Kudos

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Awards and Honors

Sheila Koh, D.D.S., associate professor in restorative dentistry, Dental Branch (DB), received a Mastership in the Academy of General Dentistry in August at the annual meeting in Denver. Achieving mastership reflects a general dentist’s ongoing commitment to provide quality care through continuing education. To achieve this distinction, a member must have completed a challenging course of hands-on study in 16 dental disciplines, totaling 600 hours of continuing education.

Sabrina Midkiff, chief governmental relations officer, was honored as an outstanding Houston Division volunteer in the Texas Chapter of the March of Dimes. The Texas Chapter was named Chapter of the Year in Institutional Advancement and was recognized for the most successful Lobby Day in recent memory, when more than 200 March of Dimes volunteers and staff members spent the day urging Texas legislators to support legislation expanding newborn screening in Texas.

Sharon K. Ostwald, Ph.D., holder of the Isla Carroll Turner Chair in Gerontological Nursing, School of Nursing (SON), has been appointed a co-chair of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Health Services Initiatives group. She attended a meeting Sept. 19 and 20 in Washington, D.C. The group will make recommendations for priorities for the NINDS for the next five years.

James Steele, M.D., professor emeritus, School of Public Health (SPH), received the 2006 Abraham Horwitz Award for Leadership in Inter-American Health during the September Directing Council meeting of the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, D.C. He was selected because of his contributions to public health resulting in region-wide improvements in the lives of the peoples of the Americas. Steele presented remarks to the Directing Council, which includes ministers of health from the PAHO member countries.

Lisa Thomas, D.D.S., associate professor in diagnostic sciences, DB, received the Sigma Phi Alpha Dental Hygiene Society Faculty Award from Alpha Epsilon Chapter during a faculty retreat earlier this year. Sigma Phi Alpha strives to enhance the dental hygiene profession’s role and image in the delivery of quality health care to the public.

Presentations

Dental Branch Dean Catherine M. Flaitz, D.D.S., the William N. Finnegan III Development Board Professor in the Dental Sciences, presented “A Round-Up of Symptomatic Oral Diseases, Newest Devices and Latest Treatments” as guest speaker at the “Dentists Who Care,” 10th Anniversary Charity Dental Conference, Aug. 11- 12.

Samuel Kaplan, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Medical School and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, presented at an Aug. 28-29 workshop at the National Institutes of Health on establishing a process for microbial genome annotation. The workshop included representatives of the American Society for Microbiology and the National Center for Biotechnology Information, which is a part of the National Library of Medicine.

Publications

Joan Engebretson, Dr.P.H., professor of nursing for target populations, SON, and a colleague published “Neural and Cognitive Basis of Spiritual Experience: Biopsychosocial and Ethical Implications for Clinical Medicine” in Explore. This article described the role of patient spirituality and spiritual experiences in clinical settings.

Pauline Vaillancourt Rosenau, Ph.D., professor in the Division of Management, Policy and Community Health, SPH, published a study in the spring 2006 edition of the American Review of Canadian Studies. The study assessed the fairness, accuracy and comprehensiveness of U.S. newspaper coverage of the Canadian health system. Rosenau concluded that several inadequacies found in the newspaper coverage meant that the American public is substantially misinformed about the Canadian health system.