Health Science Center was forged in 1959, when the Texas Legislature signed House Bill 9 to create the Long School of Medicine that now sits in the heart of the San Antonio Medical Center.
But the Frosts never imagined it would become what it is today.
"It’s been an important thing in my life [to experience] how well it’s been done," said Tom Frost, emeritus member of the Health Science Center’s Development Board. "It’s marvelous. We never dreamt it would be anything like what we have now. The level of medical care in this community is many times greater today than it was before the university came."
The Frosts, known for their longtime support for the economic growth of San Antonio, were honored at the 2014 President’s Gala held Sept. 13. The event, called An Evening of Promise, will establish the Tom C. and Patricia H. Frost Endowment to Advance Cancer Research and Education with proceeds of $500,000 raised through community support. The endowment will go toward student scholarships and fellowships, and cancer research.
It was the Frosts’ faith in the future and their willingness to accept risk that helped launch the Health Science Center into the epicenter for education, research and healing it is today, said Health Science Center President William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP.
"In one way or another, directly or indirectly, we have all been touched by the countless efforts of Tom and Patricia Frost’s generosity and service to San Antonio, to our region, to our state and to our country," Dr. Henrich said.
"When Tom and leaders of San Antonio inaugurated these new medical efforts, they made a pledge to the city to give their best efforts to improve health care, foster research and light the lamp of education."
Tom Frost, chairman emeritus of Frost Bank, is the fourth generation of his family to oversee the bank founded by his great grandfather, Col. T.C. Frost, in 1898. The Frost family continues to build on a legacy of philanthropy that spans generations, said Bartell Zachry, honorary chair of the gala.
"No team has done more than the team of Pat and Tom Frost," he said. "Their nurturing support since [the Health Science Center’s] beginning has touched so many lives. It is important that they be recognized for what they have accomplished, but especially for the example they have set for all of us in all they have done for so many years that makes possible the dynamic, grand and extraordinary lifesaving resource and life-changing resource that is the Health Science Center of San Antonio."
More than four decades ago, Frost led efforts to establish the Cancer Therapy & Research Center and was named its first honorary trustee. The CTRC, which just marked its 40th anniversary, has become one of the elite academic cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center.
"This generous support by the Frost family and countless other members of our community will allow us to continue to provide compassionate treatment for all of our patients while our research team seeks to improve treatment and understand cancer with the goal of preventing it," Dr. Henrich said.
Stem cells revealed
Public Education Day explores regenerative medicine
What are stem cells and how might they be used to treat diseases? How safe are current stem cell treatments? How can the public enroll in a clinical trial? What are the ethical issues? How is the U.S. military using regenerative medicine?
The Health Science Center hosted a Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Public Education Day Dec. 2 to address the many questions about stem cells and regenerative medicine through speaker panels and interactive booths. Keynote speaker Elaine Fuchs, Ph.D., an investigator at Rockefeller University, presented a public lecture about her research that explores where adult stem cells come from, how they make tissues, how they repair wounds and how stem cells malfunction in cancers.
The event immediately preceded the 2014 World Stem Cell Summit, which ran Dec. 3 to 5 in downtown San Antonio. The Health Science Center was an organizing sponsor of the summit, which is the largest interdisciplinary stem cell meeting in the world.
"The Health Science Center is committed to stem cell research, including applications to oral health, aging, neuroscience, diabetes and cancer," said Health Science Center President William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, a summit co-chair. "The World Stem Cell Summit was an opportunity to showcase our work on the global stage and establish new connections with national and international partners. The stem cell and regenerative medicine field has the potential to transform medicine, but also to transform the Texas economy."
The World Stem Cell Summit featured 200 prominent leaders in translational medicine, science and other fields. The event attracted attendees from 40 nations.
Exceeding expectations: CTRC raises an unprecedented $13.2 million
The Cancer Therapy & Research Center received $1 million from the Klesse Foundation and an additional $1 million from the Valero Energy Foundation in support of the recruitment of a nationally recognized scientist to lead the CTRC’s Cancer Prevention Program.
The two gifts helped the CTRC exceed its $10 million annual fundraising goal, bringing the year’s philanthropic total to an unprecedented $13.2 million.
"Margie and Bill Klesse and the Valero Energy Foundation are enabling us to continue to surpass our goals in making new discoveries and providing exceptional care, and we cannot thank them enough," said CTRC Director Ian M. Thompson Jr., M.D. "These votes of confidence from our own community are not only incredibly helpful for cancer prevention, research and care, but they are also close to our hearts."
Recruitment of a national leader in cancer prevention will distinguish the CTRC on a national level and will have a transformative effect, amplifying the important and lasting impact of reducing the burden of cancer on the South Texas region, he added.
Margie and Bill Klesse and Valero are longstanding supporters of the CTRC and the Health Science Center. Margie Klesse is a member of the CTRC Board of Governors and has served on the Board of Trustees of the CTRC Council, formerly the Cancer Center Council. She also has co-chaired the San Antonio Express-News Book & Author Luncheon, which benefits the CTRC’s Phase I Clinical Research Program.
At the Sept. 29 announcement of the gifts, Bill Klesse recognized Dr. Thompson’s leadership and the critical work of the CTRC physicians and researchers.
Many people who suffer from cancer can't travel to other cities for treatment, he said, so having a top-rated cancer facility in San Antonio, one that is connected to an academic institution, is essential.
New chair established
John H. Doran, M.D. ’73, an internist in Odessa, Texas, has given $500,000 to the Health Science Center to establish the John H. Doran, M.D., FACP, Endowed Chair in Peripheral Neuropathy.
Dr. Doran has been practicing in his native Odessa since graduating from the Long School of Medicine. He said he has long had an interest in giving back to the medical school and in advancing knowledge through research.
"There’s a lot we need to know about peripheral neuropathy," he said. "I’ve seen an increase in the number of cases in recent years. There are more idiopathic [unknown] causes."
The endowment will support, among other areas, the investigation of pathophysiology, cell biology and biochemistry of neuropathy, the development of biological or biochemical drugs and participation in clinical trials designed to reduce or eliminate the disease process.
Alejandro Tobon, M.D., is the inaugural holder of the Doran Chair. He completed his medical education in Colombia followed by an internship at Drexel University. His neurology residency training was at the University of New Mexico and his neuromuscular medicine fellowship training followed at the University of Miami.