Leadership – Page 81 – Texas Children's News

January 5, 2016

Dr. Huda Zoghbi, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, and director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s, will be honored with the 2015 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science.

She is the 10th recipient of the award given by the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to recognize women scientists with a stellar record of research accomplishment who have also mentored other women in science.

Prize winners receive an honorarium, deliver a Flexner Discovery Lecture, meet with Vanderbilt faculty and mentor Vanderbilt Prize Scholars – women who are pursuing graduate studies in the biomedical sciences at the medical school.

Zoghbi will receive the prize on April 21, 2016, when she is scheduled to give the Flexner Discovery Lecture at Vanderbilt.

“Huda Zoghbi’s progression from a young woman interested in science to one of the world’s foremost physician-scientists working on the genetic bases of neurological diseases is fascinating and inspiring,” said Dr. Lawrence Marnett, associate vice chancellor for research and senior associate dean for biomedical science, at Vanderbilt.

Zoghbi has been instrumental in finding the genes for Rett Syndrome, spinal cerebellar ataxia 1 and IMath1, which is essential for generation of inner ear hair cell.

She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences and has received numerous awards throughout the years. She is committed to mentoring young scientists, and one-fourth of her former trainees are women.

Bench and Bedside is a digest of the previous month’s stories about the clinical and academic activities of our physicians and scientists. We welcome your submissions and feedback.

December 1

Texas Children’s Fetal Center celebrates 400 miracles at patient reunion

Hundreds of families from around the country traveled to Houston to attend Texas Children’s Fetal Center family reunion. Since its inaugural event in 2007, the reunion provided an opportunity for physicians and staff to reunite with patient families who received life-saving medical and surgical care at our fetal center.

December 1

Texas Children’s awards pediatric pilot grants to 10 promising researchers

Ten promising researchers received the 2015 Pediatric Pilot Awards Research grants worth up to $50,000. The grants will provide initial start-up funding for research projects that have the ultimate goal of enhancing patient outcomes.

December 8

Dr. Mary Brandt elected to ACS Medical Student Education Committee

Dr. Mary Brandt, pediatric surgeon and director of the Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Program and the Anorectal Malformation Clinic at Texas Children’s, has been elected to the Medical Student Education Committee of the American College of Surgeons, which addresses the educational needs in surgery for medical students during all four years of medical school.

December 15

Texas Children’s Special Isolation Unit earns award from Texas Department of Health Services

Texas Children’s Special Isolation Unit, the only pediatric-focused unit of its kind in Texas and the Southwest, was recently awarded the Texas Department of Health Services 2015 Texas Preparedness Leadership Award. The annual award recognizes exceptionally meritorious achievements in local, regional or state Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Healthcare Systems Preparedness Programs.

December 15

Texas Children’s Main Campus Urgent Care opens

Texas Children’s recently opened a 4,100-square-foot urgent care clinic on the second floor of the Abercrombie Building, creating a system-wide solution to effectively manage the Emergency Center’s (EC) low acuity patient population. The clinic has a dedicated staff of physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses and clinical support staff. The new urgent care has already helped lighten the load of the EC, seeing about 30 patients a day, or 25 percent of the EC’s daily patient volume. Wait times for patients with low-acuity illnesses also have decreased significantly.

December 15

Texas Children’s oncologists contribute to leading textbook in field

Dr. David Poplack, director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, and numerous members of his medical staff helped write the recently published, 7th edition of Principles and Practice in Pediatric Oncology. This leading textbook provides the most comprehensive resource on the biology and genetics of childhood cancers.

December 15

Spotlight on Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program

About 40,000 babies are born each year with a congenital heart disease, the most common birth defect. These children grow up with their conditions and are part of a growing population of adults with congenital heart disease. Texas Children’s Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program allows patients to continue their care at their childhood medical home as adults.

December 22

Heart Center experts present at Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society 11th International Meeting

Intensivists, cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, nurses, and outcomes and quality experts from Texas Children’s Heart Center and Baylor College of Medicine served as presenters and moderators during the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society (PCICS) 11th International Meeting held December 9 through 11 in Houston.

December 22

Surgical Research Day 2016 to feature new poster session

Plans are underway for the sixth annual Edmond T. Gonzales, Jr., Surgical Research Day which will be held on May 6, 2016. At this session, poster authors will have an opportunity to present their research to reviewers as scoring takes place.

December 22

L. E. Simmons Chair in Orthopedics awarded to Dr. John Dormans

Chief of Orthopedics Dr. John Dormans was recently awarded the L.E. Simmons Chair in Orthopedics. Provided by the Houston Endowment in recognition of Simmons, who served as chairman of Texas Children’s Board of Trustees from 2003-2004, the purpose of this chair is to support orthopedic research, education, clinic program development and advocacy at Texas Children’s.

December 22, 2015

Texas Children’s Hand Hygiene Committee recently organized a hand hygiene contest to underscore the importance of cleaning our hands before patient contact and to improve unit-based compliance rates which will help staff achieve their house-wide goal of 95 percent compliance or higher. This awareness campaign was primarily a nurse-led initiative to ensure hand hygiene continues to remain top priority for our health care providers while effectively preventing the transmission of germs.

“We must to do everything in our power to prevent patients from getting a hospital-acquired infection,” said Texas Children’s Infection Preventionist Darleen Yepes. “Hand hygiene is simple and effective but we need to be compliant 100 percent of the time. The purpose of the contest was to engage the staff in creating a hand hygiene campaign to raise awareness at the unit level through posters and a slogan.”

Participants included frontline staff from 22 inpatient units at Texas Children’s Main Campus, the Pavilion for Women and Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus. Each unit displayed their hand hygiene campaign flyer and poster at the entrance to their unit where it could be visible to doctors, nurses, therapists, patients and families.

Each unit’s hand hygiene compliance is measured by “secret” shoppers to determine how many opportunities to perform hand hygiene are met and how many opportunities are missed. Weekly and monthly compliance rates are measured and reported to the leadership team on each unit.

Our Hand Hygiene Committee members and executive leaders – Mary Jo Andre, John Nickens, Jackie Ward, Trudy Leidich, Dr. Judith Campbell and Dr. Lucy Marquez – judged the posters based on the following criteria: creativity of the hand hygiene slogan and theme, visual appeal of the images used and effectiveness of messaging content.

The first place winning unit from Main Campus/Abercrombie was the Hematology/Oncology unit from 9 West Tower. The slogan from Hematology was Germ Busters. Staff members played music and sang a catchy jingle for the judges. They also engaged patients and families. One of the mothers who wanted to reinforce hand hygiene among her family visitors came up with a cute rhyme about “cooties” and handwashing which she posted on the door and inside the patient’s room. Her sign is now posted outside every patient door on the unit as a reminder to perform hand hygiene.

The first place winning unit from Pavilion for Women/West Campus was the PFW NICU. The PFW NICU slogan was “Ask Me” if I have cleaned my hands and I’ll ask you the same.” The judges thought it was a very simple but highly effective poster because the ultimate goal is to change the culture where everyone will speak up and gently remind each other if we forget to perform hand hygiene.

“We thank all of the units for their participation,” Yepes said. “It truly reflects their commitment to helping us create a safe environment for our patients free from hospital-acquired infections by adhering to hand hygiene practices.”

Click on the photo gallery below from the hand hygiene competition.

Nearly 300 cardiovascular experts from 13 countries met during the two-day multidisciplinary, interactive conference, which includes cutting-edge research presentations and panel discussions. PCICS is an international professional forum for promoting excellence in pediatric cardiac critical care medicine. Through programs, meetings and educational curriculums, the society has a large role in vital research and training that will improve the level of care of pediatric patients with congenital heart disease and acquired cardiovascular disease.

“I’m thrilled so many of our leading Heart Center experts presented and moderated at this year’s conference in front of an international audience,” said Dr. Paul Checchia, medical director of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) at Texas Children’s and president of the PCICS.

Checchia, who also serves as a professor of pediatrics-critical care and cardiology at Baylor, and Dr. Lara Shekerdemian, chief of critical care medicine at Texas Children’s and professor of pediatrics-critical care and cardiology at Baylor, were program directors of the meeting. The 11 Texas Children’s Heart Center experts who presented or moderated throughout the meeting include:

Dr. Patricia Bastero, pediatric intensive care physician at Texas Children’s and associate professor of pediatrics-critical care at Baylor, presented: Lessons Learned from Simulation: How to Keep a Safe Environment for Real Life Event Debriefings.
Kathleen Carberry, director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Outcomes and Impact Service, moderated: Wave the Magic Wand: What do Bedside Nurses Need to Create a Safer Culture?
Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr., surgeon-in-chief and chief of congenital heart surgery at Texas Children’s and professor of surgery and chief of the division of congenital heart surgery at Baylor, moderated: The Risks We Used to Take: Panel of Innovators.
Trudy Leidich, director of quality and safety at Texas Children’s, presented: Reassurance vs. Criminal Charges, How Do We Handle/Talk About Errors?
Dr. Carlos Mery, congenital heart surgeon at Texas Children’s and assistant professor of surgery-congenital heart surgery at Baylor, presented: Congenital Heart Disease in Mexico: Building Programs and Changing Paradigms.
Dr. Jack Price, pediatric cardiologist at Texas Children’s and associate professor of pediatrics-cardiology at Baylor, presented: Candidate Selection: Different Views from Across the Spectrum – Medical.
Dr. Craig Rusin, cardiology research core, physiological signal processing and algorithm development at Texas Children’s and assistant professor of pediatrics-cardiology at Baylor, presented: Capturing Data in CVICU: When is Enough, Enough?
Kerry Sembera, CVICU nurse at Texas Children’s, served on the panel: Wave the Magic Wand: What do Bedside Nurses Need to Create a Safer Culture? and presented: Improving Patient Outcomes: Just in Time!
Shekerdemian moderated: The Future is Now: Updates on Trials and Research and present: PHN/NIH Update.
Dr. James Thomas, pediatric intensive care physician at Texas Children’s and professor of pediatrics-critical care at Baylor, presented: Ethics in ECMO: How to Handle Difficult Cases.
Dr. Eric Williams, medical director of quality at Texas Children’s and associate professor of pediatrics-critical care at Baylor, presented: Being Resilient: The Cardiac ICU as a Complex Socio-Technical System.

Texas Children’s Pediatrics recently opened a practice in Missouri City, bringing the total number of locations in its network to 52. Located at 5819 Highway 6, the new practice is run by Dr. Dean Gmoser.

Prior to joining Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Gmoser ran a private pediatric primary care practice in Missouri City. He said he joined Texas Children’s Pediatrics to enhance and expand his practice vision and to immerse himself in a system he has been a part of since completing his residency in the early 1980s with Baylor College of Medicine affiliated hospitals, include Texas Children’s Hospital.

“I have always been associated with Texas Children’s since I did all of my pediatric training there,” Gmoser said. “In practice, I continued to admit patients there and mentor continuity residents from the program.”

A native of Wisconsin, Gmoser earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin and his bachelor’s degree from Marquette University. Gmoser specializes in ADHD behavior, infants and healthy eating.

“My goal is to help you acquire the tools and methods to become self-confident as a parent and to use me as a resource to raise a confident, healthy and well-adjusted child,” Gmoser said. “I truly enjoy the ability to interact with patients and their families.”

In addition to Gmoser, nurse practitioner Ann Poulin will be seeing patients at the new practice twice a week.

Texas Children’s Pediatrics is a group of board-certified, expert pediatricians who have extensive training in children’s health care. With convenient locations throughout the greater Houston area, the group provides the finest pediatricians dedicated to meeting the healthcare needs of infants to teenagers.

For more information about Texas Children’s Pediatrics, visit http://www.texaschildrenspediatrics.org/.

“I’m extremely honored to be awarded this distinction,” Dormans said. “My vision is for Texas Children’s to be the best place in the world for families to receive pediatric orthopedic care.”

Dormans has distinguished himself nationally and internationally as a leader in the field and is a highly regarded clinician and surgeon with accomplishments in research and teaching. His primary clinical focus is on the treatment of complex spinal disorders and orthopedic oncology care. He previously served as president of the following organizations: Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America; International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT-USA); the Board of Directors of Orthopaedics Overseas; and the Scoliosis Research Society’s 50th anniversary meeting. He is current president of World Orthopedic Concern. In addition, he served as president of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Medical Staff (1999-2001).

Dormans obtained his undergraduate degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and went on to earn his medical degree at the university’s school of medicine in Indianapolis. He then completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at Michigan State University, followed by a clinical pediatric orthopedic fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario. He rounded out his post-graduate training with programs at Harvard’s School of Public Health, CHOP and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dormans has been an invited lecturer in more than 50 countries, published more than 340 articles, authored more than 140 chapters and wrote five books. He has received numerous awards including the Jesse T. Nicholson Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching from CHOP, where he served as chief of orthopedic surgery prior to joining Texas Children’s and Baylor, and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching from Penn.

With seven specialty clinics and more than 20 physicians and physician assistants, the Texas Children’s pediatric orthopedics program cares for children in Houston, across the nation and internationally, treating everything from minor fractures to complex disorders, ensuring the highest level of individualized care for pediatric patients from newborns to young adults.

December 15, 2015

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Dr. David Poplack, director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, and numerous members of his medical staff helped write the recently published, 7th edition of the textbook, Principles and Practice in Pediatric Oncology, the leading textbook in the field.

This thoroughly updated edition contains 54 chapters, more than 1,300 pages, and is the most comprehensive resource on the biology and genetics of specific childhood cancers including recent advances in the diagnosis, multimodal treatment and long-term management of cancer in young patients.

“Since the first edition was published 26 years ago, the biology and treatment of pediatric cancers have become increasingly more complex, which has made it more challenging to produce a textbook of this magnitude,” Poplack said. “There was immense collaboration involved to bring this exciting project to fruition.”

Besides being used by all medical schools, pediatric oncologists and institutions pursuing pediatric oncology research around the world, this textbook also provides helpful information geared specifically to caregivers and families of children with cancer, which adds to the unique quality of the book.

“This resource guide also comes in an e-book format,” Poplack said. “We will have periodic updates on the major chapters that will be available electronically to subscribers.”

Click here for more information about this textbook.

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