January 2, 2022

 

Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine announced on December 28, that CORBEVAX, a protein sub-unit COVID-19 Vaccine, whose technology was created and engineered at its Center for Vaccine Development (CVD), has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to launch first in India, with other underserved countries to follow.

Commenting on this historic news for Texas Children’s, Mark Wallace said, “I cannot begin to express how monumental this is for Texas Children’s, Dr. Peter Hotez, Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi and their teams – but even more so, how monumental this is for the entire world. In the U.S., we have had access to the COVID-19 vaccine for a year – but around the globe, many countries are desperately waiting for the tool they need to overcome the pandemic, and the emergence of the Omicron variant emphasizes this dire need.”

Large-scale, fast and low-cost production

Dubbed “The World’s COVID-19 Vaccine,” CORBEVAX uses a traditional recombinant protein-based technology that will enable its production at large scales making it widely accessible to inoculate the global population. Because the vaccine uses a conventional production platform that has been in use for decades, it can be easily and quickly produced in existing manufacturing facilities around the world at a very low cost. The two-dose vaccine also relies on standard refrigeration storage conditions, making delivery of massive quantities of this vaccine to remote, rural populations possible.

More about the vaccine development and testing

The initial construct and production process of the vaccine antigen was developed at Texas Children’s Hospital CVD, led by co-directors Drs. Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez and in-licensed from BCM Ventures, Baylor College of Medicine’s integrated commercialization team, to Hyderabad-based vaccine and pharmaceutical company Biological E. Limited (BE). After completing two Phase III clinical trials involving more than 3000 subjects, CORBEVAX was found to be safe, well tolerated and immunogenic.

“This announcement is an important first step in vaccinating the world and halting the pandemic. Our vaccine technology offers a path to address an unfolding humanitarian crisis, namely the vulnerability the low- and middle-income countries face against the delta variant,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, Professor and Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor and Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. “Widespread and global vaccination with our Texas Children’s-Baylor-BE vaccine would also forestall the emergence of new variants. We have previously missed that opportunity for the alpha and delta variant. Now is our chance to prevent a new global wave from what might follow.”

Keep an eye on the national news as this exciting announcement is shared with the world.

July 26, 2021

Texas Children’s has just announced a phased, multi-year expansion plan for the Pavilion for Women that will allow us to continue providing the highest-quality care possible as one of the preeminent women’s health care destinations in the country.

“This expansion plan will not only allow us to increase our delivery volume by about 30 percent, but will also allow us have more space for specialized clinics and specific programs that will cater to women at every stage of life,” said Dr. Michael Belfort, OB/GYN-in-Chief.

Since its opening in 2012, the Pavilion has consistently fulfilled its vision to deliver exceptional care to mothers and their babies and now exceeded delivery capacity with unmatched clinical outcomes. In addition to Texas Children’s Fetal Center – a national leader in the diagnosis and treatment of abnormalities in unborn and newborn infants – the facility is home to a level IV neonatal intensive care unit.

The new expansion includes transforming the former Baylor Clinic at 6620 Main Street in the Medical Center into part of Texas Children’s campus and renaming it Main Tower, providing Texas Children’s with an additional 190,000 square feet of usable space. There will be three phases of the project, with Phase 1 expected to be completed in spring 2022 and full completion expected in 2024.

“Patients come from all across the country and the globe to access our world-renowned medical experts and the full continuum of care we offer mothers and babies,” Belfort said. “We are looking forward to increasing our capacity to offer the best care to every woman and child, from the healthiest to the sickest.”

To read more about the expansion planned for Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, click here.

July 23, 2021

Voyager is the new unified Oracle Cloud solution that will be replacing PeopleSoft, our current Finance (FIN), Supply Chain (SCM), Human Capital Management (HCM) and Payroll (PY) system at Texas Children’s.

Thanks to the tireless work of many of you, the Voyager Project has made significant progress to date, and we are less than 80 days from the Finance and Supply Chain go-live on October 4, 2021. The Human Resources and Payroll go-live is targeted for January 2022. Weekly updates regarding training, support resources and engagement events are available on the Voyager SharePoint site.

There are several key benefits to the new Voyager platform! This platform will replace our current PeopleSoft system and streamline the HR, Finance, and Supply Chain user experience, reducing several manual processes to create more efficiency in employees’ day-to-day roles. Voyager will drive consistency and standardization in processes and data to allow for real-time reporting and data management.

Our vision is to advance the Texas Children’s mission by building a foundation of harmonized systems and processes in these functional areas to meet the organization’s needs over time. Each of you is critical to the achievement of this vision. We are committed to help you be successful using the new Voyager platform to minimize disruption to you and your work.

For more information: Navigate to the Voyager SharePoint site for weekly updates and reach out to your Leader or Change Agent to see how this platform directly benefits your team.

Questions?  Please contact project email at: VoyagerProject@texaschildrens.org

July 7, 2021

Seven years after performing the world’s first successful two-port fetoscopic surgery to treat spina bifida, Texas Children’s surgeons have performed the100th surgery of its kind.

Dr. Michael Belfort, OB/GYN-in-chief at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, and Dr. William Whitehead, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Texas Children’s, developed the fetal surgery technique, which presents less risk to the mother and less risk of prematurity to the baby.

The condition occurs when a fetus’ neural tube fails to close during the first month of pregnancy, and can cause children to have difficulty walking, to need a shunt to drain cerebral fluid, and more.

“This milestone is very exciting and has been years in the making at Texas Children’s,” said Belfort, who is also professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine.

“Fetal surgery for spina bifida improves the baby’s chances of being able to walk and decreases the need for a shunt to drain fluid from the baby’s brain. Our procedure allows the mother the chance of a normal term delivery and reduces her risk of the type of complications that may be seen with the open uterus approach,” Belfort said. “We hope that our outcomes will inspire other physicians to use this technique to improve spina bifida care across the world.”

Belfort and Whitehead began to develop and practice their method in 2011, before performing the procedure on a patient three years later. At the time, the then-investigational surgery began a research study overseen by the Institutional Review Board at Baylor College of Medicine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a Data Safety Monitoring Board and the Texas Children’s Hospital Fetal Therapy Board. Now, the procedure is standard of care for eligible patients at Texas Children’s.

“I am so proud of Dr. Belfort, Dr. Whitehead and the entire Texas Children’s Fetal Center team for this incredible accomplishment,” said President and CEO Mark A. Wallace. “Improving the quality of life for even one mother and child is reason enough to be proud, but 100 successful surgeries truly shows the consistent expertise of our team. Reaching this remarkable milestone is only the beginning, and I know the team will continue to take care of the children and women who need us the most while innovating new lifesaving treatments.”

Currently, the typical procedure to treat spina bifida prenatally is an open procedure, where the spine is repaired through a 7 to 10 centimeter opening made in the uterus. Women who undergo this procedure need a preterm cesarean delivery for this and all future pregnancies to avoid uterine rupture.

Instead, Belfort and Whitehead’s method allows mothers to deliver around 38 weeks instead of 34 to 35 weeks, and about half have a vaginal delivery.

“The benefits to the mother are what convinced me to be part of this fetoscopic program, and I am even more pleased now to see that the later gestational age at birth also has benefits for the baby,” said Whitehead, who is also a professor of neurosurgery at Baylor.

Now, Belfort and Whitehead are training physicians from across the world to perform the procedure.

“There are babies on four continents and more than 12 countries who have benefited from the fetoscopic approach. We hope to continue improving spina bifida outcomes for children and mothers, wherever they may be,” Belfort said. “We are looking forward to innovating additional fetal surgeries to address other life-limiting or life-threatening congenital anomalies.”

May 11, 2021

With more and more children seeking compassionate and reliable care to manage chronic pain, Texas Children’s has now opened the West Campus Pain Clinic to bring much-needed pain management services closer to home for families in west Houston and surrounding areas.

Frequently defined as lasting greater than 3 months or longer, chronic pain is recurrent, persistent and often affected by biological influences and psychological and sociocultural factors. Pain Medicine providers at Texas Children’s routinely see children and adolescents with low back pain, chronic daily headache, chronic pelvic pain, fibromyalgia and many other conditions that drastically affect quality of life.

Led by Dr. Laura Torres, the Medical Center Pain Clinic has been running at capacity for the last year. The ever-increasing number of patients prompted clinical and administrative leaders to consider how best to improve access to pain medicine, while also offering new options for segments of our patient population that had been underserved.

“Expert diagnosis and treatment for painful conditions in children is a major problem,” said Anesthesiologist-in-Chief Dr. Dean Andropoulos. “Although we have had a successful Pain Clinic at the Medical Center for a number of years, this patient population continues to grow and we needed to expand. West Campus is the perfect location for this new clinic because of the availability of space and time, and the presence of additional expertise.”

Opening new doors for pain management

The West Campus Pain Clinic is led by Dr. Henry Huang, an anesthesiologist with extensive fellowship training in Pediatric Anesthesiology and in Pediatric and Adult Pain Medicine. Huang is trained to perform some procedures not yet offered by the Anesthesiology Department, which will inevitably allow more patients to experience improved relief.

The clinic also includes a dedicated psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist and nursing staff to enhance the level of support provided.

“Chronic pain is commonly debilitating for families and remarkably complex to treat,” said Dr. Chris Glover, division director for Anesthesia Services at both West Campus and The Woodlands. He noted that opening a clinic at West Campus proved to be the ideal solution from multiple perspectives, including the ease of wayfinding and availability of parking.

“The clinic provides an intervention-based option along with traditional-based approaches for families, which complements the current service in the Medical Center,” Glover said. “West was an easy choice in broadening our reach.”

Endless potential for growth

As with any major undertaking at Texas Children’s, the opening of the West Campus Pain Clinic was handled with a thoughtful, patient-centered approach.

“The multidisciplinary approach to care ensures that we are caring for the whole child and not just a fraction of their concerns,” said Kara Abrameit, director of Outpatient and Clinic Support Services at West Campus. “The team quickly jumped behind this opportunity by having collaborative brainstorming meetings, thinking outside of the box and challenging one another to ensure we were able to find solutions.”

Over the course of many months, the diverse group of stakeholders worked together to better understand patient needs; recruit and align the right providers, including incorporating therapists from the Clear Lake Specialty Care; identify and secure the needed space with social distancing in mind; and resolve every decision that made the clinic a reality.

“Many of our patients have to deal with chronic pain issues and should not have to drive all the way to the Medical Center to receive treatment,” said Vice President Matt Timmons. “Offering this service at West is a huge step in serving this patient population closer to home.”

With limited pediatric chronic pain clinics in the United States, many children are unable to receive the pain management services they need – and few clinics can apply the same interventions and guidance now offered at West Campus. The team anticipates more growth and success ahead.

“This is only the beginning for Texas Children’s Pain Service,” said practice administrator Kelly Crumley. “This expansion from the Medical Center out into the greater community is the first step in our growth plans. It is our priority and responsibility to care for these children’s chronic pain needs, and we will continue to creatively enhance this service and our reach to do so.”

To make patient appointments at the West Campus Pain Clinic via Epic Inbasket, use WC PPC for scheduling. Referrals can also be placed, with sooner scheduling if referrals are directed specifically to Dr. Henry Huang. To contact the clinic by phone, call 832-227-0010.

April 27, 2021

Thanks to amazing advances in robotic single-site technology and traditional single-site and transvaginal Natural Orifice Endoscopy Surgery (NOTES) for advanced pelvic surgery, many conditions – like endometriosis, uterine fibroids, pelvic prolapse, hysterectomies and reproductive cancers – can be performed using minimally invasive techniques. Read more

December 14, 2020

As we all gear up for 2021, excitement is building about the new Epic Tapestry health care management system. This year has brought significant progress in the project; with testing, communication and training as the focuses going forward.

“In a normal year, we would be proud of the work that’s taken place,” said Richelle Fleischer, senior vice president. “But the fact that we hit project milestones amid a leadership change, a global pandemic, hurricane preparations and so much more is truly remarkable. We can all agree that 2020 has been one for the books and to see Tapestry team members persevere is commendable.”

John Turner, assistant vice president for Information Services, says the project is on track and scheduled to go live in June of 2021. He urges employees to stay engaged. “We are in the homestretch of our roll-out and it’s more important ever that all teams tune into communications and receive the proper training,” he said. “Articles, videos, emails and virtual training sessions will be plentiful next year. Let’s get excited, engaged and trained.”

Employee communications will continue in January. Watch Connect, your inbox and the upcoming Sharepoint site to stay informed. In the meantime, view the series of stories that are linked below.

In pursuit of a healthier planet – Care Coordination (Healthy Planet Module)
https://texaschildrensnews.org/in-pursuit-of-a-healthier-planet/

Being a member is about to get even better – Member Services
https://texaschildrensnews.org/being-a-member-is-about-to-get-even-better/

The Money Matters of Epic Tapestry – Finance & Claims
https://texaschildrensnews.org/the-money-matters-of-epic-tapestry/

An improved provider experience is on the way – Provider Relations
https://texaschildrensnews.org/an-improved-provider-experience-is-on-the-way/