May 6, 2014

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At Texas Children’s, we see firsthand all the good that Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline does for our hospital every day. Now, the extraordinary work that he does all around the world is being recognized, as he was presented with the 2014 Programme for Global Paediatric Research (PGPR) Award for Outstanding Contributions to Global Child Health. Dr. Kline accepted the award in Vancouver, CA on May 3, as part of the 2014 PGPR Symposium session Global Child Health in Rich and Poor Countries: Lessons Learned from Indigenous Health Research and Practise.

The PGPR, a component of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health in Toronto, works with researchers, societies, NGOs and governments throughout the world to address global health issues affecting infants and children. Its mission is to inform, educate, and facilitate international research cooperation and collaboration, and to advocate for research to improve the health of all children.

“Dr. Kline’s work is a wonderful example of effectively implementing health care solutions to help some of the most vulnerable children in the world, while building local capacity and ensuring sustainability,” said Dr. Alvin Zipursky, chair and scientific director of PGPR, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health.

The PGPR has presented this award annually since 2009 to a global researcher and thought leader in the pediatric field. The award is designed to honor and profile outstanding research achievements in global child health; especially work that has been conducted in developing regions.

“Dr. Kline is a globally respected leader in pediatric HIV/AIDS and deserving of this recognition for his outstanding research achievements in the field, especially in reaching populations in greatest need in the developing world,” said Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, the inaugural award recipient and co-director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health.

Kline was chosen as this year’s recipient based on his hugely important contribution to changing the global child health landscape through capacity-building, leadership training and program implementation focused on revolutionizing the care of children in developing countries with HIV/AIDS.

“To be chosen by my peers, many of whom I admire greatly, is a great honor,” said Kline. “The work is far from done, but I find it both gratifying and comforting that so many outstanding health care providers are united together in this mission to improve global health and am grateful to the PGPR for this award.”

Kline’s career achievements and global efforts speak for themselves. Specifically, a long-time researcher in pediatric HIV/AIDS, Kline has been the recipient and principal investigator for more than $50 million in research grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has authored more than 250 scientific articles and textbook chapters and has presented over 350 national and international lectures on subjects related to infectious diseases of children and global child health. He directs international research for the NIH-funded BCM Center for AIDS Research and is principal investigator for BCM’s NIH-funded Child Health Research Center and AIDS International Training and Research Program. Kline is also the founder and President of the BCM International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) at Texas Children’s Hospital, an ambitious program that encompasses HIV/AIDS care and treatment and health professional education and training programs across sub-Saharan Africa, Libya and Romania. BIPAI provides HIV/AIDS treatment to more children than any other organization worldwide.

April 29, 2014

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After announcing the new quarterly, “Best of the West” recognition program, West Campus leaders received numerous nominations for worthy employees. The “Best of the West” program was designed specifically to recognize and honor those individuals at West Campus who excel in exhibiting the characteristics outlined in the Texas Children’s Hospital Guiding Principles.

Ruth Avila, a patient interpreter liaison, has been selected as the first ever “Best of the West” recipient. Ruth joined Texas Children’s in 2003, and she has been a part of the West Campus team since its inception. Ruth’s nomination describes her work as a volunteer co-facilitator for a support group of Spanish speaking families whose children are being cared for in the Hematology & Oncology Center at West Campus. She is described as always having a positive attitude that is contagious to those around her. Her nomination also describes her empathy and cultural sensitivity for our patients and their families. Below are some words shared about Ruth:

“Ruth is the perfect person to obtain the first “Best of the West” award as she is one of the first employees at West Campus and is known for her compassion and professional approach. She transferred to West Campus from the Main Campus and continues to maintain excellent relationships with Language Services at Main Campus which supports seamless care for our patients. Last year, Ruth completed oral and written examinations and achieved certification as a national medical interpreter, ahead of many of her peers. Ruth is an expert in all aspects of her profession including interpreting, translation of written documents, telephonic and video procedures. Ruth often tells me she loves her job and it certainly shows!”

Congratulations to Ruth. Take time to nominate the next Best of the West employee. (This link will only open internally)

connect anywhere

Texas Children’s is a big place with lots going on, and sometimes it’s tough to keep a pulse on it all. With that in mind, Texas Children’s Internal and Corporate Communications team has launched a new website – www.texaschildrensnews.org – to put all of the organization’s top news at employees’ fingertips.

Texaschildrensnews.org launched in February and already has had nearly 18,000 views.

“The best thing about this site is that we finally have created a place where staff and employees can access Texas Children’s news easily,” said Angela Hudson, assistant director of Internal and Corporate Communications.

The site was launched to complement the team’s weekly news cycle. The team updates the Connect intranet site every Tuesday with five to six top news stories, which rotate in the homepage photo carousel. On Wednesdays, the team emails the Connect News enewsletter to all staff and employees featuring the week’s new headlines.

“Connect News now links you directly to the new texaschildrensnews.org, and you can get there from a mobile phone, tablet or computer at home or work,” Hudson said. “This was really important to us – It’s important to provide this access to our audience. There’s no logging in, no passwords, no firewalls. Just hop on, take a quick read and stay informed.”

In addition to the new site, the team also will debut a refreshed design for the weekly Connect News enewsletter this week. Connect News first launched in summer 2012 and was significant in helping decrease the amount of global email traffic within the organization. The new, cleaner look complements the Connect site and the new external news site and will continue to be emailed weekly.

“We’re committed to telling and sharing the Texas Children’s story internally,” Hudson said. “After all, our ‘story’ revolves around our staff and employees and their amazing work. Our team’s goal is to get them information they want and need, when they need it, as easily as possible.”

Get Connect News sent to your home email
If you don’t have access to your Texas Children’s email on your phone or don’t typically have time to check your email at work, we can send the weekly Connect News enewsletter to a home email address. Just email us at connectnews@texaschildrens.org.

April 22, 2014

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Hospital photographers place first and fourth in national competition

Texas Children’s Hospital is hosting the 2013-2014 Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) Photo Exhibit, a biennial competition that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The national exhibit, which is on display on the fourth floor of Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women during the month of April, features photographs by Texas Children’s Hospital photographers Paul Kuntz and Allen Kramer. Visit childrenshospitals.net/photoexhibit to view the images.

Kuntz and Kramer received special recognition as their photos were selected as “top 5” photos, chosen from more than 250 photographs submitted by 56 children’s hospitals across the country and internationally. Kuntz placed first in this competition, the second time he has won this honor, and Kramer placed fourth and fifth. This marks the third competition in a row that Kuntz and Kramer have both placed in the top five. Additionally, there are four other images from the duo in the exhibit.

The CHA Photo Exhibit is comprised of 50 poignant and powerful images that portray the everyday heroes in children’s hospitals – brave patients, supportive families and compassionate health care providers.

Additionally, the exhibit’s presence at the hospital coincides with an international Arts & Health conference hosted by Texas Children’s, the Global Alliance for Arts & Health’s 2014 Annual International Conference, Enhancing Lives Through Arts & Health: 25th Anniversary Conference & Celebration. This exhibit truly embraces the goal of the conference which aims to bring much needed attention to the transformative impact the arts have on the healing process.

The CHA photo exhibition has been traveling around the country since last year and will be on display June 23-24 on Capitol Hill in Washington in conjunction with the Association’s Speak Now For Kids Family Advocacy Day event.

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The BP MS 150 is a two-day bicycle ride from Houston to Austin organized by the National MS Society: Lone Star Chapter to raise funds to fight against the devastating neurological disorder multiple sclerosis. Since 2006, Texas Children’s Hospital has sponsored its own team of riders who have helped raise more than $1.53 million to date for the cause.

In 2014, Team Texas Children’s consisted of 218 registered riders, with 183 actually completing the ride on April 12-13. The 2014 team will raise more than $220,000 this year. In addition to the riders, approximately 100 employees and community volunteers gave their time to hand out snacks, haul luggage, blow up air mattresses, set up the overnight tent in La Grange and provide other much-needed and much-appreciated support.

Did you know?

  • The BP MS 150 is the largest event of its kind in North America.
  • The first MS 150 Houston to Austin bike tour was held in 1985, with 237 cyclists raising just over $100,000.
  • Since 2007, the wildly popular event has been capped at 13,000 riders.
  • Since surpassing the $15 million mark for the first time in 2008, the BP MS 150 has raised an average of $16 million per year.
  • This year’s ride is expected to raise around $18.5 million for MS.
  • A “fashion show” of sorts, teams compete to have the most creative, colorful and distinctive jersey designs.
  • Team Texas Children’s is among the most popular and most recognizable, winning multiple competitions for Best Jersey in recent years.
  • In 2014, four of the top 300 fundraisers rode on Team Texas Children’s.
  • In 2014, Team Texas Children’s riders ranged in age from 12-74 years old, with seven children under the age of 18 participating.
April 15, 2014

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New study puts spotlight on tuberculosis in children

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal featured a study from researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School suggesting that Tuberculosis (TB) affects about one million children worldwide, twice as many as previously estimated. At Texas Children’s, TB experts identified this major pediatric health issue years ago, stressing that children are much more likely to develop TB disease following infection than adults and bear a relatively larger share of morbidity and mortality than adults.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Starke, director of the Children’s Tuberculosis Clinic at Texas Children’s, these new numbers are a reflection of more sophisticated and accurate diagnostic methods, since TB is difficult to confirm microbiologically in children (the traditional methodology of diagnosis in adults). In addition, it wasn’t until 2012 that the World Health Organization (WHO) released its first ever estimate of children with TB.

Having accurate numbers for pediatric TB is critical for funding purposes, and the new estimates will help shed light on this epidemic. “People interested in child survival and the Millennium Development Goals are going to look for what diseases are causing most morbidity and mortality in the world,” said Starke.

Texas Children’s Global Health Initiative has been working to actively address barriers to the care of childhood TB and to expand the spectrum of services available to children with TB through the Children’s Tuberculosis Initiative at Texas Children’s. The program aims to use the tools of research, education and advocacy to prevent, diagnose and treat tuberculosis in children, in order to support an ultimate goal of TB elimination.

“TB in children is often missed or overlooked,” said Dr. Anna Mandalakas, director of the Global Tuberculosis Program at Texas Children’s. “TB is a preventable and curable disease, but child health care providers in the US and abroad often miss opportunities to prevent TB and often diagnose pediatric TB late, making treatment more difficult.”

The Global Tuberculosis Program is implementing two TB REACH projects funded by the Stop TB Partnership as a part of the WHO, with the objective to improve TB case finding in Lesotho and Swaziland. The projects use a GeneXpert-Rif technology, a relatively new diagnostic near-point-of-case test that has become an important tool for improving TB diagnosis in children.

Globally, up to 50 percent of children less than 12 months of age develop the disease and every day up to 200 children die from the disease. Young children, malnourished children, and children whose immune systems are weak, such as those with HIV infection, have an exceptionally high risk of developing severe and life threatening disease following infection. In areas of high HIV prevalence, tuberculosis is thought to be the main killer of HIV-infected persons.

Since children with HIV-infection are at increased risk of TB disease, the Global TB Program is working closely with Baylor International Pediatric Aids Initiative (BIPAI) to enhance TB clinical programs. Information learned from the BIPAI network promises to fill major gaps regarding the burden of TB disease in HIV infected children and adolescents.

“HIV has changed the landscape dramatically,” said Mandalakas. “The TB-HIV co-infection is a deadly combination leading to an increase in morbidity and mortality in children globally.”

But TB is not just a global problem. Tuberculosis remains an issue in industrialized nations too. In 2010, more than 11,000 cases of tuberculosis disease were reported in the United States, with an estimated incidence of 3.8 cases per 100,000 persons. Texas comprised 12 percent of all TB cases in the United States (the second highest burden of childhood TB among US states). And within the state, Harris County had more TB cases than any other county in 2012. This may be explained by the large population of immigrants in the area, as children with the greatest risk of having TB include those who were born in or have lived in another country, or those who have a parent that was born outside of the US.

“We had one day in our TB clinic where we spoke seven different languages,” said Starke. “We see people from all over the world, both people who developed TB after coming to the US, and those were infected with TB in their home country. Most children who immigrate to the US receive no testing and no screening for TB and many of them are coming from an environment where TB is common and can easily be spread.”

According to Mandalakas, any child who is exposed to an adult with TB should complete a detailed evaluation to make sure that they do not have TB. If TB is not diagnosed, TB-exposed children can reduce their risk of developing TB to negligible levels by taking TB preventive medicines.

“We can’t look at TB in isolation,” said Starke. “We have to look at the bigger picture, the people they are around, the community and the circumstances.”

Taking care of Texas Children’s patients and families begins with taking the very best care of ourselves. That’s why the Employee Health and Wellness Center team is offering a free Hypertension Management Program open to participants on main campus to help you learn about managing your blood pressure. This eight week, confidential program is limited to only 50 participants at the Employee Medical Clinic.

This program might be right for you if you want to:

  • Improve blood pressure control and readings
  • Improve overall nutrition and fitness level
  • Overcome barriers to lifestyle changes and achieve optimal health and wellness

Tell me more about this program!

The Hypertension Management Program is a personalized medical care, educational and lifestyle program to help you manage your blood pressure.

You will receive over four hours of medical care, education and counseling, at no cost, including:

  • An individual medical care appointment
  • Two individual nutrition consultations
  • Two confidential, interactive, and supportive peer group sessions

I’m interested!
If you have been diagnosed with hypertension and are interested in better managing your condition, this program is for you. If you are ready to commit to the five program appointments, please complete this confidential interest survey, and a member of the Employee Health and Wellness team will contact you soon.