Inside UTMB-Karnath receives teaching award
Dr. Bernard Karnath has received the 2014 Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges, which recognizes gifted teachers who have made significant contributions to medical student education. Inaugurated as an Osler Scholar in 2008, Karnath, a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, is a strong advocate of patient-centered teaching. He has received nine Golden Apple Awards from UTMB School of Medicine students. Six graduating classes have presented him with the James W. Powers Memorial Award, which honors a clinical services teacher who best exemplifies the art of medicine.
McBride receives grant to study bacteria in tick-borne disease
Jere McBride is the recipient of a $420,000 grant from The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to investigate the bacterium E. chaffeensis, which causes the life-threatening tick-borne disease human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis. McBride is a professor in the Departments of Pathology and Microbiology and Immunology and director of the Experimental Pathology Graduate Program. He is a member of the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases and Center for Tropical Diseases and serves as president of the American Society for Rickettsiology.
New members of the Employee Advisory Council
The newest members elected to UTMB’s Employee Advisory Council are Tilly Clark, representing Institutional Support; Angel Morales, representing Correctional Managed Care; Dawn Meyer, representing hospitals and clinics; and Jennifer Anderson, representing schools and the academic enterprise. The Employee Advisory Council is a group of 12 elected employees and two advisers who represent UTMB’s four broad areas of operation. The EAC’s role is to promote a positive and collaborative work environment committed to assessing, prioritizing and communicating employee needs.
New Year’s Baby Shower
The Newborn Nursery staff seeks contributions for its ninth annual New Year’s Baby Shower. Their wish list includes new items such as baby clothes, lotion, blankets, rattles, teethers, diapers, wipes, monitors, baby bathtubs, car seats, boppy pillows and gift cards for stores that carry baby items. Donation boxes are in the main hospital lobby. Donations will be collected through Dec. 30. The Newborn Nursery staff will make gift baskets for all babies born at UTMB on Jan. 1, 2015. For more information, contact Debbie Barrera at 409-772-0314 or debarrer@utmb.edu, or Jolene LeBlanc at 409-772-3350 or jmleblan@utmb.edu.
Volunteers sought for bird flu study
The Sealy Center for Vaccine Development is seeking healthy adult volunteers 65 and older to participate in a clinical trial of a new bird flu vaccine. Participants must be available for 14 study visits over an 18-month period. The study will focus on the new bird flu strain that surfaced in China in March 2013. By February 2014, the World Health Organization reported 375 laboratory-confirmed human infections and 115 deaths caused by this new A/H7N9 strain. The UTMB study will test vaccine and antibody therapeutic combinations designed specifically to combat the new strain. For more information contact the SCVD Clinical Trials Group at 409-772-5278 or scvd.ctg@utmb.edu or contact Lori Simon at 409-747-9240 or lasimon@utmb.edu.