Four University of Texas Medical Branch faculty members received an Outstanding Teachers Award from the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System. Faculty at all UT institutions are evaluated by students, peer faculty and external reviewers to determine each year’s winners. Recipients get $25,000.
The winners from the medical branch this year are: Dr. Jose Barral, associate professor and associate dean for academic affairs in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; Dr. Mark Hellmich, professor and program director for Human Pathophysiology and Translational Medicine Graduate Program; Dr. Alice Hill, professor and director of the School of Nursing’s Ph.D. program; and Dr. Bernard Karnath, professor in the department of Internal Medicine.
Sollenberger to head America’s Essential Hospitals
Donna K. Sollenberger, executive vice president and CEO of UTMB Health System, is the new chair-elect of America’s Essential Hospitals, an association and champion for hospitals and health systems dedicated to high-quality care for all, including the most vulnerable. She will become the board chair of the organization next year.
Sollenberger, who joined the medical branch in 2009, has overseen an unprecedented expansion of health services and achievements, including the opening of the Jennie Sealy Hospital, League City campus and its hospital and many new clinics throughout the region as well as moving the Angleton Danbury Hospital into the UTMB Health enterprise.
Rudenko and Zhou get $3 million to fight drug addiction
Gabrielle Rudenko and Jia Zhou in the department of pharmacology and toxicology received more than $3 million from the National Institutes of Health to study and develop ways to treat drug addiction. The money is to develop and optimize new chemical probes which target delta FosB, which accumulates in specific regions of the brain in response to cocaine or other drugs of abuse.
The new probes will enable researchers to test the therapeutic potential of delta FosB as a viable drug target for treating drug addiction. By regulating delta FosB with small molecules, the researchers hope to exploit delta FosB to strategically regulate key genes and overcome harmful brain and behavioral adaptations induced by repeated drug use.
The John Sealy Hospital on the Galveston Campus opened in 1978. A $133 million renovation has started and when complete, the hospital will have bigger patient rooms, bigger windows and a new exterior cladding to complement the new Jennie Sealy Hospital.