Landon Clarke Stout, Jr., MD receives pathology society award

Landon Clarke Stout, Jr., MD of Galveston, Texas has received the annual John J. Andujar Citation of Merit Award from the Texas Society of Pathologists. Stout was honored at the society’s 92nd annual meeting in January. In 1998, the TSP proudly named our Citation of Merit in honor of Dr. John J. (Andy) Andujar to recognize the many accomplishments of  Andujar during his long and distinguished career in pathology. He and his wife, former Texas Sen. Betty Andujar, contributed significantly to the advancement of medicine and pathology in Texas as well as nationally and internationally through their dedicated service and work.

 
Postdoctoral fellow granted prestigious award
Noelle C. Anastasio, a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Addiction Research and the department of pharmacology and toxicology, was awarded a National Institutes of Health “Pathway to Independence Award” from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She’s the first postdoctoral fellow at UTMB to receive this prestigious NIH Award. The award for nearly $300,000 will help to support her research on the biology and pharmacology of impulsivity to advance the prevention and treatment of cocaine addiction as well as related impulse-control disorders. 
 
 
Faculty receive teaching excellence awards
 
Laura Rudkin, PhD, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health (PMCH), and Daneshvari Solanki, MBBS, Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, are among 12 educators from the University of Texas System institutions inducted into the University of Texas Academy of Health Science Education (UTAHSE) recently. Members of the academy represent a diverse group of educators from the many disciplines in health science education who fulfill the strict criteria set by the academy including direct teaching, curriculum development, counseling and mentorship, leadership, and educational scholarship and research.
 
Rudkin and Solanki have received numerous awards for their teaching excellence.
 
A faculty member since 1993, Rudkin has been active in expanding the population health sciences program across the campus. She is principal investigator for UTMB’s Primary Care Plus Project which seeks to integrate primary care and public health training that reaches all of our medical and physician assistant students. Her primary interest includes social factors influencing health outcomes.
 
Among her accolades, Rudkin was instrumental in the Department of PMCH receiving the 2012 Outstanding Educational Program Award by the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research for advancing undergraduate or graduate medical education in prevention and public health. She was elected to the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers (2008), followed by an appointment as a Distinguished Teaching Professor by the University of Texas System (2009). Admired by her students, Rudkin received the PMCH Program’s Teaching Excellence Award for three consecutive years (2005-2007).  In addition, the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) honored her with the GSO Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award for advocacy on behalf of students (2009).
 
Solanki joined UTMB in 1978 and has been engaged in the practice of pain management for three decades. She serves as Director of the Interventional Pain Service which she founded in 1992, Director of Regional Anesthesia, and is the initial holder of the Laura B. McDaniel Distinguished Professorship.  
 
Solanki is highly regarded for her outstanding contributions as a physician-educator. She received the Department’s Teacher of the Year Award a number of times (1984-86, 1992-94, and 2001) and is the inaugural recipient of the UTMB William Osler Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award (2005).  Committed to serving the global community, Solanki volunteers her clinical expertise on mission trips to underdeveloped countries.
Grant makes vision-saving eye care available to Galveston County’s working poor
 
More working poor in Galveston County will be able to receive free vision-saving eye care thanks to a recent $25,000 grant from the Alcon Foundation. The grant was awarded to the UTMB Health Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, which staffs the St. Vincent's House eye clinic on Galveston Island as part of its community outreach.
 
Dr. Bernard Godley, department chairman and retina specialist, said, “Continued support from the foundation allows us to expand our eye care services at the clinic, including cataract surgery, diabetic retinopathy treatment, retina surgery, contacts/glasses and patient education.”
 
In 2011 the foundation awarded a grant to provide cataract and glaucoma surgeries to an estimated 30 patients unable to afford such care.
 
For more than a decade UTMB eye specialists have volunteered their time to help hundreds of patients at the only free eye specialty clinic for the uninsured in Galveston County.
 
The clinic is staffed by ophthalmology residents under the direction of UTMB ophthalmologists.
 
Godley said, “Through our partnership with St. Vincent’s House, a non-profit social services agency, we’re able to directly address an unmet need in the Galveston County communities and provide UTMB ophthalmology residents the opportunity to learn in the context of meeting that need.”
 
For more information about the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and how to make a donation to the St. Vincent’s eye clinic, click here.