Two Programs Receive Accreditation

A new fellowship program in pediatric surgery has been accredited at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and the genetic counseling program has been reaccredited at the UT Medical School and UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.

Pediatric Surgery Fellowship

Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital has received accreditation for a new pediatric surgery training program under the leadership of Kevin Lally, M.D., program director and holder of the A. G. McNeese Chair in Pediatric Surgery at the Medical School. The Medical School is the sponsoring institution.

As one of 32 institutions in the nation to offer such a program, the Children’s Hospital’s pediatric surgery unit will receive one new trainee per year. Fellows will be physicians who have completed a general surgery residency and will stay in the UT-Memorial Hermann program for two years to specialize in pediatric surgery.

“Not only will this provide additional support to the medical staff, but it will also help us cultivate a new generation of surgeons,” Lally said. The program Two Programs Receive Accreditation will take on its first fellows in 2006.

Genetic Counseling Reaccredited

The UT Genetic Counseling Graduate program has been reaccredited by the American Board of Genetic Counseling for another eight years, the maximum amount of time a program can be reaccredited. At the completion of the two-year program, students receive a master’s degree from the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS). The director of the program is Jacqueline Hecht, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics at the Medical School and GSBS.

“Our program’s success is the result of the continued support of wonderful faculty, clinical supervisors, administrative assistants and students,” said Sarah Jane Noblin, assistant professor of pediatrics, assistant director and a graduate of the genetic counseling program.

The program is the only one of its kind in Texas, and it has contributed to the large number of counselors who provide genetic counseling throughout the United States. Six students graduated in May 2006. Fifty have graduated since the first class in 1991.