Produced by the Office of Communications // June 21, 2012

Porche, ’85, named distinguished alumna

The medical director of anesthesia at MD Anderson’s Proton Therapy Center, Vivian Porche, M.D., ’85, has been named the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus/a of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

“I was shocked, elated, overwhelmed, humbled, and I started crying when I found out because I was so excited,” she said. “I was nominated once before, and since then my mother has passed away. I wish she was here to share it with me because I remember the struggle it was to become a doctor, and my parents there with me, pushing me, helping me.”

Established in 1987, the purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding contributions of alumni in the areas of medical science and education, or the prevention and treatment of diseases, as well as continued interests in the Medical School and its students.

“Whether it is in the operating room, at a committee meeting, or a community event, Dr. Porche brings a positive energy, a reassuring confidence, and a trusted competence to her patients, colleagues and associates,” wrote her nominator.

Earning her bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin, Porche completed her anesthesia residency at Baylor College of Medicine and a cardiovascular anesthesiology fellowship at Methodist Hospital prior to completing a pediatric anesthesiology fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital. Following her training, she joined MD Anderson in the Department of Anesthesiology and PeriOperative Medicine, where she has worked since.

It was the camaraderie she had with her classmates that Porche said she remembers most about her days as a Medical School student.

“I remember venting with my fellow classmates at the end of the day in the comfortable chairs of the Leather Lounge,” she recalled. “I also remember vividly and fondly the small group we had with Dr. Smalling and how scared I was going down to the gross anatomy lab on Friday evenings to study. I persuaded my boyfriend, who is now my husband, to go down there with me.”

Porche has served as the director and a member of the Acute Pain Service at MD Anderson for more than 10 years. She initiated and directed the Sedation Service to help decrease pediatric patients’ feelings of pain and fear. The service grew from taking care of a few children into a hospital-wide service for both children and adults.

Porche holds the distinction of being the first African-American woman faculty member at MD Anderson to be promoted to professor, and she was appointed the Proton Therapy Center’s first medical director of anesthesia.

Her medical school training “absolutely” prepared her for her career as a physician, she said. “Maybe it is why I went into an academic career and got my first choice for rotation where subspecialties were concerned,” she said. “I felt they helped me become the best that I can be. And as a minority student, I felt there were people who were supportive to those who might have been the first in their families coming to medical school.”

In the book “Legends and Legacies: Personal journeys of women physicians and scientists at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center,” Porche tells the story of her career. She also has reached out to the community as an ambassador through presentations to schools, health fairs, clinics, and community groups. In recognition of this work, she received the 2002 IMPACT award from Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.

She mentors and teaches residents and fellows, primarily from the Medical School, and is active in the National Medical Association, serving as vice-chair of the anesthesia section. She said the key to medical school, and life, is perseverance.

“Don’t let the amount of work intimidate you—take it one step at a time,” she advised.

Porche and her husband, Henry, have three children: Henry III, Bobbi, and Troy.

A ceremony will be held June 23 during the Medical School Reunion weekend to honor Porche’s achievements.

Porche said the day will be bittersweet since it marks the anniversary of her mother’s funeral. “But my daughter, who was named for my mother, just graduated from Ohio State University and was accepted to The University of Texas Medical School at Houston,” she added. “I want to show her, and all women, that you can have it all—just not at the same time.”

For more details about the reunion, and to register, please see the website.

— Darla Brown, Office of Communications, Medical School

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UT Physicians high-risk clinic wins Health Care Innovation Award

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has received a three-year, $3.7 million grant to continue an innovative clinic that is designed to improve outcomes for chronically ill children while reducing health care costs.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced 81 recipients of its Health Care Innovation Challenges Awards made possible by the Affordable Care Act. The awards support innovative projects designed to deliver high-quality medical care, enhance the health care workforce, and save money.

“This is a great honor,” said Dr. Jon Tyson, principal investigator and vice dean for clinical research and healthcare quality. “Of 3,000 proposals, only 11 funded proposals focus on children, and of those, ours is one of only three focused on children with serious health problems that are high risk for hospitalization.”

The grant will support the continuation of the High-Risk Children’s Clinic, which is directed by Dr. Ricardo Mosquera and opened in March 2011 with seed funding from the Medical School and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

The goal was ambitious: Offer accessible, comprehensive, and compassionate care in an enhanced medical home to improve outcomes and reduce costs for high-risk chronically ill children. Over the next three years, Medical School physicians estimate, this clinic will save almost $4.3 million in health care costs.

“Through intensive integrated and coordinated care, the program will reduce serious illnesses, emergency room visits, hospitalizations, pediatric ICU admissions, total hospital and ICU days, and total health care costs while improving the care, health, and quality of life for these fragile children,” said Mosquera, assistant professor of pediatrics.

Mosquera likens the clinic at UT Physicians to a NASCAR pit stop. The health care team—which includes primary and specialty services—converges to treat each patient’s medical needs at the same time in one location.

The team also is available 24 hours a day. Parents are encouraged to call the clinic cell phone, even if it is in the middle of the night, or on the weekend.

Nurse practitioners Cheryl Samuels and Tomika Harris are almost always the first responders. They answer the calls and are familiar with each patient’s medical history. For a mild fever, they may recommend something the parent can do at home to comfort their sick children, avoiding a costly trip to the emergency room. Or, if they determine the patient requires immediate medical attention, they can coordinate care at the hospital. These prompt actions can lower costs, physicians say.

Mosquera, an attending physician at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, said the Health Care Innovation Challenge grant allows the team to continue offering this model of care for patients younger than 18 who have a high risk of becoming hospitalized because of chronic illnesses, including congenital anomalies, lung disorders, neurologic conditions, and gastrointestinal disease.

Eighty-five patients are currently served in the High-Risk Children’s Clinic. The grant, he said, will enable the team to expand comprehensive care to as many as 300 patients.

Since the clinic opened more than a year ago, Mosquera and his colleagues have been collecting research data to study whether this medical home concept indeed lowers costs while producing the best outcomes for the sickest children.

“It’s preliminary, but we are showing good results,” Mosquera said.

Tyson said they also are working with Texas Health and Human Services to develop a sustainable reimbursement model so they can provide the best care and reduce overall costs without operating the clinic at a deficit.

Other health care team members include Drs. Susan Pacheco, Fernando Navarro, Susan Wootton, Shadé Moody, and research nurse Carmen Garcia.

For more information on the High-Risk Children’s Clinic, call 832.325.7300.

–Meredith Raine, Office of Advancement, Media Relations

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Narayana named ISMRM fellow

Dr. Ponnada Narayana, professor of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging, recently was named a 2012 fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in recognition of his contributions to the field of magnetic resonance imaging.

The ISMRM Board of Trustees names fellows annually for their significant contributions to research in the field of magnetic resonance within the society's purpose, for their development of the society, and for their support of education in magnetic resonance. This year, 12 fellows were honored at the ISMRM’s annual meeting in May in Melbourne, Australia.

“Dr. Narayana is internationally recognized for his work on in vivo experimental spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis,” said Roberta Kravitz, executive director of the ISMRM. “This award was given in recognition of his important contributions on the development and application of advanced acquisition and quantitative image processing techniques to central nervous system disorders.”

Narayana is vice chair of research in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging and is director of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research, which is dedicated to the development and application of advanced MRI techniques. He also holds adjunct appointments at the Department of Biomedical Engineering (jointly run by UT-Austin, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, and UTHealth), the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the University of Houston’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and UTMB’s Department of Biochemistry. He serves on numerous National Institutes of Health study sections, on the editorial board of the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and is a reviewer for a number of major neuroscience and MRI journals.

His major research interests include quantitative magnetic resonance of central nervous system, development of advanced magnetic resonance techniques, and image processing, with an emphasis on automatic analysis. Narayana directs a state-of-the-art 3T whole body MRI scanner and a 7T animal-dedicated MRI scanner.

Continuously funded by the NIH for the past 20 years, he is currently funded by NIH to investigate the role of angiogenesis in experimental spinal cord injury using functional MRI and characterization of multiple sclerosis brain using advanced magnetic resonance and image processing techniques. He has served as the thesis adviser for more than 15 MS, PhD, and MD/PhD students; authored/coauthored more than 230 publications in peer-reviewed journals and numerous book chapters; and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Radiology in Radiological Physics.

Founded in 1994, the ISMRM is an international, nonprofit, scientific association whose purpose is to promote communication, research, development, and applications in the field of magnetic resonance in medicine and biology and other related topics and to develop and provide channels and facilities for continuing education in the field. Its multidisciplinary membership of over 6,000 consists of clinicians, physicists, engineers, biochemists, and technologists.

— Darla Brown, Office of Communications, Medical School

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Physicians invited to submit art to Memorial Hermann exhibit

This August, the recently opened Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center Rick Smith Gallery will host “M.D. Art,” the first exhibition of artwork created entirely by Campus physicians. Sixteen pieces will be selected for the exhibition, and all physicians are invited to submit paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, or fiber arts for consideration.

If you are interested in participating, please submit a scan or photo of your artwork in digital format (JPEGs or PDF documents) to ricksmithgallery@memorialhermann.org by July 20. Physicians whose work has been selected for the exhibition will be notified in August. All original artwork (except for 3D displays) will be digitized and returned by July 31.

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Open to tours

 

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