April 26, 2016

42716texansautograph640The NFL Draft is this week, and pre-season games only a few months away. So football season is right around the corner, and Texas Children’s wants to help you gear up for it.

Over the next two weeks, all Texas Children’s employees will have the chance to be selected to attend an exclusive autograph and photograph session with two Houston Texans players: Charles James II, the Texans cornerback who rose to a fan favorite in last season’s Hard Knocks on HBO; and Devon Still, defensive end and recipient of the Jimmy V Perseverance Award for his daughter, Leah’s, courageous fight against cancer. Two Texans cheerleaders also will be in attendance.

To win a chance to attend the event, you must submit your definition of leadership. As you know, Mark Wallace’s Leadership Maxim no. 4 is that “We all should have our personal definition of leadership.”

We will use the leadership definition submissions to randomly select participants for the Houston Texans autograph/photograph session. We also will share some of the leadership definitions on Mr. Wallace’s On the Mark blog.

Submissions will be accepted here until Tuesday, May 3. We will select 400 people from the submissions to attend the autograph and photograph session. Those selected will be contacted by Wednesday, May 11.

Transportation to and from the stadium will not be provided, and only employees can attend. Exempt employees who are scheduled to work that day must obtain leader approval. Non-exempt employees who are scheduled to work that day must obtain leader approval and badge in and out.

“We hope everyone will take advantage of this opportunity to meet two Houston Texans players and learn more about our partnership with Houston’s hometown football team,” said Lisa Yelenick, director of Service Line, Community and Brand for the Marketing and Public Relations Department. “Good luck and Go Texans!”

Texas Children’s entered a partnership with the Houston Texans more than a year ago to inspire children to lead healthier, more active lives. The two organizations have since reached thousands of Houston-area children through camps, school programs, special hospital appearances and other events that combine fun with education.

The partnership also includes involvement from players, cheerleaders and TORO in the community and at hospital events hosted by the Texans and Texas Children’s Hospital. Texas Children’s and the Houston Texans will continue identifying ways to grow the partnership and extend its reach even further within the local and regional communities.

To learn more about the partnership, go to texaschildrens.org/texans. For questions about the event, contact Kimberly Vetter at mkvetter@texaschildrens.org.

42716kidstriathlon640Thousands of families and friends gathered on April 23 and 24 at NRG Stadium to cheer on the 3,000 plus participants of the 2016 Houston Texans Kid’s Triathlon.

The Houston Texans and Texas Children’s Hospital joined forces to organize the event aimed at building a generation of healthy, active responsible children.

Click here to watch a video of the event and here to read a first-person account of the triathlon from 10-year-old participant Will Gillette. Gillette had heart surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital when he was born and has now completed two Houston Texans Kid’s Triathlons.

To learn more about the partnership, go to texaschildrens.org/Texans.

April 19, 2016

Two decades after Texas Children’s Hospital opened its doors in 1954, the hospital’s medical staff was called on to care for one of the most famous patients in the world – David Vetter, better known as “the bubble boy.”

David’s life, Texas Children’s involvement in his care and the advancements that have been made in the field of immunology, allergy and rheumatology were the topic of two recent Forums Luncheons hosted by our Office of Development to help engage current and potential donors in our mission.

At the River Oaks event and the one held in The Woodlands, former members of David’s care team and members of David’s family described the little boy’s historic journey, which began on September 21, 1971, at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“David was born with severe combined immunodeficience or SCID,” said Dr. William Shearer, the former section chief of Allergy and Immunology. “The hereditary disease, which dramatically weakens the immune system, forced David to live in a clear sterile chamber that resembled a bubble.”

Shearer and other members of Texas Children’s medical staff, including Dr. Imelda Hanson, a physician in Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology, cared for David until he died of Burkitt’s lymphoma on February 22, 1984, four months after receiving a bone marrow transfusion from his sister. It was later discovered that her marrow contained traces of a dormant virus – Epstein-Barr – which had been undetectable in the pre-transplant screening.

But, as former members of the boy’s medical staff explained, neither David’s life nor his death were in vain.

The dark-haired boy whose face covered magazines across the globe changed the face of immunology here at Texas Children’s and nationally, giving children born today with SCID a good chance at living a normal life. David, who would have been 40 this year, also paved the way for Texas Children’s Hospital to become an international referral center for families worldwide seeking hope and advanced, comprehensive diagnoses, treatment and care, said Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline.

“A few years after David’s passing in 1989, Texas Children’s Hospital was still primarily a regional hospital,” Kline said at the luncheons.” Today, we treat patients from all 50 states and about 60 countries. In fact, we are now an international referral center for some of the world’s most complex cases.”

Many of those cases are children with SCID and almost all benefit from the great strides in SCID research Shearer and Hanson have made after David’s death.

Shearer, for example, helped create the David Center at Texas Children’s Hospital. The center provides state-of-the art care and cutting-edge research for immune system diseases that make children susceptible to auto immunity and infectious diseases. Hanson works with federal and state health agencies to institute newborn screening options for children with SCID and other immune deficiency disorders in Texas and throughout the United States.

David Vetter’s mother, Carol Ann Demaret, said at the luncheons that she cannot express how much the care her son received at Texas Children’s Hospital means to her and her family.

“I am so grateful to Texas Children’s Hospital for giving my family 12 years with our son we never would have had otherwise,” she said. “I could work for the hospital for 100 years and still never repay them for that gift.”

April 12, 2016

41316FunRun640Texas Children’s employees and Houston-area residents came out in full force to participate in the 4th annual Texas Children’s Hospital and Houston Marathon Foundation Family Fun Run at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.

On April 9, more than 4,000 people of all abilities, including those needing walkers and wheelchairs, participated in the non-competitive 1K and 3K courses. Following the race, participants enjoyed the H-E-B sponsored Family Fun Zone, which was packed with snacks, entertainment and close to 40 attractions.

“We are excited to have this event at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus,” said West Campus President Chanda Cashen Chacón. “It’s a great way to show families that we are committed to the West Houston community.”

Executive Vice President John Nickens agreed and said the run’s stellar turnout is an example of the community’s support of Texas Children’s.

“Four thousand runners is amazing,” he said. “It’s definitely something to be proud of.”

Get a first-hand look at the fun by:

  • Flipping through a photo gallery of the event below.
  • Ordering your race-day photos from Spring Action. You can search by your bib number or last name to find your photos (if any exist). There also are hundreds of unidentified photos to sort through in the Lost & Found section. You can also browse the entire event, if desired.
  • Taking a look at our Facebook photo album from Saturday by.
  • Watching a video of the run.

41316malaria640The Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and Texas Children’s Global Health have been helping meet the health care needs of mothers and babies across the globe for years. With global health programs and projects in more than 20 countries, BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health have developed a network of partners who are sometimes called on to respond to emergency situations. For these scenarios, we often turn to Medical Bridges, a Houston-based non-profit that provides medical supplies and equipment to support our work.

Recently, BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health addressed pediatric emergencies in Papua New Guinea and during the Ebola crisis, in Liberia, with the help of Medical Bridges. Presently, there is an outbreak of malaria among pediatric patients in Luanda, Angola.

To address this health emergency, BIPAI, Texas Children’s Global Health and Texas Children’s Pediatric Hematology & Oncology program have partnered with Medical Bridges, Chevron and SonAir, an Angolan national air services company, to provide drugs, supplies and equipment to the Hospital Pediatrico David Bernardino (Bernadino Pediatric Hospital) in Luanda and to the hospital in Cacuaco. These much-needed drugs and supplies will help the staff at the hospitals address the recent outbreak of malaria among the pediatric population.

“BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health are fortunate to have partners like Chevron and Medical Bridges that can mobilize and respond proactively to public health emergencies around the world,” said Michael Mizwa, leader of BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health.

Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company, said the company is proud to be able to help mitigate public health situations such as these.

“We value our partnership with BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health,” Moshiri said. “This contribution underscores Chevron’s long-standing commitment to fight malaria and to the children of Angola who are most at risk for the disease”

The Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and Texas Children’s Global Pediatric Hematology & Oncology program started an Angola Sickle Cell Initiative (ASCI) in 2011 with generous support from Chevron, aimed at bringing neonatal Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) screening and care to two regions in Angola: Luanda and Cabinda. To date, 135,000 babies have been screened and, in 2015, with a donation from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), the first organized Hydroxyurea (HU) treatment program for Angola was begun.

April 8, 2016

4716Malawi550

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded a $69.8 million grant to the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation–Malawi (Baylor–Malawi), an affiliate of the Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative at Texas Children’s Hospital, to support and expand HIV/AIDS programs in Southern Africa. The grant, through the USAID Regional HIV-AIDS Program, will fund a dynamic and innovative project called Technical Support to PEPFAR Programs in the Southern Africa Region, or TSP. Designed by the Baylor-Malawi team, TSP is a collaborative program that includes ICAP at Columbia University and Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundations in Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Angola.

“While Southern Africa remains the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, recent progress toward global elimination goals provides an impetus for coordinated, regional efforts,” said Dr. Saeed Ahmed, assistant professor of pediatrics with BIPAI who will lead TSP. “The program will address challenges related to HIV care and treatment, including pediatric and adolescent care, HIV prevention from mother to child and the unique gender aspects of the epidemic, providing a common regional platform for dissemination and rapid adoption of best practices.”

In support of the primary goal to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, TSP objectives are to:
Improve clinical and other technical outcomes of partner programs in the region by providing mission programs with technical support and short- and medium-term program assistance and capacity building toward sustainability;

Improve and rapidly expand pediatric and adolescent treatment services in the region by providing technical assistance in the short and medium term and longterm program support;

Implement PEPFAR programs directly, in close cooperation with USAID.

The TSP will provide a wealth of technical expertise, Ahmed said, including human resource capacity, physical infrastructure, existing networking and program implementation experience, bringing together formally the unique and complementary strengths of the Baylor network and ICAP at Columbia University. The Baylor foundations are the leading providers of pediatric and adolescent HIV care and treatment in their respective countries with Centers of Excellence anchoring broad networks of satellite clinics. ICAP, the second-largest PEPFAR implementing program, offers incredible geographic scope and technical, programmatic and monitoring and evaluation expertise. Combined, the Baylor network and ICAP have managed more than $1 billion in funding over the past 5 years, and are implementing more than 50 U.S. Government supported initiatives.

To provide assistance to regional HIV/AIDS programs, Baylor-Malawi and its partners have organized a ‘Dream Team’ of experts who will provide the technical advising backbone of the program. Through its implementing partners, the Dream Team will have access to an extensive network of more than 1,500 people, including doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, community health workers and volunteers, and pharmacists to provideHIV/AIDS program assistance and implementation.

“The high-quality assistance and program implementation provided by this project will strengthen the efforts in the region to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 benchmarks, which call for 90 percent of HIV-infected individuals to know their status; 90 percent of patients who know their status to be started on and adherent to anti-retroviral therapy; and 90 percent of patients on ART to be viral suppressed by 2020” said Dr. Mark Kline, physician-in-chief, Texas Children’s Hospital and chairman of the department of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine.

Women and children are a special focus on the TSP program. It aims to achieve elimination of mother-to-child transmission, doubling of the number of children on anti-retroviral therapy and, through the DREAMS Initiative, assisting partners in developing interventions to address gender-based violence and reduce new HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women. DREAMS, or Determined, Resilient, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe Women, is a PEPFAR program to reduce HIV infections among girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa.

“This award is a true testament to the BIPAI Network’s ability and capacity as a global leader in pediatric HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Baylor–Malawi continues to excel in innovative program development,” said Michael Mizwa, chairman, Baylor–Malawi Board of Directors, chief operating office/senior vice president of BIPAI and director of global health at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“With the resources from this award, I am pleased that Baylor Malawi will lead a consortium that leverages the extensive expertise that is in the BIPAI network with its partners ICAP and regional ministries of health to accelerate the region’s advances to the 90-90-90 targets,” said Dr. Peter Kazembe, executive director of Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation–Malawi.

March 30, 2016

View a testimonial from Patient Admissions Director Enrique Gonzalez about why Texas Children’s is such a special place.