Kudos

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Awards and Honors

John H. Byrne, Ph.D., the June and Virgil Waggoner Distinguished Professor and chairman of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical School (MS), was honored July 25 at the International Neural Network Society in Budapest, Hungary. He received the Hebb Award, which recognizes outstanding individuals who have made contributions in the field of biological learning. He also holds a faculty appointment in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS).

Irina Cech, professor of environmental and occupational health, School of Public Health (SPH), has been invited to act as a member of the Jury for the 2004 Dubai International Award for Best Practices. The five members of the jury will be charged with selecting up to 10 award-winning practices from a shortlist of 40 practices. Best Practices are initiatives that have made outstanding contributions to improving the quality of life in cities and communities around the world. The biennial environmental award was established in 1995 by the Municipality of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in cooperation with the UN-Habitat. UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

Robert Emery, Dr.P.H., executive director of environmental health and safety, Health Science Center (HSC), and associate professor of occupational health, SPH, was asked by UT System to assist the U.S. General Accounting Office with a review of U.S. radioactive waste disposal issues, especially as they relate to biomedical research. Issued in June, the report is titled “Low-Level Radioactive Waste: Disposal Availability Adequate in the Short Term, but Oversight Needed to Identify Any Future Shortfalls.”

Faun G. Ryser, Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical nursing, Nursing for Target Populations, School of Nursing (SON), received the Nursing Celebration Award from the Texas Nurses Association, District 9.

Presentations

As chair of the American Society for Clinical Pathology Globalization Taskforce, Kathleen Becan-McBride, Ed.D., director of community outreach and education, HSC, and professor of family practice and community medicine, MS, was invited to present “Globalizing Laboratory Personnel: Quality Assessment and Management Mechanisms” June 15 at the 26th World Congress of the International Federation for Biomedical Laboratory Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden.

Barry D. Kahan, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Division of Immunology and Organ Transplantation, Department of Surgery, MS and GSBS, spoke on “Avoiding Toxicity in Today’s Renal Transplant Recipient” and “Sirolimus Reduces the Incidence of Malignancies: Single-Center and Multi Center (UNOS data)” at the Canadian Society of Transplantation, Montreal, Canada.

In the MS Division of Immunology and Organ Transplantation, Lynne P. Rutzky, Ph.D., associate professor; Huimin Zhang, research assistant II; Tammy Phan, senior research assistant; Stephen Katz, M.D., associate professor; Stan Stepkowski, D.V.M., Ph.D., D.Sc., professor and GSBS; and two collaborators gave a presentation on “Impact of Microgravity Culture on Survival of Allogeneic Pancreatic Islet Transplants” at the NASA Biotechnology Cell Science Program Investigator Working Group meeting in Palo Alto, Calif.

Publications and Patents

Sandra K. Hanneman, Ph.D., the Jerold B. Katz Distinguished Professor for Nursing Research, Department of Acute and Continuing Care, associate dean for research and director, The Center for Nursing Research, SON, is lead author on “Comparison of Methods of Temperature Measurement in Swine,” published in the July 2004 issue of Laboratory Animals. Other authors include a former doctoral student and the former biostatistician in the Center for Nursing Research.

Arthur Jeske, D.M.D., Ph.D., professor of restorative dentistry and biomaterials; Clark W.Whitmire, D.D.S., associate professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery and anesthesiology; and Chris Freels, D.D.S., orthdontics resident, all at the Dental Branch (DB), and a collaborator published “Non-Invasive Assessment of Diffusion Hypoxia Following Administration of Nitrous Oxide- Oxygen Conscious Sedation,” in Anesthesia Progress.

Barry D. Kahan, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Division of Immunology and Organ Transplantation, Department of Surgery, MS and GSBS, published three articles in Transplant Proceedings: “FTY720: From Bench to Bedside,” “Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Cyclosporine: 20 Years of Progress,” and “The Era of Cyclosporine: Twenty Years Forward, Twenty Years Back.”

Richard J. Knight, M.D., associate professor of surgery, Division of Immunology and Organ Transplantation, MS, published “The Impact of Pancreas Transplantation on Patient Employment Opportunities” in Clinical Transplant.

Rade D. Paravina, D.D.S., Ph.D., faculty associate in oral biomaterials, DB, and John M. Powers, Ph.D., professor of restorative dentistry and biomaterials and director of the Houston Biomaterials Research Center, DB and GSBS, are editors of Esthetic Color Training in Dentistry (Mosby, 2004, $59.95). The book includes contributions from Paravina, Powers and these additional DB faculty: Jeryl D. English, D.D.S., associate professor and chairman, Department of Orthodontics; Rose-Marie Fay, D.D.S., adjunct faculty member in restorative dentistry and biomaterials; Sudarat Kiat-Amnuay, D.D.S., assistant professor of restorative dentistry; Huan Lu, D.D.S., Ph.D., assistant professor of oral biomaterials; Kathy L. O’Keefe, D.D.S., clinical associate professor of restorative dentistry and GSBS; Joe C. Ontiveros, D.D.S., assistant professor of restorative dentistry; and Leslie B. Roeder, D.D.S., associate professor of diagnostic sciences and associate dean for academic affairs. Accompanying software, with color training exercises, is intended for improvement of color matching, communication and reproduction.

Charles T. Van Buren, M.D., professor of surgery in the Division of Immunology and Organ Transplantation, MS, received approval from the U.S. Patent Office on his “Immunosupportive Drug Sparing Diet,” March 15.

Donna Warren, registered dental hygienist and assistant professor; Holly Rice, registered dental hygienist and clinical assistant professor, both at the Dental Branch, and Stewart Turner, Ph.D., associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy, MS, wrote an article published in Journal of Dental Hygiene on “Comparison of Plaque Removing Ability of One Standard and Two Flexible-Head Toothbrushes.”