A newsletter for the Baylor College of Medicine Alumni • October 2011

Doctors in Training Are Also Chefs in Training Our second-year medical students are taking a break from their white coats to don aprons as a part of a new cooking elective. Inspired by an article in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22doctors.html) on the importance of medical students and physicians knowing how to make healthy eating choices and passing this knowledge on to their patients, BCM medical students Jasdeep Mangat and Amy Cobb established the CHEF (Choosing Healthy, Eating Fresh) organization. The first goal of the organization was to promote healthy eating and living among second-year medical students. Mangat’s regular trips to the Urban Harvest Farmers Market in the Houston area led to his introduction to the executive chef of Ruggles Green, German Mosquera, who does cooking demonstrations at the market. Mosquera agreed to teach a cooking class once a month for students.

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NewsAlumni Link

Dr. Dora E. Angelaki has been named the new Chair of the Department of Neuroscience. Dr. Angelaki is an award-winning researcher who comes to BCM from Washington University in St. Louis. She conducts innovative research in multisensory integration necessary for self-motion perception, spatial orientation and the control of movement. Dr. Angelaki will have a joint appointment with Rice University and will work with neuroscience faculty there to develop new education and research programs. Dr. Angelaki and her team are an outstanding addition to our internationally recognized neuroscience department. See press release: http://www.bcm.edu/news/item.cfm?newsID=4374.

New Appointments in Neuroscience and Center for Globalization

BCM Scientist Receives NIH Director “Early Independence Award”BCM scientist Dr. Rodney C. Samaco, who works in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, is one of 10 young researchers nationwide to receive a National Institutes of Health Director’s Early Independence Award. The award is designed to speed their development as researchers while pursuing their own projects in their own labs. Samaco, whose graduate studies took place in the laboratory of Dr. Huda Zoghbi, director of the Neurological Research Institute and a Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics, Neurology, Neuroscience and Pediatrics at BCM, completed his doctoral studies last fall at BCM, where he has also continued his postgraduate work. The $1.25 million five-year award will help him pursue work aimed at understanding the genetic and neurobiological basis of the social and behavioral dysfunction associated with autism spectrum disorders. The laboratory in the Neurological Research Institute and the collaborative attitude in that center, and BCM as a whole, will be an important part of his research. He credits Texas Children’s and the College with providing him crucial support during his graduate and postgraduate career. The Early Independence Award was established by Dr. Francis Collins, the NIH director, to combat a recent trend of long-term training periods that increase the time it takes a scientist to establish an independent research career. Collins and the NIH established the award to encourage the “pool of talented young scientists who have the intellect, scientific creativity, drive and maturity to flourish independently without the

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A L U M N I N E W S L I N K • O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1

need for traditional postdoctoral training,” according to the announcement of the award. Samaco’s work with Zoghbi focused on Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder that affects mainly young girls, impairing their physical and mental abilities. He has published numerous articles in the medical literature about his work, including some in major journals such as Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Samaco is the son of two immigrants from the Philippines who met and married in the United States. His father was in the military and the family moved to San Diego soon after his birth in San Jose, CA. He pursued his undergraduate studies in genetics at the University of California Davis, where he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Janine LaSalle, who was also interested in neurological disorders, including Rett. There he was part of an NIH-Howard Hughes Medical Institute funded program called the Biology Undergraduate Scholars program. It was then that he decided not to become a physician because he could have more impact on these diseases by working in the laboratory. As an undergraduate, he came to BCM as part of the SMART (Summer Medical and Research Training) Program which provides college undergraduates with the opportunity to work in biomedical research laboratories and provides science education for the summer. Samaco worked in the laboratory of Dr. Arthur Beaudet, Chair of Molecular and Human Genetics at BCM, under the supervision of Dr. Yong-hui Jiang, now at Duke University School of Medicine. His experience with Rett Syndrome drew him to BCM, with the aim of working in the lab of Zoghbi, where the gene for the disorder was first identified.

NIH Award CONTINUED FROM FRONT

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Dr. Bobby Kapur has been named Director of the Center for Globalization. Dr. Kapur is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Baylor and Associate Chief of Emergency Medicine at Ben Taub General Hospital. He is a 1998 graduate of BCM and also holds a master’s of public health from Harvard School of Public Health and completed an International Emergency Medicine Fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Brigham Women’s Hospital. He has broad international health care experience and will serve as an excellent leader of our Center for Globalization. See press release: http://www.bcm.edu/news/item.cfm?newsID=4375.

Chefs CONTINUED FROM FRONT

With a grant through the local chapter of the American Medical Association, they are able to purchase the supplies and groceries needed for the class. Each month, the student lounge is transformed into a kitchen with tables full of vegetables, spices, pots, pans and even portable gas stoves. Each class begins with a lesson from a faculty member, with topics ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes. Mosquera tries to use as many organic, plant-based ingredients as possible and teaches students recipes specific to the topic the faculty member addresses on that day. The next goal for the organization is to establish farmers markets at Harris County Hospital District clinics around the city to provide patients access to fresh, healthy foods.

STUDENT CORNER:Sue Ellen CrawfordPh.D. candidate in the Graduate School ofBiomedical Sciences

After working at BCM for 27 years, Sue Ellen Crawford applied and was accepted into the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology in the fall of 2008. Although she wanted to attend graduate school for many years, she was not able to do so because of family and financial responsibilities. With her degree, she hopes to advance her career in academia and enhance her ability to conduct and promote important research. She would ultimately like to have her own research laboratory in a university or medical center setting. In her lab, Crawford studies two viruses that cause gastroenteritis—rotavirus and norovirus. Her project involves discovering how rotavirus takes over cellular pathways. Crawford received a third place poster award and a second place oral presentation award at the 2010 Graduate Student Symposium and the 2010 Molecular Virology and Microbiology Retreat, respectively. In 2010, she also received the Kelly K. Woodard Award for Outstanding Achievement in scientific scholarship, research and leadership. She is an author on 52 publications, including four first-author publications. Outside of her work at BCM, Crawford is actively involved in an organization called Operation Graduation for the Oak Ridge and Woodlands communities. This organization provides a substance-free lock-in graduation night to ensure the safety of graduating seniors. Crawford has been married for 30 years and has two sons.