Advanced Genetics Module Wins Video Award

Program is part of community engagement core of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences

Videos that help to attract middle and high school students to health science have won a prestigious Award of Excellence from the 2006 Accolade Competition.

Nancy Murray, Dr.P.H.

The award to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston was given for the videos in HEADS UP Advanced Genetics, a multimedia curriculum module that explores the use of animal models, genes and stem cells in human disease research. It features content, career stories, classroom activities, and ethical and policymaking considerations.

HEADS UP (Health Education And Discovering Science while Unlocking Potential) is part of the outreach efforts of the community engagement core of the health science center’s new $36 million Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS). Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the CCTS is one of only 12 in the nation.

The Accolade Competition was created to honor outstanding craft and creativity in film, video, television and commercials. Segments of HEADS UP Advanced Genetics were featured at the American Public Health Association Film Festival in Boston in November.

“We are absolutely thrilled with this recognition and are proud to share this honor with a phenomenal team of researchers, teachers, students, production and curriculum specialists, and collaborators who contributed countless hours of their time and expertise for this project,” said Nancy Murray, Dr.P.H., HEADS UP principal investigator and assistant professor of behavioral sciences at the UT School of Public Health.

HEADS UP is funded as an innovative educational program by a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources of the NIH.

Aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and National Science Education Standards, materials are developed in cooperation with Spring Branch Independent School District, Project GRAD Houston, The Health Museum, and Lower Rio Grande Valley schools and science organizations.

HEADS UP provides both continuing education for K-12 teachers and education for students and their families. It features curriculum modules on genetics, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, physical activity, nutrition, the nervous system and advanced genetics; teacher trainings; teacher summer institutes; parent outreach; and visits to The Health Museum.