The Texas City Family Health Clinic celebrated the holidays by participating in the UTMB Office of Student Affairs holiday event by sponsoring two children from Children's Protective Services.
This year more than 450 UTMB students, faculty and staff participated in the holiday event, providing 350 gifts for 119 children.
In a survey of Texas medical professionals, 40 doctors from UTMB have been named
Texas Super Doctors.
The doctors were selected by Key Professional Media Inc. and the publishers of Texas Monthly. More than 40,000 medical professionals were asked to nominate one or more doctors in specific medical specialties based on one question: “If you needed medical care, which doctor would you choose?” The findings are published in the December 2013 issue of Texas Monthly.
“This is a tremendous honor, especially when it comes from your peers,” said UTMB President Dr. David L. Callender. “That so many of our physicians have been honored by the Super Doc recognition is a testament to the commitment of our faculty to truly improve the lives of their patients through the exemplary care they provide every day.”
Dr. Clinton White, director of the infectious disease division in the department of internal medicine at UTMB, has won a prestigious award for his work in promoting global health.
“I’m very honored,” White said. “For me, this is an outgrowth of my father’s legacy and my desire to do something to give back, a way to be involved in helping poor countries.”
White’s nomination stated that he is a “shining example of how an outstanding clinician-investigator . . . has selflessly promoted the careers of his trainees over his own.”
Dr. David H. Walker, professor and chair of the department of pathology at UTMB said that it “was a special pleasure for me as president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene to present this prestigious award to my deeply-valued colleague, Clinton White. He has raised the involvement of UTMB in education and research on tropical diseases to a level which makes me proud of both him and our institution.”
White joined the faculty of UTMB in 2007 and established the global health track for students. His students, his protégés, or as he calls them, his “children” and “grandchildren” are at institutions such as Harvard, Yale, UCLA, UCSF and Vanderbilt to name just a few. Others are working in South America and Africa.
White recently returned from Cusco, Peru where he helped one of his trainees establish a collaborative research center that was largely funded by private donations that White obtained.
Dr. Brent E. Masel, clinical professor at UTMB, has been named recipient of the 2013 Sheldon Berrol M.D. Clinical Service Award by the Brain Injury Association of America. Masel is president and medical director of the Transitional Learning Center, one of the few post-acute brain injury rehabilitation facilities, and a pioneer in the treatment of patients with acquired brain injuries. He also serves as the association’s national medical director and is a leading researcher and lecturer in his field.
During his 20-year tenure at the TLC, Masel has directed research that identified hormonal changes related to brain injury, opening new doors to potential treatments. He also has been instrumental in changing perceptions in the medical community through initiatives to treat brain injury as a chronic disease, not simply as a traumatic event. Masel and the TLC are also an integral part of new stem cell research at UTMB funded by a recent grant from The Moody Foundation.
The infectious disease research community kicked off the holidays with a breakfast hosted in the Galveston National Laboratory by Dr. and Mrs. James W. Le Duc. This annual tradition is a gathering full of great company and good cheer and a festive start to the holiday season.