Goldman receives lifetime achievement award

Dr. Stanford Goldman

Dr. Stanford  Goldman, professor of diagnostic and interventional imaging and urology, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Uroradiology (SUR) at a combined SUR and Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists meeting in Rancho  Mirage, Calif., Feb. 19.

 This is the second year the award will be granted, and it may be given to any present or past member of the SUR who has made substantial contributions to uroradiology and to the society. Goldman has been a member of the SUR since 1974 and is a fellow within the society, which is bestowed upon those who have made significant contributions to genitourinary diagnosis.

“I was both surprised and honored to have been selected by a group of my peers for this prestigious lifetime award,” Goldman said.

Goldman joined the Medical School faculty in 1993 and chaired the Department of Diagnostic & Therapy Radiology until 2000. Since then, he has continued on the UT faculty working in the fields of chest and abdominal imaging and is the section chief of uroradiology.  He also holds appointments as adjunct professor of radiology and urology at Baylor College of Medicine and clinical professor of radiology at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

In 2006, he received the Gold Medal Award from the American Society of Emergency Radiologists for outstanding contribution to the field of emergency radiology.

He received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, NY.

 -D. Brown


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Parking Lot A reopens

Parking is re-established for Lot A.

Gone are the trailers and the construction materials and equipment used to create the Medical School’s new six-story research space. In their place is Parking Lot A, the parking lot on Fannin in front of the Medical School, which officially reopened Feb. 1 as a Texas Medical Center lot after spending the last almost seven years as a construction “lay down” area.

The lot has 67 spaces, including three handicap parking spots, and is restricted to contract parkers, who are Medical School faculty and staff. 

“All departments and Dean’s offices were allotted a certain number of spaces.  Currently we have chairs, directors, faculty, and staff parking there,” said Linda Utterback, in the Office of Administration.

There are some differences in the new lot compared to how it used to be. Due to the inclusion of handicap spaces, the lot has fewer spaces than before. The lot also is free of the potholes familiar to its former users, as it has been resurfaced and repainted. And, the link to the UT guard desk is no longer available since the lot is now entirely managed by TMC.

“Before Tropical Storm Allison, there was a phone connected to the guard’s desk at the gate, and the guard had the ability to open and close the gate, with a camera view. Now there is no direct communication to the guard desk, and any technical difficulties will be handled by TMC,” said Tony Lentola, senior project manager for Facilities Operations.

The parking lot used to be a space for after-hour parking by students, but that has since been accommodated by the UT Professional Building garage.

The Americans with Disabilities Act-approved route from the parking lot to the school is traveling in front of the bike parking to the main entrance of the Medical School on Fannin.


-D. Brown

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Grotta reaches peaks in career, outside of work

UT Houston Neurology Chair Dr. James Grotta celebrates reaching the top of Mexico's highest mountain. Photos by Mark Dreyfus.

Off the mountain slope, renowned neurologist Dr. James Grotta spends his time researching new treatments and saving the lives of people who have suffered a stroke.

On the mountain slope, he’s just another human being, fighting the bitter cold and altitude fatigue to put one foot in front of the other.

The sum of the two is a man in balance, an admitted risk taker who tests himself both professionally and physically in ways that enhance each other.

 “We push ourselves in so many ways intellectually with patients, getting grants, and writing papers,” said Grotta, professor and chair of the Department of Neurology and one of the first researchers in the country to study the clot-buster tPA. “This is purely physical: you against the mountain and the elements. Obviously, there’s a danger but the mountains I climb are not technically dangerous mountains. In work, I take risks. That’s part of doing innovative research. But they’re calculated risks.”

Grotta, an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys skiing, diving, and sailing, became a hiking and climbing enthusiast during his neurology residency at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver in the mid 1970s.

“There’s very little opportunity to get close to nature in Houston,” said Grotta, director of Neurology Service and co-director of the Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center.

“I made a deal with myself when I came here that I would periodically get away and do things.”

Grotta, who has twice run the Houston marathon and recently qualified to run the Boston marathon, presently runs up to 35 miles a week. Always looking for adventure vacations, he has trekked through Nepal, hiked in Alaska, done medical relief work in Afghanistan and Peru, and ridden a mountain bike from Durango, Colo., to Moab, Utah.

It was during the trip to Alaska that he first thought about climbing mountains after seeing people scale Mount McKinley. In 1990, he started with Washington’s Mount Rainier, considered a good mountain for beginning climbers.

Since then he has climbed Ecuador’s Cotopaxi, 19,348 feet; Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, 19,300 feet; Argentina’s highest mountain, Aconcagua, 22,800; and his latest, Mexico’s highest mountain, Orizaba, 18,500 feet.

The last climb before reaching the summit usually begins at 1 a.m. Since the weather gets worse as the day wears on, the goal is to reach the top no later than 10 a.m. and then be back down by noon.

 “There’s a part of me that comes alive that doesn’t anywhere else,” Grotta said. “It’s a test of physical strength and mental determination and it’s not easy in the sense of altitude. But there’s a beauty. It’s really cool to climb and see the stars and moon and the outline of the mountain.”

In 2003, he faced his most challenging climb, Aconcagua. He trained by wearing a weighted backpack while running the stairs at Rice Stadium. But there’s no way to acclimate to the altitude in Houston, so he allowed three weeks for the trip and arrived early.

He lost 15 pounds during the climb, which took 10 days to reach the summit, while carrying 40 to 50 pounds of gear.

“It was easier to do when I was younger. I don’t have any body fat and when you get cold, it saps your energy,” he said. “You get short of breath, nauseated and you don’t feel like eating. You have to force yourself to drink. At Aconcagua, it took me six breaths for every step I took. When you’re up that high, it’s very alien and unfriendly.”

To stay safe, Grotta relies on guides who know the mountain and can help climbers stay on the trail and pace themselves.

He enjoyed his latest climb on Orizaba late last year as much as his first climb 17 years ago.

“It’s always emotional. You’re so focused on the task, and your mind wanders and helps you put things into perspective,” he said. “There’s a whole part of existence that you don’t get in touch with if you don’t get out there. It just reminds me that I’m alive.”

-D. Mann Lake

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