Forging a connection: Father, daughter unite to support students
Julie Barnett, D.P.T., M.T.C., PT, respected the work of her father, a general surgeon, so much that she decided to follow his path to medicine. It seemed natural for the two of them to create another connection years later.
Dr. Barnett and her father, Duane Barnett, M.D., now retired, have established the Barnett Endowed Scholarship in the School of Health Professions. The $10,000 gift will create an annual scholarship of $500, awarded in perpetuity to first- or second-year physical therapy students.
“He came up with the idea, and I had always wanted to do something like that,” said Dr. Barnett, a clinical assistant professor of physical therapy at the Health Science Center. “He loves building up students, always has. And he always is thinking the best of people and being a teacher and an educator. That’s been my whole outlook, too. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Creating the endowment was the right thing to do, Dr. Barnett said, to celebrate their shared passion for medicine and education.
“It feels like such a healthy emotional yet financially tangible way to have the heritage go on,” she said. “That’s what it’s about. This combination for the two of us, it feels like one of those father-daughter things that I’m really proud of.”
A pledge to help
The Houston-based JLH Foundation has made a pledge of $356,415 to the University Transplant Center, a partnership of the Health Science Center and the University Health System.
Foundation funds will be used to support the personal needs of transplant recipients and their families, foundation officials said. The foundation was created to honor the memory of John L. Hern, a Houston businessman who in the late 1990s was hospitalized for 252 days awaiting a heart transplant.
During his hospital stay, Hern met and befriended patients who were waiting for transplants or who had just received transplants. He realized that many could not afford the associated costs, such as transportation, temporary lodging, restaurant meals, parking, co-pays and costly prescription drugs. He decided to help.
While he did undergo successful transplant surgery in December 1996, Hern died the following October after anti-rejection drugs failed. But his desire to financially assist transplant patients was realized shortly thereafter with the establishment of the JLH Foundation, funded by profits from companies he owned.
Over the years, the foundation has established relationships with several nonprofit transplant entities and initiated donor awareness programs, primarily in the Houston area.
Expanding reach
$3.7 million grant focuses on pediatric cancer patients throughout South Texas
Hispanic children have the highest incidence of cancer and the poorest outcomes. This is an especially critical issue for San Antonio, a city with a population that is more than 63 percent Hispanic.
The National Cancer Institute has awarded a $3.7 million grant to pediatric oncologists at the Health Science Center to lead a consortium of regional providers in pediatric cancer research trials.
The grant is through the NCI’s Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), and it designates the area as one of 12 minority/underserved community sites in the United States, and the only NCORP site in Texas.
"Because we are a majority-Hispanic city and have such a large Hispanic population in the area we serve, it is essential that our children be included on national trials," said Gail Tomlinson, M.D., Ph.D., interim director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at the Health Science Center.
The grant will focus on issues such as survivorship, the next big step in improving pediatric cancer care. It will also go toward cancer care delivery research, genetic counseling and support services, including consistent and accurate translation for families with language barriers.
Anne-Marie Langevin, M.D., professor and pediatric hematologist-oncologist at the Health Science Center and principal investigator on the grant, said the large scale of the grant and the area it covers means the best care is available to a larger number of families. The grant will target children in an area that extends throughout South Texas, from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin.
"We know that children, adolescents and young adults treated on clinical trials tend to do better," she said. "With all the partners, we cover 90,000 square miles of Texas, and we offer families of children and young people with cancer access to a network of clinical trails."
The other grant partners include San Antonio Military Medical Center, Methodist Children’s Hospital, Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin and Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi.
The five-year grant replaces a federal pediatric cancer grant led by the Health Science Center for more than 23 years.
New Military Health Institute, director announced
Retired Maj. Gen. Byron C. Hepburn, M.D., was named director of the Health Science Center’s new Military Health Institute.
Announced in September, the institute will improve the health of military service members, veterans and their families through collaborative education, research and clinical care.
Dr. Hepburn, whose military career spans 38 years, is a former commander of the 59th Medical Wing, Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland and director of the San Antonio Military Health System.
Prior to his selection as commander of the 59th Medical Wing, where he led the Air Force’s largest medical wing, he served as deputy surgeon general of the U.S. Air Force. In that role, he directed all operations of the Air Force Medical Service, a $5.1 billion, 43,000-person integrated health care delivery system serving 2.4 million beneficiaries at 75 military treatment facilities worldwide.
He is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and one of only a few U.S. Air Force pilot-physicians. He completed a residency in family practice and holds an appointment as professor in the Long School of Medicine’s Department of Family & Community Medicine. He also holds the titles of assistant dean for military health in the Long School of Medicine and associate vice president for the Health Science Center.
Gift to the deaf education program will benefit more children
The deaf education and hearing science program received a $246,000 gift from the Oberkotter Foundation. It was the only university program in the country selected for a grant from the foundation this year, said Blane Trautwein, Ed.D., CED, assistant professor and program director.
The money will be used to create an online course about listening and spoken language outcomes for children with hearing loss. It will also go toward the program’s main practicum school, Sunshine Cottage, which will create a teletherapy program for families of children ages 0 to 3 who have hearing loss, but who live too far away to get appropriate help, he said.
“To say that we’re the only one chosen in the nation speaks fairly well for our program,” Dr. Trautwein said. “We’re pretty darn thrilled.”
The first gift from the Oberkotter Foundation was in 2008, and over the years support has topped $663,000. The foundation supports schools where children who are deaf or hard of hearing can learn listening and spoken language skills and develop their social, emotional, language and educational skills.
The Health Science Center’s deaf education and hearing science program started in 2008 with three students. Today, with Dr. Trautwein and Sarah Ammerman, Ph.D., CED, at the helm, the program has grown to 21 students and is one of the largest in the country.
“Our program is all about making sure there are professionals out there who are knowledgeable enough and have the skills to be able to help the students use all this technology and all these great advances in medical sciences to their benefit,” Dr. Trautwein said. “It’s not just a matter of identifying children with hearing loss. You have to have trained professionals to make a difference.”
High praise received from UT System
Eight educators from the Health Science Center were selected as winners of the 2014 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award from The University of Texas System.
Each honoree received $25,000. This year the UT System awarded a total of $2.4 million to top educators from its nine academic universities and six health institutions. The awards are among the largest and most competitive in the nation for rewarding outstanding faculty performance.
William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of the Health Science Center, said the eight educators are deserving of the honor that recognizes leadership, service and passion for teaching.
"These innovative and inspirational educators are indicative of the culture of teaching excellence for which the Health Science Center is known," he said.
Those honored were:
- William P. Clarke, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology
- Archie A. Jones, D.D.S., M.B.A., professor of periodontics
- Linda M. McManus, Ph.D., professor of pathology
- Jay I. Peters, M.D., professor of medicine
- Linda Porter-Wenzlaff, Ph.D., M.S.N., RN, clinical associate professor of nursing
- Ruben D. Restrepo, M.D., RRT, FAARC, professor of respiratory care
- Ivy S. Schwartz, D.D.S., M.S.Ed., professor of general dentistry
- Frank J. Weaker, Ph.D., adjunct professor of cellular and structural biology.
On top of the world: Faculty receive worldwide honor
Reiter, Bowden named to World's Most Influential Scientific Minds
Russel J. Reiter, Ph.D., and Charles L. Bowden, M.D., of the Long School of Medicine, are on Thomson Reuters’ list of "The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014."
Dr. Reiter, professor in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, is one of the world’s leading experts on the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin, the pineal gland and circadian rhythms. He is recognized in the Biology & Biochemistry category.
Dr. Bowden, clinical professor in the departments of psychiatry and pharmacology who holds the Nancy U. Karren Endowed Chair in Psychiatry, is an internationally respected authority on bipolar disorder and mood-stabilizing medications. He is recognized in the Psychiatry/Psychology category.
"The Thomson Reuters recognition is one that conveys the competitiveness of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on the world scientific stage," said William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of the Health Science Center.
A key indicator of a scientist’s influence in his field is the number of times his publications are cited in other publications. The honorees, including Drs. Reiter and Bowden, published the greatest number of highly cited papers in 21 broad fields between 2002 and 2012. Highly cited papers rank in the top 1 percent by citations for their field and year of publication, according to Thomson Reuters.
Appointments and awards
Steven Bailey, M.D., was inducted into the inaugural 2014 Class of Master Fellows of the Society forCardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, the professional medical society for adult and pediatric invasive/interventional cardiologists. He is professor and chief of the Janey and Dolph Briscoe Division of Cardiology at the Health Science Center and is a cardiologist with UT Health San Antonio.
Peter J. Houghton, Ph.D., was named director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute and holder of the Greehey Distinguished Chair for the Children’s Cancer Research Institute.
Cynthia Mojica, Ph.D., is one of five new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Minority Health, overseen by the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Mojica is a researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research.
Jacqueline Lee Mok, Ph.D., was named vice president for academic, faculty and student affairs. Most recently, she worked as vice president/chief of staff and secretary of the Board of Trustees at Johns Hopkins University, where she also was a presidential research fellow in 2013.
Young at heart
Cardiovascular disease is the greatest killer of humans the world over, presenting huge financial and quality-of-life issues. It is well known that the heart becomes less efficient with age in all mammals studied to date, even in the absence of overt cardiac disease.
But scientists still don’t have a good understanding of how to prevent these functional declines.
The longest-lived rodent, the naked mole rat, beats these odds and escapes cardiovascular aging, at least in ages equivalent to 92-year-old humans, researchers from the Long School of Medicine reported.
Kelly Grimes, a graduate student in the Health Science Center’s Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, has conducted the first studies of naked mole rat cardiovascular function. Her findings of maintained cardiovascular function during aging support earlier studies that this species resists the common signs of aging.
She found that, at rest, the heart of the naked mole rat beats very slowly at 250 beats per minute. The rodent should have a heart rate twice as fast for its body size. The blood pressure in naked mole rats is also very low, as is the amount of blood the heart pumps and how hard it contracts to pump the blood.
"However, if they need to, for example during exercise, naked mole rats can ramp up their cardiac function with ease," Grimes said. "Their entire cardiovascular system seems to be optimized."
These data are from two papers recently published by Grimes and Rochelle Buffenstein, Ph.D., as part of a study supported by the American Heart Association. Dr. Buffenstein emphasized that the naked mole rat is unlike any other cardiovascular aging model studied.
"It looks like the naked mole rat maintains heart function at youthful levels at least till age 90," Dr. Buffenstein said. "Clearly these animals hold the secret to healthy hearts in aging humans."
Why do humans, rats, mice, monkeys, dogs and other animals show declines, but not the naked mole rat? Grimes is studying molecular mechanisms that might be protecting the naked mole rats’ cardiovascular structure and function. These protective mechanisms are likely closely linked to their natural subterranean environment and exceptional stress resistance.
The two papers are in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology published by the American Physiological Society.
Barshop Institute gets $7.5 million for aging intervention research
Exploring agents to help us live longer and healthier has become a multimillion-dollar project for the Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies.
Over the next five years, scientists will receive $7.5 million from the National Institute on Aging to test for compounds that enhance healthy aging in mice.
The Barshop Institute is part of the NIA Interventions Testing Program, which began in 2004, and works with the University of Michigan and the Jackson Laboratory to test aging interventions. The Barshop Institute tests the effects of drugs on longevity and houses the ITP Pharmacology Unit.
"This grant represents a doubling in funding over our previous ITP award," said Randy Strong, Ph.D., director and principal investigator of the San Antonio ITP. "This is now a $22 million consortium, with a third of the funding coming to the Barshop Institute in San Antonio."
The program has studied the effects of 25 compounds in 35 survival studies. So far, five interventions have shown promise, including rapamycin, a medication that extended the life span of mice, even those only treated late in life. The anti-diabetic drug acarbose is also showing potential, said Dr. Strong, professor of pharmacology in the Long School of Medicine and research career scientist at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System.
Early results have already impacted the fields of geriatrics and gerontology, providing the first strong evidence that a single drug can extend longevity by delaying or preventing the onset of multiple age-related diseases. Clinical trials are planned or are already under way to extend these findings to humans.
The NIA started a similar program using short-lived microscopic roundworms called Caenorhabditis elegans as an initial screen to speed up the identification of even more potential anti-aging interventions, Dr. Strong said.
"We are about the business of making lives better," said Health Science CenterPresident William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP. "Basic science is critically important, as is translating discoveries to patient care. Basic science is the first step on the continuum. Translating basic science discoveries to better techniques and practices is what brings it full circle. In the end, it’s all about the patient’s life."
Rapamycin testing in the ITP is having a direct economic impact on San Antonio. The ability of rapamycin-related drugs to potentially slow the aging process led to the establishment of a San Antonio biotech company, Rapamycin Holdings Inc., which is licensing exclusive rights to intellectual property central to several aspects of the rapamycin discovery.