Produced by the Office of Communications // July 19, 2012

Regents recognize four Medical School faculty

Four Medical School faculty members were among the 10 UTHealth faculty who recently received The University of Texas System Board of Regents’ highest honor in recognition of their performance in the classroom and laboratory.

Dr. Leonard Cleary, professor of neurobiology and anatomy; Dr. Jacqueline Hecht, professor of pediatrics; Dr. Donald Molony, professor of internal medicine; and Dr. Henry Strobel, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, were among 40 faculty members UT System-wide to receive a Regents Outstanding Teaching Award.

The awards, among the most competitive in the nation, recognize faculty members at UT System institutions who have demonstrated dedication to innovation and advancing excellence.

“These awards demonstrate the Board’s commitment to recognize outstanding faculty members for their exceptional performance and innovation in the classroom,” Regents’ Chairman Gene Powell said. “The Board is very pleased to offer these teaching excellence awards for the first time to faculty members at our outstanding comprehensive academic health science centers.”

This is the first year the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards have been conferred on faculty at UT System health institutions. Each of these faculty members will receive a $25,000 award and be showcased on the UT System website.

“We have a mandate to provide an education of the first class, and I firmly believe the efforts of these outstanding faculty members significantly enhance the educational experience for our students and, just as importantly, sharpen the competitive edge of our science and technology activities,” Chancellor Dr. Francisco Cigarroa said. “Furthermore, recognizing teaching excellence is aligned with the Framework for Advancing Excellence throughout The University of Texas System.”

To be considered for these awards, faculty members undergo a series of rigorous evaluations by students, peer faculty, and external reviewers. The review panels consider a range of activities and criteria in their evaluations of a candidate’s teaching performance, including classroom expertise, curricula quality, innovative course development, and student learning outcomes.

Established by the Board of Regents in 2008, the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards complement a wide range of efforts that underscore the Board of Regents’ commitment to ensuring the UT System is a place of intellectual exploration and discovery, educational excellence, and unparalleled opportunity.

—UT System

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Hancock named executive director of IMM

Following a national search, Dean Giuseppe Colasurdo has announced Dr. John Hancock as the executive director of the Medical School’s Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM).

“Dr. Hancock brings great leadership and expertise to this thriving institute and is committed to work closely with the IMM’s many outstanding center directors and faculty. I have every confidence that he will build upon the IMM’s successes to take it to even greater heights,” Dean Giuseppe Colasurdo said.

Hancock had been serving as interim director of the IMM since January 2011. He also is vice dean for basic science research at the Medical School and holds the John S. Dunn Distinguished University Chair in Physiology and Medicine. He joined the Medical School in 2008 as chair of the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, a position he still retains, and said he is looking forward to his new role.

“I am excited and highly privileged to have been given the opportunity to lead and build the research enterprise of this outstanding institute,” Hancock said. “I look forward to working with all IMM faculty and our many enthusiastic supporters and donors as we continue to grow and strengthen the IMM research centers and extend our strong collaborative scientific programs with the Medical School.”

Hancock received his M.B. (bachelor of medicine) and B.Chir. (bachelor of surgery) degrees from the University of Cambridge and his Ph.D. from the University of London. Following his medical and surgical internships as a house physician and a house surgeon at St. Thomas’ Hospital Medical School, he entered the U.S. equivalent of a two-year medical residency rotation through major London teaching hospitals, obtaining general medical training in cardiology, neurology, hematology, oncology, and intensive care. Hancock was formerly deputy director of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, where he held chairs in molecular cell biology and experimental oncology. Before moving to Australia in 1995, he was research director at a biotech company in California.

Hancock’s laboratory studies basic mechanisms of mammalian cell signaling, and his research interests include the function of Ras proteins. He is a fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and a member of The Royal College of Physicians (UK). He has citizenship in Britain, Australia, and the United States.

— Darla Brown, Office of Communications, Medical School

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Supplemental HRSA grant to support Alzheimer’s training

The Houston Geriatric Education Center (H-GEC) recently was awarded supplemental funding by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

The supplemental funding is being made available to Geriatric Education Centers throughout the nation to address initiatives providing high-quality training for doctors, nurses, and other health care providers to recognize the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and provide disease management training.

This funding is part of a new national effort aimed at combating Alzheimer’s disease. President Obama’s FY 2013 budget included $80 million for Alzheimer’s research, $4.2 million to improve public awareness of the disease, $4 million to support provider education programs, $10.5 million to invest in caregiver support, and $1.3 million to improve data collection.

The H-GEC will receive about $96,000 in additional funding in the last two years of the five-year grant.

In its proposal to HRSA for the additional funds, the H-GEC built upon currently successful programs that provide geriatric education and training to interprofessional healthcare practitioners. Dr. Carmel Dyer, interim associate dean for Harris County Programs, is the principal investigator of the H-GEC grant.

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KL2 applications now being accepted

Attention talented young faculty: Applications for the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences KL2 Award are now being accepted from clinical fellows and faculty with a rank below associate professor.

This award provides 75 percent protected time plus $10,000-$15,000 for education, or research for up to three years. Please submit your application electronically to Michelle Smith by Sept. 17.

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A cut above

— Dwight C. Andrews, Office of Communications, Medical School

 

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