Media Spotlight

The following is a sample of recent media placements about The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. For more information or assistance with media relations, call Meredith Raine, 713-500-3050.

IMM researcher Dr. Nathan Bryan tells reporter Christi Myers about his study refuting a popular misconception that nitrites and nitrates in bacon cause cancer - in fact, he says, bacon is good for you and may actually protect against heart attack and help in healing heart attack damage; aired on KTRK-TV's "Eyewitness News Live At Five" and "Eyewitness News At Six," Nov. 27, and repeated Dec. 2 on "13 Eyewitness News Sunday."

On the national ABC program "World News With Charles Gibson," a two-part story featuring UT Houston's Dr. Mildred Ramirez describes how breast cancer patient Linda Sanchez is treated with chemotherapy while pregnant and later safely delivers a healthy baby girl, Isabella, at Memorial Hermann-TMC (Nov. 05 & 28).

KHOU-TV's Lee McGuire follows up on his 2006 story to report that the UT Health Science Center has kept its promise to do better at giving contracts to businesses owned by minorities and women. He found that UT Houston spent twice as much on those contracts this year over last year, for a total of $23 million dollars; aired Nov. 29 on "11 News At Six."

Dr. Perry Bickel talks about how IMM researchers are studying the way fat cells work at the molecular level in hope of developing a fat-burning pill to curb obesity; reported by Christi Myers on KTRK-TV's "Eyewitness News At Six," Dec. 3.

Interviewed by the Los Angeles Times about a new study finding that stem cells reverse sickle cell anemia in mice, the IMM's Dr. Paul J. Simmons says, "There's going to be this tsunami" of discoveries using iPS cells. This Dec. 7 story appeared nationwide in newspapers including the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Hartford Courant and major Texas newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle and Dallas Morning News.

Houston Business Journal's "People On the Move" section (Dec. 7-13 issue) notes that UT Houston Vice President & Chief Auxiliary Enterprises Officer Charles Figari has been installed as president of the National Association of College Auxiliary Services.

A Dec. 9 story by Kirk Ladendorf for the Austin American-Statesman describes Dr. Mauro Ferrari's start-up company, NanoMedical Systems Inc., and how UT Houston research could lead to the Sematech plant in Southeast Austin hosting "a flock of innovative startups that apply advanced chip industry know-how to tough medical problems."

The Dec. 14 preview event and ribbon-cutting for the UT Medical School's new $80.5-million research facility at 6431-A Fannin Street is covered by KHOU-TV, KTRK-TV, KHCW-TV CW 39, KRIV-TV Fox 26, KXLN-TV Univision and KUHF-FM Radio as "A Second Chance for Science" after the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Allison 6 years ago.

A story by Mary Vuong in the Dec. 17 issue of the Houston Chronicle's monthly "Health" magazine includes UT Houston nutritionist Karen Gibson explaining how to eat to gain energy.

UT Houston geneticist Dr. Hope Northrup explains how researchers at UT Medical School have discovered a link between spina bifida and the gene regulating glucose; reported by Christi Myers on KTRK-TV's "Eyewitness News At Six," Dec. 17.

On a Dec. 19 KRIV-TV "Fox Family Report" by Andrea Watkins, Dr. Hope Northrup talks about the value of genetic counseling and how people should interpret disease probability analysis; aired Dec. 19 on "Fox 26 News At Nine" and Dec. 20 on "Fox 26 News At 8 AM."

UT Houston's Dr. Richard Bradley appears on CNN's "House Call With Dr. Sanjay Gupta" to share survival tips on how to stay safe in the winter weather and how to use information available from the Red Cross; aired Dec. 22 at 8 AM and again on Dec. 23 at 9 a.m.

CNN includes on a Dec. 25 rebroadcast of the "Anderson Cooper 360" news program reports on how a UT School of Public Health study shows that children living within 2 miles of the Houston Ship Channel had a 56 percent greater chance of getting some forms of leukemia, plus finding concentrations of known carcinogens benzene and 1,3-butadiene at least 20 times greater density than any other city in the U.S.