Moody earns Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Frank G. Moody

Dr. Frank G. Moody, professor and former chair of the Department of Surgery, is the recipient of the Society of University Surgeons’ 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award recognizes individuals who have had a sustained career in academic surgery with contributions to the surgical sciences. The society seeks to acknowledge these individuals to establish role models for younger generations of surgeons to emulate their contributions to the science of surgery and their commitment to the Society of University Surgeons.

“It has been a privilege to have been in a small way a contributor to the rapid growth of digestive surgery during the past 50 years,” Moody said during his acceptance speech at the third annual Academic Surgical Congress in Huntington Beach, Calif. “We are on the threshold of preventing the severe complications of many diseases that in the future, if treated early by minimally invasive techniques will greatly reduce the human and financial burden of their progression.”

Dr. David W. Mercer, professor and Jack H. Mayfield, M.D. Chair in Surgery and past president of the Society of University Surgeons, along with Dr. Richard Andrassy, professor and chairof the Department of Surgery, presented the award to Moody.

“Dr. Moody is internationally known for his lifetime work on the pancreas, biliary tract and obesity,” said Andrassy, the Denton A. Cooley, M.D., Chair in Surgery and Jack H. Mayfield, M.D. Distinguished University Chair. “He is one of only four people recognized by the Academic Surgical Congress to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been a leader in surgery as a researcher, clinician and educator for over 50 years and this award by the academic surgical community is a tribute to the respect he has earned by not only his peers , but by the new generation of young, academic leaders.

Moody’s academic career began in 1963 in the Department of Surgery at the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco. In 1966, he joined the faculty at the University of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham, and from 1971-1982 he was chair of surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

-M. Raine


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Match Day 2008 – one for the Medical School history books

Match Day was a day of historic proportions as all but six of the 192 students in the fourth-year class were matched to a residency – the best class results in 10 years.

 “After four years of hard work, our students will finally experience Match Day, one of the most emotional days of their academic career,” said Giuseppe Colasurdo, M.D., dean of the UT Medical School at Houston. “I am confident the training and values they received at the Medical School have laid a strong foundation and will serve them well in the next step of their chosen profession.”

Approximately 16,000 U.S. medical school seniors compete with 15,000 independent applicants for approximately 24,000 residency positions.

This year’s top choices for residencies among seniors at the UT Medical School at Houston are internal medicine, anesthesiology, and general surgery.

Sixty percent of the Medical School class will stay in Texas, and 25 percent of the class matched to a UT-Houston residency program.

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Student wins AMA grant

Alexis Dougherty

Alexis Dougherty, a third-year Medical School student, is the recipient of a $2,500 grant from the American Medical Association Foundation's 2008 Seed Grant Research Program.

Established in 2001, the program provides grants to encourage medical students, physician residents and fellows to enter the research field. Dougherty, one of only 47 awardees this year, will use the grant to research her project, "Role of Syndecan-4 in Mycosis fungoides and Sezary Syndrome."

Synedcan-4 is a T-cell receptor that recently was found to mediate inhibitory function. The expression of Synedcan-4 on malignant T-cells is unknown; but if it is high, then it could be a target for treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Dougherty, who is from El Paso, plans to study the role Syndecan-4 plays in the disease and how T-cell directed therapy could benefit patients.

She is conducting the research with Dr. Madeleine Duvic, professor of dermatology and professor of internal medicine and dermatology and deputy chair of dermatology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

"We are excited to be able to help young physician investigators with their research endeavors," said AMA Foundation President Dr. Barbara Rockett. "The AMA Foundation is committed to supporting the discoveries and professional development of scientists at the start of their careers."

-AMA

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