Kudos

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Awards and Honors

Stanford M. Goldman, M.D., professor of radiology and urology, Medical School (MS), received the Gold Medal from the American Society of Emergency Radiology (ASER) at the ASER 2006 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The award is given for outstanding contribution to the field of emergency radiology and to the society. Goldman joined the faculty in 1993 and chaired the Department of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiology until 2000.

Marianne Marcus, Ed.D., the John P. McGovern Professor in Addiction Nursing and director of the Center for Substance Abuse Education, Prevention and Research, School of Nursing (SON), presented her research on the impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on substance abuse as part of the Edge Runner Panel during the American Academy of Nursing's Scientific Symposium Nov. 10 at the 33rd Annual Meeting in Miami, Fla. She is one of six nurse scientists selected nationally as Edge Runners - people who are developing innovative solutions that eventually become mainstream solutions - to illustrate the work that nurses are doing in integrating mental and physical health care. Marcus has funding from the National Institute of Drug Abuse for her research.

Pedro Ruiz, M.D., was appointed to the editorial board of Revista Latino Americana Virtual de Psiquiatria, Latin American Virtual Journal of Psychiatry. Ruiz is professor and vice chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, MS. He also gave the keynote speech on "Future Perspectives of the Psychiatric Profession" at the annual award banquet of the Washington Psychiatric Society, Nov. 3, in Washington, D.C.

Rose Mary Valencia, director, Office of International Affairs, has been appointed to the Secure Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee, which provides advice and recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State on efforts to maintain security while increasing the feeling of welcome to visitors to the United States. The committee held its first meeting Dec. 6 in Washington, D.C.

Presentations

Robert Emery, Dr.P.H., assistant vice president for safety, health, environment and risk management, provided a briefing in early December on radiation detection and biological effects to the Counter Terrorism Intelligence Group, which is a part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in the Houston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The session was coordinated with the support of UT Police. Emery also is associate professor of occupational and environmental health in the School of Public Health (SPH).

Dan Yang Liu, senior research assistant, Organ Transplantation, Surgery, MS, gave an oral presentation on "P2Y2 Receptor Expression in Murine Skin and Nucleotides Promote Wound Healing" Oct. 19 at the ESPEN Congress in Istanbul. ESPEN, the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, ranked the abstract 19th out of 391 submitted. Liu was first author, and Charles T. Van Buren, M.D., professor, was senior author.

The 2006 National Health Forum, Dec. 8 at Reliant Center, included speakers:

Eric Boerwinkle, Ph.D., professor and director, Center for Human Genetics, and holder of the Kozmetsky Family Chair in Human Genetics, the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM); and professor and director, Division of Epidemiology, SPH and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), "Research Paradigms for the Common Chronic Diseases."
Philip Orlander, M.D., professor of medicine and director, Division of Endocrinology, MS, "Diabetes and Vascular Disease, What We Are Doing about It."
Paul Simmons, Ph.D., professor and director, Center for Stem Cell Biology, IMM, "Stem Cells and Treatment of Heart Disease Both Now and in the Future."

At the National Health Forum's gala that followed at the Westin Galleria, Boerwinkle and Orlander were among the honorees. The UT Health Science Center was among the event sponsors.

Publications

Veronique F. Delattre, D.D.S., associate professor of restorative dentistry and biomaterials, Dental Branch (DB), and Kim Chambers, director, Patient Services, and HIPAA Officer, DB, authored "Factors Affecting the Acquisition of Antemortem Dental Records," published in the November/December issue of the Journal of Forensic Identification.

In an article in the Nov. 28 issue of the American Chemical Society weekly journal Biochemistry, Ke-He Ruan, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of internal medicine- rheumatology, MS and GSBS, and colleagues report linking together two enzymes to engineer a protein to form a "Super Enzyme" that may help prevent and treat inflammation and cardiovascular disease. The Super Enzyme makes cells grown in laboratory cultures continuously produce prostacyclin, a blood vessel protector that dilates blood vessels and prevents blood clots. Studies now suggest that the COX-2 anti-inflammatory drugs like the banned Vioxx may increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes by decreasing the body's production of prostacyclin and increasing production of thromboxane, which constricts vessels and promotes clot formation. The article title is "Engineering of a Protein with Cyclooxygenase and Prostacyclin Synthase Activities that Converts Arachidonic Acid to Prostacyclin."

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