By THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH

Univeristy of Texas Medical Branch’s Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center has received a $3.4 million grant from the National Institute on Aging. The grant enables the center to continue its mission to improve physical function and independence in older adults. The focus of the UTMB Pepper Center for the next five years is to identify how and why people lose or gain physical functions with age and develop targeted ways to improve functional recovery from illness in older adults.

Physician Assistant students receive white coats

Incoming physician assistant students at UTMB received their white coats and took their professional oath in a ceremony last week. The White Coat Ceremony has become a tradition of UTMB’s PA program recognizing the transition of new PA students into the program and profession. Eighty-nine physician’s assistant students got their white coats during this year’s ceremony. The program is part of UTMB’s School of Health Professions.

Sterile Processing moves into new wing

Sterile Processing is one of the latest department to move into the new Clinical Services Wing, which joins John Sealy Hospital and the new Jennie Sealy Hospital. The department, which sterilizes all medical devices and instruments for UTMB, now has a much larger space that includes state-of-the-art technology that tracks the location and movement of instruments from sterilization throughout the UTMB network. The department had been in temporary quarters since Hurricane Ike.

Wagner president-elect of national psychiatry group

Dr. Karen D. Wagner, who is the interim chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is the president-elect of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The mission of AACAP is the promotion of the healthy development of children, adolescents and families through advocacy, education, and research, and to meet the professional needs of child and adolescent psychiatrists throughout their careers.

Vargas awarded $862,000 CPRT grant

Gracie Vargas, associate professor in the department of neuroscience and cell biology, has received a grant for more than $862,000 from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to develop a novel optical imaging approach for identifying early head and neck cancer and treatable pre-cancers.