February 25, 2014
Name Department
Amosu, Juliana Facilities Operations
Armstrong, Courtney Texas Children’s Gordon Emergency Center
Assemu, Helen West Campus – Pathology
Beiza, Marilyn Texas Children’s Physician Service Organization
Blair, Erin Texas Children’s Cancer Center
Brown, Lakesha Texas Children’s Pediatrics Friendswood
Casiano, Talitha Respiratory Care
Cauley, Ashley Texas Children’s Newborn Center
Cleveland, Heather Pediatric Radiology
Coburn, Megan Texas Children’s Heart Center
Devillez, Amy Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy
Durham, Pamela Women’s Services
Eighmy, Nicolle Child Life
Enoch, Beverly Pathology
Estep, Holly Texas Children’s Pediatrics North Cypress
Felder, Sophia Women’s Services
Ferguson, Megan Progressive Care Unit
Fisher, Kimberly Nursing
Freeman, Kristen Respiratory Care
French, Elizabeth Pediatric Surgical Service
Garcia, Blanca Texas Children’s Pediatrics Sugar Land
Garrie, Emily Texas Children’s Pediatrics Westchase
Gibson, Stephanie Neurology Unit
Gonzalez, Gracie Pathology
Henley, Megan Texas Children’s Health Plan
Holt, Kheelyn Psychiatry
Johnson, Brandon Supply Chain
Johnston, Amanda Respiratory Care
Jones, Heather Administration
Jones, Samantha West Campus – Audiology
Jordan, Cindy Nursing
Joya, Lisseth Texas Children’s Pediatrics Fannin
Juneau, Natalie Child Life
Karabi, Atefeh Food and Nutrition Services
Kassler, Jennifer Ambulatory Services
Lacy, Kayla Respiratory Care
Leclair, Ashton Supply Chain
Linville, Laura Child Life
Logan, Angela Residents Primary Care Group, General Medicine, Retrovirology Clinics
Long, Elizabeth Food and Nutrition Services
Mansia, Sana Women’s Services
Maza, Lekechia Care Management
McAdams, Kellie Nursing
Morataya, Cindy West Campus – Emergency Center
Moreaux, Margaret West Campus – Respiratory Care
Morries, Rhonda Operating Room
Najito, Kimberly Department of Social Work
Navo, Glorianne Texas Children’s Newborn Center
Nolasco, Esmeralda Texas Children’s Pediatrics Heights
Octaviano, Denise Residents Primary Care Group, General Medicine, Retrovirology Clinics
Oliva, Jacqueline Facilities Operations
Osborn, Douglas West Campus – Security Services
Peas’ant, Linda Texas Children’s Newborn Center
Richardson, Jennifer Texas Children’s Pediatrics After Hours West
Robinson, Kimberly Surgical Unit/Orthopedic Unit
Ryan, TJ Texas Children’s Gordon Emergency Center
Saldivar, Abel West Campus – Emergency Center
Sangalang, Stephanie Texas Children’s Newborn Center
Santillan, Anna Pathology
Schuck, Brenda Texas Children’s Gordon Emergency Center
Sneed, Jenna Employee Health Clinic
Sotelo, Flor Texas Children’s Pediatrics Gulfton
Taqvi, Syeda Texas Children’s Pediatrics FM 1960 After Hours
Tibbs, Terri Pharmacy Services
Truong, Blanche Pathology
Uwaezuoke, Precious Texas Children’s Heart Center
Walker, Steven Financial Services
Wang, Hsin-Yen Texas Children’s Health Centers – Cy-Fair
Weems, Lynne Marie Texas Children’s Health Plan
Whittaker, Laura Nursing
Zimmerman, Alyssa Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy
February 18, 2014
Name Department
Chaddick, Adrienne West Campus – Orthopedics/Sports Medicine
Collins, Kenita Texas Children’s Cancer Center
Cowart, Tomika West Campus – Inpatient Floor 3
De La Torre, Genesis Residents’ Primary Care Group, General Medicine, Retrovirology Clinics
Harkrider, William The Center – Greenspoint
Hudspeth, David Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy
King, Steve Facilities Operations
Lane, Vicki Texas Children’s Heart Center
LeBlanc, Andrew Nursing
Nguyen, Tammy Human Resources
Rhodes, Amanda West Campus – Emergency Center
Slaughter, Kenny Progressive Care Unit
Tekie, Mihret Facilities Operations
Wiesenburger, Ashley Food and Nutrition Services
Wooland, Jennifer West Campus – Orthopedics/Sports Medicine
Young, Yolan West Campus – Pathology
February 11, 2014

The Department of Surgery at Texas Children’s is excited to announce the 2014 Surgical Seed Grant Award recipients. These grants, of up to $50,000 per project, will allow surgery researchers to generate the preliminary data necessary for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications and other extramural funding. For more information please visit: texaschildrens.org/surgery.

Established in 2011, these awards were designed primarily to support researchers in the early stages of their data collection necessary to submit successful grant applications to the NIH. The Surgical Seed Grant Committee, chaired by Dr. Jed Nuchtern, chief of Pediatric Surgery, and Matt Girotto, assistant vice president in the Department of Surgery, encourages both junior and senior faculty to submit applications for new areas of research.

In total, more than $270,000 in grants will be awarded to eight researches representing various surgical subspecialties including: general surgery, otolaryngology, pediatric and adolescent gynecology, plastic surgery and urology. The recipients, along with the titles of their projects are:

  • Dr. Jennifer Dietrich: The Relationship Between Paratubal Cysts, Hyperandrogenism and Obesity
  • Dr. Nicolette Janzen: Minimizing VCUG Discomfort with Neuromodulation
  • Dr. David Khechoyan: Evaluation of Outcomes in Craniosynostosis Surgery
  • Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria: Utility of Near Infrared Spectroscopy in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Dr. Julina Ongkasuwan: Evaluation of Pediatric Vocal Fold Nodules Using Ultrasound
  • Dr. Abhishek Seth: Identification of Urinary Inflammation-Specific DNA Methylation Markers to Aid in Early Prediction of Severe Hemorrhagic Cystitis
  • Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan: MDM4- A Potential Therapeutic Target for Hepatoblastoma
  • Dr. Ashley Wenaas: Utility of Accelerometers in Cochlear Implant Surgery

“This was a banner year for seed grant applicants as we not only had a record number of requests but we also saw a distinctive increase in outcomes related research desires,” says Nuchtern, who is also professor of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. “In recognition and support of the clinical outcomes related submissions, we are working closely with Texas Children’s Outcomes and Impact Service to develop a mechanism to provide support to those important and worthy submissions.”

21214Surgeons3725

21214drmilewicz640Dr. Allen L. Milewicz has been appointed chief of community surgery at West Campus. Milewicz, whose appointment was effective January 6, will continue his role as assistant professor of surgery and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM).

As a leader in the field of pediatric surgery for more than 20 years, Milewicz has distinguished himself in his academic, clinical and research roles. His primary research focus is on cardiac surgery, liver transplantation, and hepatobiliary disorders. Additionally, Milewicz has advanced training and extensive experience in skeletal malformations of the chest and in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

In his new role, Milewicz will be responsible for organizing Texas Children’s surgery within the community, focusing on Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Health Centers.

“Dr. Milewicz’s leadership will be vital to the expansion of the Department of Surgery and to meeting our mission of providing surgical care to children in need,” said Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr., surgeon-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital and professor of surgery and pediatrics at BCM. “He will be a tremendous asset to our renowned surgical team.”

Board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Milewicz received his undergraduate degree from City College of New York and earned his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine and completed his general surgery residency program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

“Throughout my tenure at Texas Children’s, I’ve always been honored to be part of a world renowned surgical team. I’m excited to have the opportunity to take on this new leadership role,” said Milewicz. “My focus is to grow Texas Children’s community enterprise while ensuring that each patient receives the experience, expertise, and clinical outcomes for which Texas Children’s is known.”

February 10, 2014

Information Services (IS) has scheduled important updates to some systems and applications during the standard monthly downtime scheduled from Friday, February 14, to Sunday, February 16.

During the third weekend each month, IS routinely maintains, tests and upgrades a variety of systems and applications to ensure they are available when needed and perform properly to support Texas Children’s mission. Applications or systems with a greater possibility of impacting users are listed below.

Epic EMR
The Epic Electronic Medical Record (EMR) will be unavailable for about 15 minutes sometime from 1 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Sunday, February 16, to address hardware issues. We expect the 15 minute downtime to occur at about 2 a.m., however, please be prepared to initiate downtime procedures immediately when the system is unavailable. Communications will be sent to Epic Downtime Leads when the downtime starts. During this downtime (or anytime Epic is unavailable):

  • Visit Connect for details on how to access results, reports and other items
  • Visit Connect for instructions on viewing a full, ‘read-only’ copy of Epic on any workstation
  • Visit Connect for an Epic downtime FAQ.

Workstations
Most Texas Children’s workstations will receive online software updates sometime from 10 p.m. Saturday, February 15, to 10 a.m. Monday, February 17. Visit Connect for schedule details and instructions for optional self-installation.

Workstation update notes:

  • Only a few machines in each area will be updated at the same time.
  • You will see an install notice on the workstation. You can click “OK” to start the update immediately; otherwise, the install will start automatically after 10 minutes.
  • Workstation updates take about one to two hours to install and will restart the machine when done. You can use the workstation during the update, but watch for a warning to shut down before the machine restarts. Remember to save your work often (especially for clinical applications).

Questions?
For questions regarding:

  • Standard monthly downtime, please call the IS Service Desk at Ext. 4-3512 (external 832-824-3512)
  • Epic EMR downtime, please call 4-EPIC at Ext. 4-3742 (external 832-824-3742)

Last year the Texas Children’s loading dock received flower and candy deliveries on Valentine’s Day causing not only delivery delays of these items, but also a delay in patient care product deliveries.

To eliminate this problem please notify your spouses, significant others, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends not to send you Valentine gifts directly to the docks. Florist deliveries can be sent by the florists directly to your desk. The dock does not have the resources to deliver these thoughtful personal gifts as they are concentrating on the delivery of patient care products.

If flowers do come to the dock they will try their best to get them to you, but patient care product delivery takes precedence. They will attempt to deliver all personal items should they come to the dock; however, they may need to call individuals to come to the dock to pick up their gifts.

Thank you for your patience.

Texas Children’s Hospital is accepting graduate nurse (GN) applications internally starting Wednesday, February 5, for the July 2014 Registered Nurse Residency Program. This innovative program helps new graduate nurses transition from student nurse to professional nurse through a variety of interactive experiences and an ongoing support network.

The GN posting is currently active in MOLI (Job ID: 129445). If you are an interested and qualified employee, Texas Children’s Chief Nursing Officer, Lori Armstrong, encourages you to consider submitting an internal transfer request.

Texas Children’s is a powerhouse of talent and our team of July 2014 Graduate Nurses will be no exception. If you have questions about the Nurse Residency Program, please call Recruitment at Ext. 4-2020.