Citardi named new chair of Otorhinolaryngology
Dean Giuseppe Colasurdo has announced that Dr. Martin Citardi, a nationally renowned educator, clinician, and researcher with the acclaimed Cleveland Clinic, will be the new chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.
“I am very pleased to bring a physician of Dr. Citardi’s stature to our institution. He brings significant experience and leadership to this position, and I am charging him with building a great department, with a focus on growing our clinical offerings in partnership with our affiliated hospitals,” Dean Colasurdo said. “We will be most supportive of Dr. Citardi as he works to recruit the best faculty and residents to newly developed fellowship programs in rhinology and plastic surgery. I am confident Dr. Citardi and Dr. Samer Fakhri will build an outstanding training program in otorhinolaryngology. And I thank Dr. Richard Andrassy, who has been serving as interim chair of this department.”
Citardi also will be named chief of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center and at Lyndon B. Johnson General (LBJ) Hospital.
“I am delighted to have a physician of Dr. Citardi’s caliber join our team at UT and Memorial Hermann-TMC”, said Juanita Romans, chief executive officer for the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center campus. “Dr. Citardi is a recognized leader in his field, and I am pleased to have his knowledge and expertise as we take our otolaryngology program to the next level.”
Citardi has been on staff with the Cleveland Clinic since 2001 and received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship at Georgia Rhinology and Sinus Center in Savannah, Ga., and a residency and internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. He was named the Cleveland Clinic Head & Neck Institute Teacher of the Year in 2006.
His specialty interests include the medical and surgical management of refractory sinusitis, computer-aided surgery, and endoscopic management of sinonasal neoplasia.
Citardi will establish new programs and centers in the following areas: audiology, sinus, skull base (as a joint program with neurosurgery), pediatric cochlear implants, facial reconstruction, voice, sleep, vestibular, and hearing aids.
“With Dr. Citardi’s leadership, we will see a new era in this department and in the field of otorhinolaryngology with clinical excellence at the forefront,” Dean Colasurdo said. “Our community will soon have new options - among the best in the country - when it comes to these specialties.”
-D. Brown
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Schultz named associate dean for institutional advancement
Dean Giuseppe Colasurdo has announced that Dr. Stanley Schultz, former dean of the Medical School, will become the Medical School’s new associate dean for institutional advancement, effective Jan. 1.
“Dr. Schultz has great insight into this medical school and will be a wonderful asset for our Office of Development and Alumni Relations as we start to reach out and really tap into our donor base,” said Dean Colasurdo. “He will be leading us into the community as we continue to build relations and tell our story.”
Schultz, holder of the Fondren Family Chair in Cellular Signaling, has been on the faculty of the Medical School for more than 28 years, serving first as professor and chair of the Department of Physiology.
“Dr. Schultz loves our school and our faculty, and he is genuinely passionate about the success of our research mission,” Dean Colasurdo said, adding that this announcement is one of several that he will be making regarding the new administrative structure of the school.
He received his medical degree from New York University College of Medicine and did postgraduate training at NYU-Bellevue Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Schultz’s basic research contributed to the development of oral rehydration therapy, which is credited by the World Health Organization with saving millions of lives in underdeveloped countries. Last year, he received the Prince Mahidol Award for Medicine for this lifesaving research.
"I am very grateful to Dean Colasurdo for giving me this opportunity to assist him in advancing the development of this school and propelling it into the top tier of medical schools,” Schultz said. “We are facing tremendous opportunities. We are about to open a first-class research facility that will provide us with much needed space to expand ongoing programs and launch new programs. The dean is forging new, fruitful relations with the Memorial Herman Hospital. The Medical School is a major component of the newly established Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. The Office of Development and Alumni Relations has been revitalized, and we are on the threshold of launching a major capital campaign. The times are ripe with potential , and I'm excited by being part of the team that will help us realize that potential.
"On occasions during my long hospitalization, I was ‘wheeled out’ to the Webber Plaza to watch the progress being made on the construction of the Replacement Research Facility. Words are insufficient to express how thrilled I am to participate in the development of that new facility and all that it symbolizes."
-D. Brown
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Japanese visit results in medical, cultural insight
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Renee Colorado, Michael Baik, and Isaac Chau get ready for skills lab at Tokushima Medical School, while below, faculty members perform cultural music. |
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In a study of cultural and professional exchange, Dr. Anil Kulkarni, professor of surgery, and three students, Isaac Chua, Michael Baik, and Rene Colorado visited the Tokushima, Japan medical campus in June. This was the second year of cross-cultural exchange with this university by UT Medical students.
“The hospitality of the faculty, staff, and students were unparalleled,” Chua said.
“We received a warm welcome with gifts and souvenirs by Dr. Matsumoto, dean of the Medical School,” Baik said.
“We talked about our interest and experience thus far in Japan, and he expressed his hope that the UT-Houston – University of Tokushima relationship would continue to strengthen,” Colorado added.
Regarding the medical profession in Japan, “we learned that the two most understaffed fields are pediatrics and ob-gyn due to their difficult hours and relatively low pay. Moreover, the selection process for residency is much less competitive than in the United States. Apparently, the competition lies during the application process to college/medical school,” Chua said.
Over the three-day visit, the students met faculty and students, attended classes, and even learned a traditional dance – the awa-odori.
“It consists of very firm counterintuitive movements where your hands move in sync with the stepping foot, all moving under spell of the taiko, a heart pounding drum,” Chua explained.
A group of medical school students also took the group sightseeing to sea whirlpools, the Bizan mountain, and to a tea ceremony. A conference was held between visiting Mongolian students, UT students, and the host students, with each group presenting a virtual tour of their medical facilities and cities.
“Many of the Mongolian and Japanese medical students seemed eager to learn about the Texas Medical Center, and a few students sought information on possible study abroad and research opportunities in the TMC,” Colorado said.
Dr. Terashima, a surgeon, gave the group a tour of the school’s entire hospital, including the clinical skills lab, the surgical unit and the radiology unit.
“All of the waiting areas have computerized ticketing stations for patients waiting for treatments with LCD flatscreens that display the waiting time and the patient’s number. Prior to entering the surgical unit, people must undergo a digital identification test that IDs patients according to the vein distribution pattern on the back of their hands,” Chua said.
“We also were able to examine a patient preparing to undergo deep brain stimulation to alleviate Parkinsonian-like symptoms as well as observe a surgical procedure,” Baik added.
Kulkarni said that he promotes such exchange to open students’ eyes and minds to other cultures and ways of practicing medicine.
“I want students to know that there is a world of medicine beyond the Texas Medical Center, which yes, is vast, but not complete,” he said.
This trip did open at least three pairs of young eyes.
“The more chances future doctors and current physicians have to learn about various modalities unrestricted from an American or even Texan viewpoint, the more opportunities health care in the States can expand and improve beyond anyone’s preconceived notions or expectations,” Chua said.
-D. Brown
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