News Briefs

Interim Chair of Pediatrics

Giuseppe Colasurdo, M.D., has been named interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Medical School Dean Stanley Schultz, M.D., has announced. John Sparks, M.D., stepped down from the position. Colasurdo has served on the Medical School faculty since 1995. He is a graduate of G. D. Annunzio School of Medicine in Chieti, Italy, and he completed his residency at the UT Medical Branch at Galveston.

Larry Gilstrap, M.D., chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, chairs the search committee for a permanent chair. Sparks remains on the department faculty and will head the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Division, the position he held prior to becoming department chair in 1995.

New Public Health Certification

A new graduate certificate in public health is now available through The University of Texas School of Public Health. Application deadlines are Aug. 1 for the fall semester, Nov. 1 for the spring semester and May 1 for summer 2006. Those who seek formal training in public health are encouraged to apply. Visit http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/cert/ for applicant criteria, curriculum and course requirements.