Dr. Matt Dacso, director of academic partnerships at the University of Texas Medical Branch Center for Global and Community Health, is one of seven people that Medical Bridges recently named Global Health Heroes.

STAT Wunderkind celebrates the heroes of science and medicine who are on the cusp of launching their careers, but not yet fully independent.

Eight original projects at the University of Texas Medical Branch have earned President’s Cabinet awards totaling $211,256. The projects include support for a comprehensive care clinic at St. Vincent’s House to provide post-discharge support to heart failure patients, the creation of private spaces to promote mindfulness and relaxation among healthcare staff during stressful work situations and the purchase of specialized freezers for storing vaccines to increase Varicella vaccination rates among postpartum mothers.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents named Dr. Marjan Afrouzian, associate professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, a 2021 Outstanding Teaching Award recipient.

UTMB peers of Nancy Vanaphan, a physician assistant at the UTMB Health Angleton Danbury Campus Women’s Health Clinic, elected her as the Advanced Practice Provider of the Year. The team celebrated October 6 to mark the start of Physician Assistant Week. Vanaphan, who has been practicing medicine for seven years, has been with UTMB Health for more than two years.

Nolan Michael Dvorak is a recipient of the Jess Hay Endowment for Chancellor’s Graduate Student Research Fellowship. Only two outstanding graduate students from UT System institutions get this honor each year, thanks to a generous endowment established by former UT System Regent Jess Hay.

The Texas Board of Criminal Justice honored the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing with the 2021 Governor’s Criminal Justice Volunteer Service Award- Health Division for the undergraduate nursing project titled BAMBI /School of Nursing Collaborative.