Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Pen Case Files

Back-to-school time means textbook time, and this year there’s a new book on the UT Bookstore shelves that was written by almost an entire department at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

Case Files Biochemistry, published by McGraw-Hill Incorporated, is the 10th book in the Case Files series, which is the brainchild of Eugene Toy, M.D., clinical assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences.

“I started writing the series in 2001, when it became clear to me that we were not doing the best job teaching medical students how to think in a clinical manner – especially not teaching them how to incorporate basic science into clinical issues well,” Toy explained.

Toy launched the series with obstetrics and gynecology and has since published five more clinical topics (general surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, internal medicine and emergency medicine) and four basic science topics (biochemistry, pharmacology, gross anatomy and microbiology).

“My goals were not just to get the books published, but to incorporate UT faculty,” he said. “By doing so, it establishes the UT Medical School at Houston as a premier institution of medical learning.”

The latest book, Case Files Biochemistry, includes as its authors William Seifert, Ph.D., senior lecturer, and Henry Strobel, Ph.D., professor, both in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

“We really made an effort to involve the whole department, and this book was the perfect opportunity,” Strobel said.

Contributors include Medical School students, graduate students and faculty, including: Michael Blackburn, Ph.D., associate professor; Phillip Carpenter, Ph.D., assistant professor; Julia Lever, Ph.D., professor; Alan Levine, Ph.D., associate professor; John Putkey, Ph.D., professor; and Ann-Bin Shyu, Ph.D., professor all of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, plus Richard Kulmacz, Ph.D., professor, who also is in internal medicine-hematology. All except Levine also have faculty appointments in the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.

Even though these books are not required for Medical School courses, they are recommended and are selling quite well.

“The series is selling extremely well nationwide,” Toy said. “The books take students from their first day of medical school all the way through to graduation.”

With a busy teaching schedule and clinical practice, Toy somehow has time to fit it all in – with more books in the works: pathology, physiology, neurology and family medicine.

“This is my passion – teaching and helping medical students learn is the greatest joy I could have, so it is no problem,” he said.

By Darla Brown, Madical School