Paragraphs for Training Grants

This section of links may be inserted in part or as a whole in a proposal.UTMB Overview and AdministrationPatient CareEducationSchool of Medicine (short version)School of Nursing (SON) (short version) School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS) (short version) Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences ( GSBS) Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health (PMCH) (short version) Diversity (short version)

For more complete descriptions of resources and programs, this section of links may be inserted in part or as a whole. Please note, several facilities, programs, or centers in this list have short, alternative, and longer descriptions.University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Overview (alternate version)History Patient Care (alternate version)Education (alternate version)

School of MedicineSchool of NursingSchool of Allied Health SciencesGraduate School of Biomedical Sciences

UTMB and the University of Texas at AustinSchool of Medicine (SOM)

Integrated Medical Curriculum (IMC)Gross Anatomy and Radiology (GAR)Molecules, Cells, and Tissues (MCT)Pathobiology and Host Defense (PHD)Cardiovascular/Pulmonary (CVP)Gastroenterology/Nutrition (GIN)Renal/Fluid/Electrolytes (RFE)Dermatology/Hematology/Musculoskeletal (DHM)Great SyndromesPractice of Medicine Year 1 and Year 2 (POM 1 & 2)IMC Course CommitteesAcademic Progress CommitteeStudent USMLE Scores

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences ( GSBS) Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health (PMCH) (short version)Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health (PMCH) (long version)

Sociomedical Sciences DivisionDivision of Epidemiology and BiostatisticsCell Biology Graduate ProgramCellular Physiology and Molecular Biophysics ProgramExperimental Pathology ProgramGraduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB)Biophysical, Structural & Computational Biology (BSCB)Graduate Program in the Medical HumanitiesMicrobiology and Immunology ProgramNeuroscience Graduate Program (NGP)Graduate Program in Pharmacology and ToxicologyMasters in Medical Science (MMS)

Institute for the Medical Humanities (IMH)

School of Nursing (SON) (long version)Master’s Nursing ProgramPhD Program in Nursing

School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS) (long version) Master of Physical TherapyMaster of Occupational TherapyMaster of Physician Assistant Studies Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Sciences PhD CurriculumPostdoctoral   Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Research Training Program Postdoctoral Psychology Training Program

Diversity (long version)UTMB's Efforts to Increase Numbers of Disadvantaged Students in the Health Professions

Grade and High School InitiativesUndergraduate Initiatives

Institutional Committees, Offices, Policies and Procedures Supporting Disadvantaged StudentsDiversity in Medical Education CommitteeOffice of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action PoliciesAdmissions Procedures and ActivitiesUTMB's Mission Statement and Strategic PlanCore Committee for the Support of Minority Faculty and Administrators Diversity Committee on Minority EducationOffice of Educational OutreachFinancial Aid and Scholarships

UTMB’s Experience in the Recruitment, Enrollment, Retention, and Graduation of Under-represented Minority Students

RecruitmentEnrollmentRetentionGraduation of Under-Represented Minority StudentsHispanic Center of Excellence

UTMB Education ResourcesClinical Research Education Office (CREO) (short version) Clinical Research Education Office (CREO) (alternate version) Clinical Research Education Office (CREO) (long version) Scientific Writing for Clinical Research (short version)Scientific Writing for Clinical Research (long version)Moody Medical LibraryOffice of Educational DevelopmentResearch EducationOffice of Postdoctoral Affairs – Postdoctoral Training Program

Research ResourcesGeneral Clinical Research Center (GCRC) (short version)General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) (alternate version)General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) (long version)

Patient ServicesMetabolic Control UnitBody Composition & Whole Body CounterBody Protein MonitoringSleep LaboratoryMetabolic KitchenGCRC Computer Resources

Office of Biostatistics (OBIOS)Office of Biostatistics (OBIOS) (alternate version)

UTMB Bioinformatics ProgramAT&T Center for Telehealth Research and Policy

Research CentersSealy Center on Aging (short version) Sealy Center on Aging (alternate version) Sealy Center on Aging (long version)

Volunteer Registry Senior Services OfficeDivision of Geriatrics, Department of Internal MedicineData Management System for Medical Research (DMSMED) PersonnelEquipment and SoftwareNetwork Connection and CommunicationSecurity SchemaArchiving and Backup Schema

Center for Population Health and Health Disparities (CPHHD)Center to Eliminate Health Disparities Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health Asthma and Allergic Diseases Research CenterSealy Center for Environmental Health and MedicineNIH/NIEHS-funded NIEHS Center and the Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine (SCEHM)Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (CBEID ) UTMB BSL-4 Laboratory (Robert Shope Pavillion Laboratory)Western Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (WRCE)

Biosafety Level 2, 3 and 4 LaboratoriesNational Biocontainment Laboratory at Galveston (The Galveston National Laboratory; GNL)

Biodefense programs and facilitiesAnimal Model CapabilitiesBiosafety Containment LaboratoriesBSL2/BSL3 FacilitiesBSL4 FacilitiesGalveston National Laboratory (GNL)Major EquipmentWorld Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses (WRCEVA)Electron MicroscopyW. M. Keck Center for Virus ImagingCore FacilitiesUTMB’s Animal Resources Center (ARC) (long version)Other University FacilitiesSealy Center for Structural Biology (SCSB)ComputersBiostatistics ConsultationAdministrative Support

Safety and BiosecurityComplianceInstitutional BioSafety CommitteeInstitutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)Chemical Safety CommitteeSelect AgentsEmergency ResponseHazard CommunicationOccupational Medicine and Employee HealthTrainingDisposal of Hazardous MaterialsCertification of biological safety cabinets and chemical fume hoods

Safety Manuals and Standard Operating ProceduresUTMB Safety ManualThe Environmental Containment Laboratory ManualBiosafety Level 3 ManualsThe Robert E. Shope, M.D. Laboratory (BioSafety Level 4) Manual

Hepatitis C Research Center (HCRC)Sealy Center for Structural Biology (short version)Sealy Center for Structural Biology (long version)

NMR Spectroscopy and MRIBSL-3/Advanced Cryoelectron Microscopy Imaging Keck FacilityMacromolecular Assembly and Biophysical ChemistryX-ray Crystallography

Center for Biomedical Engineering (CBME)Center for Biomedical Engineering (CBME) (alternate version)Center for Addiction ResearchSealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology (Short version)UTMB Cancer Programs

Brief History of Cancer Programs at UTMBSealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology.Comprehensive Cancer CenterOncology Clinical Trials Office (OCTO)

Programs in Cancer Prevention and EducationCancer Teaching and Curriculum Enhancement in Undergraduate MedicineCancer Nutrition Network for Texans

Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine (SCMM) (short version)Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine (SCMM) (long version)

Recombinant DNA LaboratoryMolecular Genomics CoreNHLBI Proteomics CenterBioinformatics Program

Stark Diabetes CenterCenter for Population Health and Health Disparities (CPHHD) East Texas Area Health Education Center (AHEC)

Animal Resources Center (ARC) (short version)Investigational Drug ServiceOffice of Community Outreach (OCO) Galveston and Eastern Texas

This section may be inserted in part or as a whole in the proposal.

UTMB Overview and Administration. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), which is on the Gulf of Mexico 48 miles south of Houston, is the third oldest medical school founded and the oldest medical school in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. The UTMB complex encompasses 54 major buildings, including five interconnected hospital buildings with more than 774 hospital beds, on 85 acres at the east end of Galveston Island. The University maintains close affiliation with one of only three Shriners’ Hospitals for Children focused on burns in the US

UTMB is one of seven health components of the 15-institution University of Texas System, and is unique among the Texas health science centers in that it operates its academic and patient care programs and facilities (and the only state-funded general purpose hospital and clinics) under a single administrative structure. Hospital and research operations fall under the President of the University, facilitating the integration of UTMB’s education, research, and patient care programs, and providing a strong synergistic environment for clinical research and education. UTMB’s annual budget approaches $1.4 billion.

Academic and clinical operations also operate under the President of the University. Deans of the four schools and UTMB Vice Presidents report to the President, as do the Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of UTMB Hospitals (Karen Sexton, RN, PhD, CHE) and other UTMB Vice Presidents. Thus, hospital and clinical research issues are addressed directly in the President’s Council, the mechanism under which these officers meet regularly.

The Dean of the SOM, Garland D. Anderson, MD, has overall responsibility for education and research taking place in the most research-intensive organizations at UTMB and directs the institution’s research infrastructure. Research Services includes the Offices of Sponsored Programs, Research Education, Research Compliance, and Research Subjects Protection (providing administrative support for the Institutional Review Board), the Animal Resources Center and Animal Care and Use Committee. Two SOM Associate Deans for Research (David Gorenstein, PhD, and Don W. Powell, MD) provide strategic direction on clinical, basic and translational research in the SOM. The Schools of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences research programs also have Associate Deans for Research (Elizabeth Reifsnider, PhD, APRN, BC, and Kenneth Ottenbacher, PhD). The chairs of 20 basic and clinical science departments, as well as the directors of UTMB’s three institutes, report to the Dean of the SOM.

Patient Care. Provision of high quality medical care to a large, diverse patient population is important both for medical education and clinical research. In 2005, UTMB received outpatient visits from 214 of Texas’s 254 counties and inpatients from 149 counties. UTMB’s hospitals experienced 42,294 inpatient admissions and 65,658 emergency room visits that resulted in 202,554 days of inpatient care. UTMB’s outpatient clinics (45 campus-based and 47 community-based) recorded 752,441 patient visits. In response to UTMB’s historic commitment to the medically indigent, more than $481 million dollars of unsponsored charity care was delivered. Telemedicine consultations numbered 57,850, making UTMB one of the leaders in the US in this method of health care delivery. In addition, the UTMB Shriners’ Hospital for Children-Galveston Burns Hospital includes an intensive and inclusive rehabilitation program.

Education. For 2005-2006, some 2,172 students were enrolled in four schools and three institutes: the School of Medicine (830 students), the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (341 students), the School of Nursing (573 students), the School of Allied Health Sciences (428 students), the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, the Marine Biomedical Institute and the Institute for the Medical Humanities.

(short version)School of Medicine. UTMB’s School of Medicine has 752 full-time faculty, 830 medical students, 500 clinical residents in training, and more than 70 clinical fellows. Composed of six basic science and 15 clinical departments, the School of Medicine boasts the ninth largest medical enrollment in the country and graduates approximately 200 physicians per year. Over its 115-year history, the school has graduated >11,000 physicians.

The UTMB School of Medicine ranks first in the US in the number of Hispanic graduates and seventh in the number of African American graduates. Currently, 25% of UTMB’s medical school students, 20% of nursing students, 30% of graduate students, 30% of allied health students and 11% of clinical residents and fellows are African American or Hispanic. Moreover, UTMB has a patient population with a mix of non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics that is ideal for minority scholars who wish to conduct health disparities research. The School of Medicine admits approximately 200 students yearly and its new curriculum emphasizes small group, self-directed learning and integration of the basic and clinical sciences. The combined MD-PhD program has 39 students.

UTMB has more than 50 accredited residency and fellowship programs providing training for >500 residents and fellows. To prepare physicians who will meet needs of the future, the school has programs in such emerging areas as correctional health care and, in conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, space medicine. Approximately one-fourth of practicing physicians in Texas received at least a portion of their postdoctoral or medical school training at UTMB.

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School of Nursing (SON). The University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing, established in 1890 as the John Sealy Hospital Training School for Nurses, is the oldest school of nursing in the Southwest. In 1896, it became the UTMB School of Nursing, one of the divisions of the Medical Branch, with diplomas granted by the University. 

As the first University-affiliated school of nursing west of the Mississippi, UTMB’s School of Nursing has set the standard for progressive nursing education for more than a century and continues to be a leader in scientific and humanistic nursing education in both the Baccalaureate and Master’s Nursing Programs. The Baccalaureate Nursing Program offers the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree and has two tracks, the BSN track and RN-BSN Track. The Master’s Nursing Program offers a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Degree. Specialties in the Master’s Nursing Program include: the Primary Care Nurse Practitioner with subspecialties in Adult/Geriatric, Pediatrics, and Family; the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner with subspecialties in Neonatal, Pediatric, and Adult; and Nurse Midwifery. A post-master’s is offered in gerontology.

The Doctor of Philosophy program in nursing was approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) in 1996 and the first class of students was admitted in Fall 1997. The program is designed to prepare scholars and researchers capable of advancing nursing practice and education. Three focus areas, health promotion, human response, and healing, characterize the conceptual base of the program and define the program’s parameters of scholarly inquiry. 

(short version)The School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS), established in 1968, offers multi-level educational programs for a diverse group of students in the rehabilitation and health professions and has produced more than 6,000 professionals for the nation's health care workforce. The SAHS also facilitates student and faculty involvement in scientific investigation and scholarly activities that advance health care, and promotes service through active participation in professional and community activities. The SAHS offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees through a full range of programs in allied health disciplines, including clinical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, and respiratory care. The professional masters’ degrees in physical therapy (MPT) and occupational therapy (MOT) are entry-level degrees that qualify persons for practice and allow graduates to take national registration and state licensure exams. Similarly, the master’s degree in physician assistant studies (MPAS) qualifies graduates for certification as physician assistants in the State of Texas. For students with backgrounds in rehabilitation interested in pursuing advanced research, the PhD curriculum in Rehabilitation Sciences is offered through the Graduate Program in Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. The SAHS also offers postdoctoral fellowship experiences in the interdisciplinary rehabilitation research training program and the psychology training program.

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) was established in 1969 and has expanded to 12 graduate programs. Clinical Science was added most recently to the list of programs. All PhD and MS degrees are awarded through the GSBS. The Master of Medical Science (MMS) is awarded to MD fellows obtaining research training, and the Master of Public Health (MPH) is awarded to physicians enrolled in residency programs. GSBS graduates hold prestigious and influential positions in universities, government and industry in the United States and around the world. All GSBS faculty have primary appointments in one of the other three schools at UTMB, and work closely within all departments, institutes, and research centers.

During the first year, most graduate students are required to enroll in the Basic Biomedical Sciences Curriculum (BBSC), which provides a strong foundation for all the laboratory-based basic science disciplines or in the Biochemical, Structural and Computational Biology Curriculum (BSCB), which is tailored to undergraduate majors in chemistry, physics, computational biology, engineering or mathematics. Students choose a specific graduate program for further course work and dissertation at the end of the first year. The BBSC and BSCB are not appropriate for students interested in some areas of study, such as the Medical Humanities, Sociomedical Sciences, Clinical Science, and the MD-PhD Combined Degree Program; such students are exempted from the BBSC or BSCB.

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The Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health (PMCH) maintains the faculty expertise to address contemporary challenges to the health and well-being of human populations through basic, translational and clinical research.  PMCH faculty expertise encompasses the core disciplines of the Population Health Sciences, Public Health Sciences and Preventive Medicine Sciences and includes the specific disciplines of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Health Services, Human Nutrition, Sociomedical Sciences, Rehabilitation Sciences, General Preventive Medicine, Aerospace Medicine, Occupational Medicine, and Clinical Investigative Sciences.  Departmental faculty and support personnel collaborate in a wide variety of programmatic efforts across disciplines within the department and throughout the University and beyond.

(short version)Diversity UTMB is located in a state with considerable ethnic and racial diversity. One of UTMB’s five core values addresses diversity, and states, “We are committed to employ and educate a health care work force whose diversity mirrors the population they serve.” We serve a tri-ethnic patient population, which provides an ideal training ground and rich research resources for our clinical research education programs. UTMB is also fully cognizant and supportive of the needs of employees and students with disabilities.

UTMB has a strong record of recruiting minority students; and diversity is increasing among the student body in all four schools. The academic health center ranks among the leaders in minority enrollment for US medical schools. The 602 students who graduated in 2005 from UTMB’s four schools included 209 of Hispanic, African American, Asian and American Indian backgrounds. According to this year's Black Issues in Higher Education Top 100 Degree Producers issue, UTMB's School of Medicine was ranked first in the nation in the number of Hispanic physicians it graduated and seventh in the number of African American physician graduates. Among Texas medical schools, UTMB ranks first in overall minority enrollment, with 25 percent of its 830 medical students coming from underrepresented groups.

Building upon its role as a leader in minority student recruitment and retention, UTMB has a number of programs in place for enhancing minority student enrollment and retention. For example, UTMB’s most recent grants from the federally funded Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE) and Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) total $4.5 million, and continue to help UTMB diversify its student population.

For more complete descriptions of resources and programs, this section may be inserted in part or as a whole. Please note, several facilities, programs, or centers have short, alternative, and long descriptions.

(Alternate version)The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Overview History UTMB, one of 15 campuses of the University of Texas System, is dedicated to educating health science professionals and researchers caring for patients and solving biomedical problems through scientific inquiry. UTMB is unique among the Texas health science centers in that it operates its academic and patient care programs and facilities (and the only state-funded general purpose hospital and clinics) under a single administrative structure. Hospital and research operations are integrated under the President of the University, facilitating the integration of UTMB’s education, research and patient care programs, and providing a strong, synergistic environment for clinical and research education. As an integrated academic medical center under one administrative structure, UTMB’s annual budget approaches $1.4 billion. Established in 1891, UTMB’s School of Medicine was the first in Texas and the third west of the Mississippi River (the second oldest School of Medicine in continuous operation west of the Mississippi). Since then UTMB has grown from one building, 23 students and 13 faculty members to a major health science center with more than 70 major buildings, 2,100 students, 900 full-time faculty and more than $150M in sponsored research. The 100-acre campus includes four schools (Medicine, Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Nursing and Allied Health Sciences), three institutes for advanced study, a major medical library and a network of hospitals and clinics that provide a full range of primary and specialized medical care.

More than 470,000 square feet of space is dedicated to research, including the Truman Graves Blocker Medical Research Building, an 11-story laboratory building housing several centers, research cores and departments, and the Dockside Building, a dedicated structural biology building housing state of the art NMR equipment. The UTMB School of Medicine’s 20 basic, biomedical and clinical academic departments all have faculty conducting funded research. All of these facilities are on the UTMB main campus; none is more than a 10-minute walk from any other.

In recent years UTMB has invested more than $7M annually from endorsement and tobacco settlement revenues in campus wide interdisciplinary research centers, most based within the School of Medicine. These include: the Sealy Centers for Molecular Science (1991-present), Structural Biology (1995-present), Molecular Cardiology (1994-2000), Cancer Cell Biology (1995-present), Aging (1995present) and Vaccine Development (2001-present), as well as the General Clinical Research Center (continuously funded by NIH since 1962), the Texas Space Grant Consortium (1989), the Center for Aerospace Medicine and Physiology (1995), the Centennial Center for Toxicology (1996), the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases (1994), the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (2001-present), Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health (2002-present) and the Center for Addiction Research (2004-present). Extensive institutional funding also supports interdisciplinary programs in bioinformatics, neuroscience, and gastrointestinal research. As part of this investment, the University established such core facilities as the Transgenic Mouse Core Facility, Molecular Genomics Core Laboratory, Biomedical Resources (Protein and Proteomics) Facility, and more recently the Robert E. Shope Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) Research Laboratory, an $18M facility completed in mid-2003 with a combination of foundation, institutional and NIH support. This investment in research has paid off, as UTMB sponsored research funding has more than doubled in the past five years. External funding is $158.6 million per year. Overall, UTMB is ranked #39 among medical schools in NIH funding. The Departments of Pathology, Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology are in the top 10 in NIH funding.

Patient Care Clinical training takes place in four teaching hospitals, containing 900 beds, on the Galveston campus; at the Brackenridge Hospital in Austin, and in the offices of 891 affiliated physicians in private practice in Southeast Texas who supervise medical students and house officers. UTMB’s 99-acre campus of 77 buildings includes the state-of-the-art Medical Research Building, Level 1 Trauma Center, Shriners Burns Center and the only operational biosafety level 4 laboratory at an academic health center. As home of the annual National Student Research Forum, founded by UTMB in 1960 and the only competition of its type, UTMB plays a pivotal role in support of the nation’s future scientific leaders. Since its founding, UTMB has been and continues to be a major health care provider for ethnic minorities and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2005, of the 42,294 inpatients treated at UTMB, 60% were African American or Hispanic. During this period, there were 752,441 patient visits in the UTMB outpatient clinics. Of this number, 49% were African American or Hispanic.

Provision of high quality medical care to a large diverse patient population is important both for medical education and clinical research. In 2005, UTMB received outpatient visits from 204 of Texas’ 254 counties and inpatients from 149 counties. In 2005, UTMB’s hospitals served 42,294 inpatients and experienced 65,658 emergency room visits that resulted in 202,544 days of inpatient care. There were 752,441 patient visits to UTMB’s outpatient clinics (45 campus-based and 47 community-based). In response to UTMB’s historic commitment to the medically indigent, more than $481 million dollars of unsponsored charity care was delivered. Telemedicine consultations numbered 28,929, making UTMB one of the leaders in the US in this method of health care delivery. In addition, the UTMB-Shriners Hospitals for Children-Galveston Burns Hospital is one of four Burn Injury Rehabilitation Model Systems in the United States. The UTMB Burn Model System program in the Shriners Burns Hospital includes an intensive and inclusive rehabilitation program.

Education Over two thousand students are enrolled in four schools and two institutes: the School of Medicine (826 students), the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (312 students), the School of Nursing (564 students), the School of Allied Health Sciences (334 students), the Marine Biomedical Institute and the Institute for the Medical Humanities. Of 1,147 full time faculties, 834 are in the School of Medicine.

UTMB’s School of Medicine has 752 full-time faculty, nearly 820 medical students, 500 clinical residents in training, and more than 70 clinical fellows. Composed of six basic science and fifteen clinical departments, the School of Medicine boasts the ninth largest medical enrollment in the country and graduates approximately two hundred physicians per year. In the course of its 115-year history, the school has graduated over 11,000 physicians.

The UTMB School of Medicine ranks first in the US in the number of Hispanic graduates and seventh in the number of African American graduates. Currently, 25% of UTMB’s medical school students, 20% of nursing students, 30% of graduate students and allied health students and 11% of clinical residents and fellows are African American or Hispanic. Moreover, UTMB has a patient population with a mix of non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics that is ideal for minority scholars who wish to conduct health disparities research. The School of Medicine admits approximately 200 students yearly and its new curriculum emphasizes small group, self-directed learning and integration of the basic and clinical sciences. The combined MD-PhD program has 39 students.

UTMB has approximately 53 accredited residency and fellowship programs providing training for over 500 residents and fellows. To prepare physicians to meet the needs of the future, the school conducts training in such emerging areas as health care of inmates of correctional institutions and in conjunction with NASA, space medicine. Approximately one fourth of Texas’ practicing physicians received at least a portion of their graduate or undergraduate training at UTMB.

In the School of Nursing, the Nursing Doctoral Program is designed to provide nurses who have already demonstrated specialized clinical expertise at the master’s level the opportunity to contribute to the further development of nursing knowledge and professional leadership. This is achieved through the systematic study of the dimensions of the construct of healing as central to nursing practice, scholarship and leadership. The program of study thus prepares scholars and researchers who will advance the theoretical and investigatory capacities of nurses to further healing with a variety of persons and within a variety of contexts. Healing within this program of study is understood as the interactive process that emerges when patients within a specified health context gain access to the expertise of the professional nurse to facilitate progression toward a desired “wholeness,” such as wholeness being the root meaning of the construct of healing. The program enables students to explore diverse approaches to healing, emphasizing those that fall within the parameters of professional nursing practice. Healing has many axes of meaning and this diversity provides an array of organizing frameworks of study, conceptualized as interacting dimensions. It is assumed that exploration of the diverse possible meanings of healing extend and test nursing knowledge and thereby improve patient care.

The School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS) provides multi-level educational programs for a diverse group of students, colleagues and members of the community, facilitates student and faculty involvement in scientific investigation and scholarly activities that advance health care and promotes service through active participation in professional and community activities. The SAHS offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees and certificates through a full range of programs in allied health disciplines including clinical laboratory sciences, human and basic sciences, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, psychology training, radiology health sciences, respiratory care, and rehabilitation sciences.

Since its establishment in 1921, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) has expanded to 12 graduate programs, and works closely within all departments of the other schools as well as two institutes, and seven research centers. GSBS graduates are currently found in prestigious and influential positions in universities, government and industry in the U.S., and around the world.

UTMB and the University of Texas at Austin The main campus of the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) is today comprised of 90 research units housed on the 350-acre main campus and in facilities across the state. Of the 8.8 million square feet of assignable space at the main campus, 10% is research laboratory (not classroom laboratories) space. External research funding is $417 million per year, of which $264 million is from federal agencies (Department of Defense, $120 million; NIH, $50 million; NSF, $42 million). The University has one of the largest graduate schools in the nation with more than 10,000 students and more than 170 graduate degree programs.

UTMB and UT Austin have maintained a close relationship since their establishment, but the degree of active collaboration has grown dramatically over the past two decades. This growth has been fueled by a large number of factors, including rapid transportation, growth of distance education and telemedicine, the desire to have an academic medical presence in Austin (the state capital), the desire at UTMB to expand the clinical base for medical education, and the growth of individual interdisciplinary collaborations between UTMB and UT Austin investigators. UTMB now has a satellite campus in Austin, based at Brackenridge Hospital, as part of an affiliation with the Seton Healthcare network. In 2005, 22 third-year medical students spent their entire year in Austin with a comparable number of fourth-year students pursing electives there. This number increased to 36 in 2006. Currently, UTMB full-time faculty in UT Austin will number 61, including 29 in Internal Medicine, 16 in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and 12 in Pediatrics.

UTMB and UT Austin presently have joint MD/PhD programs in neuroscience, bioengineering and molecular biology, with an MD/PhD program in Pharmacy slated to start in Fall 2007. Students spend two years in medical school at UTMB in Galveston. They then move to UT Austin for PhD coursework and complete the research for their thesis at either campus. Medical studies are completed with 18 months of clinical rotations in either Austin or Galveston. During each phase of the program, students participate in small group sessions and other exercises designed to help them integrate the newest concepts of biomedical research with applications to clinical medicine. UTMB also has developed a clinical science MD/PhD program, supported by a K-30 award. The curriculum and programs developed for the clinical sciences program also will be adopted for the MD/PhD programs shared by UTMB and UT Austin.

(long version)The School of Medicine (SOM) has 1,168 full time faculty, 830 medical students, 554 residents in training, and more than 95 clinical fellows working and studying in five basic science and fifteen clinical departments. The SOM admits ~200 students, graduates a comparable number of physicians yearly, and boasts the ninth largest medical enrollment in the country. In the course of its 115-year history, the school has graduated more than 11,225 physicians. As described below, the SOM ranks nationally in enrollment and graduation of minority students, which reflects UTMB’s commitment to the diversity needs of American health care.

The Integrated Medical Curriculum (IMC) emphasizes small group, self-directed learning and integration of the basic and clinical sciences. This curriculum was implemented in 1998. Courses in Years 1 and 2 are overseen and directed by the course directors, individual course committees and the SOM Curriculum Committee. Student performance on USMLE Step 1 was not adversely affected by implementation of the new curriculum. Initiatives have been undertaken to further improve performance by better preparation of students for the Step 1 examination.

Courses in the IMC include an initial 24-week core of instruction on the scientific principles integral to the practice of medicine, followed by six organ-based blocks and a syndromes-based course, all of which integrate traditional basic science disciplines (anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, microbiology, and immunology) for each of the major systems of the human body. All courses are interdisciplinary, and are based on self-directed, problem-based learning, with supplemental large-group lectures and laboratory sessions. Clinical skills development and clinical reasoning are emphasized in the longitudinal Practice of Medicine course.

The major characteristics of the IMC aid learning, build life-long learning skills, and provide opportunities for introducing more concepts related to clinical and translational research:

1. Basic science material is integrated across disciplines. For example, rather than learning about membranes in one course (Physiology) and cell signaling in another course (Biochemistry), material is presented in Molecules Cells and Tissues that integrates membrane structure and function with cell signaling concepts. This holistic approach makes it easier for students to understand and learn the scientific principles related to normal human biology.

2. Basic science material is integrated with clinical science material. Each week’s topic is linked to one or more clinical cases presented as problems to solve. Thus, students are stimulated to use the basic science

concepts and knowledge in a clinical setting, applying them in a problem-solving mode. This makes learning of basic science concepts more interesting and aids in retention of the material. The clinical cases become more complex in the second year, enabling students to review and increase their knowledge base and to foster independent learning and build life-long learning skills.

For the problem-based learning (PBL) sessions, the class is divided into groups of nine or ten students. Six hours of PBL are scheduled per week (3 two-hour periods held on each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). A 1-2 hour period (usually on Friday) is scheduled for PBL clinical wrap-up. The problems have been clinical cases (usually three per week) that relate to the content of the weekly learning goals. Learning goals are defined by the students themselves, with guidance by a faculty small group preceptor. The first hour of each period is used to discuss learning issues generated in the previous PBL period. The second hour is used for presentation and discussion of a new case, and for generating new learning issues. A list of case-specific learning issues is distributed at the end of each case. Exams include questions based on these learning issues.

The following courses comprise the IMC during the first two years of medical school:

Gross Anatomy and Radiology (GAR). This is the first course in Year 1, and is designed to illustrate important relationships between anatomic structure and radiologic anatomy. The prime objective of the course is to provide students with a basic understanding of the anatomy of the human body and to emphasize the clinical relevance of anatomy in the diagnosis of clinical disorders. The course includes extensive anatomic dissection experience to supplement lectures and small group PBL sessions. Molecules, Cells, and Tissues (MCT). This course bridges the traditional disciplines of microscopic anatomy, cell and molecular biology, genetics, physiology, pharmacology, and biochemistry in an integrated course that emphasizes relationships between molecular structure and complex human systems. The basic concepts learned in the course are reinforced by further emphasis emphasis during each of the later organ-based courses. The course combines PBL sessions with laboratory sessions and lectures. Pathobiology and Host Defense (PHD). Expanding on the content of traditional pathology courses, this course stresses the pathologic changes that are manifest in human disease, with an emphasis on the microbiologic and immunologic features of health and disease. Relevant pharmacologic principles are included and are integrated into the topics covered in each segment of the course. Laboratory exercises illustrate the functional aspects of these principles, which expand on material covered in PBL sessions and lectures.Neuroscience and Human Behavior (NHB). This course addresses the anatomy, physiology, and behavioral aspects of the nervous system, with extensive functional correlations and clinical manifestations of neurologic and psychiatric diseases and trauma. Anatomic laboratory sessions that focus on the structure and organization of the human nervous system are interspersed with case-based tutorials and lectures stressing the relationship between anatomy, functional brain systems, neurology, and human behavior. Periodic clinical demonstrations emphasize these relationships further through expert modeling of neurologic examinations in clinical diseases. Cardiovascular/Pulmonary (CVP). This course includes the biologic principles applicable to these organ systems, while emphasizing their complex relationship to each other and other organ systems. Normal structure and function are integrated with pathology, pathophysiology, therapeutics, and diagnostic techniques. PBL sessions and laboratory experiences are supplemented by lectures.Gastroenterology/Nutrition (GIN). This course covers the complex physiologic functions of the GI tract, including the gut, liver biliary tract and pancreas. Neuroendocrinology and immunology of the digestive track and basic and clinical concepts of nutrition are included. Learning is accomplished through PBL sessions, lectures, and laboratory sessions. Renal/Fluid/Electrolytes (RFE). This course relates the principles of fluid and electrolyte homeostasis, renal physiology, and immunology to understanding the normal function and pathophysiologic manifestations of the renal system. With emphasis on introduction of clinical syndromes through PBL sessions, students are exposed to the connection between basic pathophysiologic principles that influence the kidneys and their manifestations in human disease. Endocrinology/Reproduction (ER). This course emphasizes the major endocrinologic organs of the body, along with the metabolic consequences of diseases affecting them. Male and female reproductive anatomy, physiology, pathology, and relevant principles of molecular biology and pharmacology are included. Major emphasis is placed on PBL sessions, which include illustrative cases of major endocrinologic syndromes along

with issues of fertility, reproduction, and normal and abnormal sexual development. Computer-based instruction and student-led debates are included.Dermatology/Hematology/Musculoskeletal (DHM). This course bridges the diverse structures of the skin, blood, and connective tissue by emphasizing the immunologic and other pathophysiological features common to diseases of each system. PBL sessions introduce major concepts and clinical syndromes, with lectures serving to reinforce and clarify basic principles.Great Syndromes. This is the final course in Year 2, and serves to integrate the multidisciplinary topics of previous courses into a series of cases that illustrate major syndromes of human disease, particularly as related to effects on multiple organ systems. Fundamental scientific principles and concepts, pathophysiology of organ systems, and principles of health and disease are emphasized in PBL cases. Predicated on students’ knowledge gained in previous IMC courses, the course acquaints them with the complexities and integrative dimensions of clinical judgment and decision-making in patient care. The influence of life stages and patient perspective are woven into the basic science and clinical features of each topic.

Practice of Medicine Year 1 and Year 2 (POM 1 & 2). POM focuses on clinical skills development during Years 1 and 2. It emphasizes the practical development of skills in communication, medical interviewing, and physical examination. This is complemented by principles of medical ethics, professionalism, and evidence-based medicine and clinical reasoning. Weekly small-group sessions with clinical faculty are the focal point of the course. Basic skills in Year 1 are reinforced through regularly scheduled half-day visits to primary care physician practices in the community. Experiences are expanded in Year 2 with periodic University-based clinical experiences to practice and develop clinical abilities, especially as they relate to each organ system.

IMC Course Committees. Progress of students in each course of the IMC is monitored by course committees, which are responsible for (1) review of student performance in the course and providing information to the Associate Dean for Student Affairs about students with academic difficulties; (2) determination of final grades in each course and reporting the official grades to the Office of Enrollment Services; (3) upon request from the Academic Progress Committee, providing additional information about the student’s performance; and (4) providing narrative evaluations for inclusion into the Medical Student Performance Evaluation.

Academic Progress Committee. Oversight of student performance in all courses and in USMLE Steps 1 and Step 2, including determination of promotion, academic warning, remediation, or dismissal of students, and certification of eligibility for graduation, is the responsibility of the School of Medicine Academic Progress Committee. The Academic Progress Committee consists of nine members elected from the Faculty of Medicine for staggered four-year terms: five physicians and four basic scientists. The Chair is a physician member of the committee elected annually by its members. Current course directors are excluded from membership.

Student USMLE scores. Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) must be taken prior to beginning Year 3. Students are conditionally promoted to Year 3 pending results of the examination. Students who receive a failing score on their first effort on USMLE Step 1 are required to withdraw from the curriculum no later than the conclusion of the specific course they are taking at the time the failing score is received. They are then placed on leave of absence or academic reassignment for a period not to exceed one year, upon consultation with the Associate Dean for Student Affairs. After a period of preparation, students may retake the USMLE Step 1, followed by resumption of the Year 3 curriculum, pending receipt of their score.

For the past two years, the USMLE pass rate and mean scores for UTMB students have been above the national average for the first times since the inception of the Step 1 exam in the early 1990s. In 2004, the Step 2 mean and pass rate also surpassed the national norms. These results are in the context of one of the most diverse medical student bodies in the country. Improvement has occurred at all performance levels of the class – high end, middle, and lower-performing students. This improvement is thought to be multifactorial, and is attributed to continued improvement in the curriculum and testing, better examination preparation programs, raised awareness and harder work by students, and outstanding efforts by support personnel in Student Affairs.

UTMB has approximately 60 accredited residency and fellowship programs providing training for over 550 residents and fellows. UTMB is the only US medical center to offer all three residencies in preventive medicine

(general preventive medicine, occupational medicine, and aerospace medicine). Approximately one-fourth of Texas’s practicing physicians received at least a portion of their graduate or undergraduate training at UTMB.

UTMB emphasizes research as an important experience for its students. It has, for example, hosted the annual National Student Research Forum (NSRF) since 1960, which brings some of the most promising US medical students to this campus. The primary purpose of the NSRF, which is planned and managed by students, is to provide a national scientific assembly for presentation of research by medical students, residents, and graduate students in the biomedical sciences. The Forum recognizes excellence in research by means of awards, based upon the judgment of a panel of scientists selected from the UTMB faculty and select campuses across the United States. The three-day Forum includes a keynote address and provides an opportunity for young medical scientists to receive meaningful and pertinent discussion of their research efforts by peers and established scientists in an atmosphere encouraging the highest scientific standards. Student presentations may include research in the basic or clinical sciences, on work completed or in progress, but that has not been published prior to abstract submission. Participants may present their research in either oral or poster sessions. Over the past forty-five years, the Forum has grown from a small regional meeting to a nationally respected assembly of young scientists. Last year, 44 medical schools were represented, and approximately 110 papers were presented. Awards are provided for the most meritorious student presentations, including awards provided by the Clinical Research Education Office and the General Clinical Research Center for the most outstanding research in clinical and translational research.

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) was established in 1921 and has expanded to 12 graduate programs. Clinical Science was added most recently to the list of programs. All PhD and MS degrees are awarded through the GSBS. The MPH is awarded to physicians enrolled in the preventive medicine residency programs. GSBS graduates are currently found in prestigious and influential positions in universities, government and industry in the US, and around the world. All GSBS faculty have appointments in one of the other three schools at UTMB, and work closely within all departments, institutes, and research centers.

During the first year, most graduate students are required to enroll in the Basic Biomedical Sciences Curriculum (BBSC), which provides a strong foundation for all the laboratory based basic science disciplines. Students choose a specific graduate program for further course work and dissertation at the end of the first year. The BBSC is not appropriate for students interested in some areas of study, such as the Medical Humanities, Sociomedical Sciences, Clinical Science and the MD-PhD Combined Degree Program, and such students are exempted from the BBSC requirement. The specific programs within the graduate school follow.

(long version) Preventive Medicine and Community Health (PMCH). UTMB’s SOM has the only Department of PMCH within the University of Texas System, and this department and its divisions (Environmental Toxicology, Human Nutrition, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Sociomedical Sciences and General Preventive Medicine) serve as the home for the PMCH Graduate Program. However, PMCH graduate faculty appointments are also given to faculty in many other departments, as needed for interdisciplinary teaching and research mentoring. The PMCH Graduate Program is multidisciplinary and includes specialized curricula in Sociomedical Sciences (which focuses on aging, international and minority – especially Hispanic health, behavioral medicine, social support and health, medical outcomes, health services utilization, social epidemiology, psychosocial stress, sexual behavior, and health promotion), Biostatistics, Rehabilitation Sciences (described under School of Allied Health Sciences), Human Nutrition, and Environmental Toxicology. All of these award the PhD degree, except for Biostatistics, which offers only the MS degree. Clinical Science was previously a curriculum within PMCH. Although it is still administered by the PMCH Program, Clinical Science is now approved for listing as a separate program by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Students in all the PMCH curricula and programs are primarily interested in patient-oriented research or in studies of populations or existing databases of clinical or health outcomes.

The PMCH Program also administers a Masters of Public Health (MPH) Program, which is approved by the THECB for awarding the MPH degree to physicians who are enrolled in the preventive medicine residencies (General Preventive Medicine, Occupational Medicine and Aerospace Medicine). Some residents in these programs interested in careers in clinical research pursue the MS or PhD degree, rather than the MPH.

The Cell Biology Graduate Program is a multidisciplinary program designed to provide students the academic and research skills necessary to develop and answer hypotheses about all aspects of morphology, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, and development of cells, tissues, and organisms. Topics of research concentration include cell communication and signaling, cancer, stem cells, spinal cord regeneration, chronic pain, cell death, stroke, pregnancy, reproduction, endocrinology, Alzheimer's disease, vertigo and musculoskeletal problems in aging and space biology.

The Cellular Physiology and Molecular Biophysics Program trains scientists to undertake independent research in modern cellular physiology and biophysics. The program is multidisciplinary, and includes a variety of graduate courses in such areas as membrane structure and biochemistry, molecular biology, cell physiology, ion transport, excitability and ion channels, computer modeling, optical techniques, electrophysiology techniques, systems analysis, and advanced study in neurotransmission, neural repair, receptor transduction, muscle excitation-contraction coupling, structural biology and membrane proteins, epithelial function and cellular homeostasis. This program offers the student a unique opportunity for close interaction with nationally and internationally prominent faculty in the area of cell physiology and membrane transport. The majority of program faculty have active research programs funded by such peer-reviewed sources such as NIH, NSF, the American Heart Association, and others.

The Experimental Pathology Program includes more than 50 highly trained faculty members in the Department of Pathology and many others from other departments and disciplines. Specific fields of concentration include pathobiology and immunobiology of infectious diseases including those caused by viruses, bacteria and other intracellular pathogenic organisms; mechanisms of chemical injury; environmental toxicology; chemical carcinogenesis; cellular signal transduction; molecular oncogenesis; neuropathology; renal pathology; and mycology.

The Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) provides students with a carefully designed and individually tailored curriculum, and includes advanced course work and dissertation research training. The Program prepares students for careers in: biochemistry, cell biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, structural biology and biophysics. Graduates have had excellent success in attaining academic and postdoctoral positions in outstanding research institutions, as well as in leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Areas of research interest include mechanisms of action of various protein and, steroid receptors, molecular basis of gene expression, cancer cell biology and carcinogenic mechanisms, biophysics of macromolecules, structural and computational biology, drug design, biochemical toxicology, molecular basis of aging, hormones and growth factors, cell signaling, oxidative stress and disease, and DNA repair and mutagenesis.

The new Biophysical, Structural & Computational Biology (BSCB) Curriculum PhD Educational Track within BMB is designed for students who want to apply disciplines of mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science and/or engineering to solve biological problems. The view is taken that the practice of bioscience and medicine over the next several decades will require integrating the biological and physical sciences in order to solve the most challenging problems in biology and human health. The PhD scientists who will be best prepared and most successful in this post-genomic age will be those who are knowledgeable and facile in both the physical sciences and biology. The curriculum provides a rigorous theoretical and practical background in basic physics and chemistry for understanding and interpreting structure and interactions of biological molecules. It also provides the skills to recognize and solve key problems in biochemistry, molecular & cell biology, physiology, and genetics using molecular biophysical approaches.

The Graduate Program in the Medical Humanities, which is provided by faculty in the Institute for the Medical Humanities (IMH), was established in 1988, offering the first MA and PhD degrees in the medical humanities in the US. It is still one of the very few programs to offer advanced degrees (MA, PhD, MD/PhD, and JD/PhD) in the medical humanities. Some 46 students have graduated since 1988; and 24 degree-seeking students are currently enrolled. After the first year of courses, PhD students will ordinarily begin focusing on areas of specialization to prepare for the qualifying examination and dissertation proposal. Students elect major and minor areas of specialization, which include Health Care Ethics, Health Policy, History of Medicine, Literature and Narrative Studies in Health Care, and Religion and Medicine. Major areas of specialization require five courses; minor areas require three courses. Each student's course choices are determined in collaboration with the area coordinator, advisor, and graduate program director.

The Microbiology and Immunology Program is a multidisciplinary, interdepartmental program with the goal of providing state-of-the-art training for careers in biomedical research. The aim is to produce scientists capable

of solving basic biological and health-related problems who will be competitive for leadership positions in universities, government laboratories and the private sector. The program emphasizes innovative research and versatile approaches to problem solving. Students are required to study a specialty area in depth, while also acquiring a breadth of knowledge. Individualized research is pursued in one of several areas, including bacterial and viral pathogenesis, microbial genetics, molecular virology, host defenses, autoimmunity, neuroimmunology, immune regulation, structural and molecular biology. Modern approaches are taught through graduate faculty research programs that include molecular, genetic, cellular, microbial, and animal and human topics, and may involve techniques in structural biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, immunochemistry, immunobiology, tissue culture, and animal and human studies.

The Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP) provides an internationally competitive educational program in neuroscience leading to the PhD degree. The rich interdisciplinary program of course work and research is designed to enhance a trainee's ability to become a scholarly and productive contributor to our knowledge of nervous system function. It is anticipated that graduates will become teachers or researchers in the field of neuroscience in academic institutions, industry, biotechnology or government. The program is designed to be rigorous but flexible and is explicitly multidisciplinary. Research can be done in areas ranging from molecules to excitable membranes to behavior, using preparations ranging from cell cultures to isolated ganglia to brain slices to intact nervous systems of invertebrates and vertebrates. Students are exposed to a broad, integrated foundation of courses in the biomedical sciences and to fundamental neurobiological concepts. They also gain exposure to modern experimental techniques: cell labeling with transported markers; immunocytochemistry; electron and confocal microscopy; nuclear magnetic resonance-based imaging; electrophysiological methods of intra- and extracellular recording; voltage and patch clamping; biochemical and pharmacological methods for isolating, identifying and characterizing the activities of important neurotransmitters, peptides, growth factors, receptors, drugs and other signaling molecules; immunological, cell culture and molecular genetics techniques; recombinant DNA technology; and behavioral research and measurement paradigms. The goal is to graduate neuroscientists with a broad base of experience with modern experimental skills who will seek to explore cellular and molecular mechanisms for understanding the organization and function of nervous systems.

The Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology is housed within the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, which has 25 graduate program faculty, 8 of whom have primary appointments in medical school departments other than Pharmacology & Toxicology. The PhD program aims to advance scientific knowledge and prepare students to become independent future scientists. Primary research areas include mechanisms of carcinogenesis, molecular toxicology, chemical biology and neuropharmacology. The faculty provides a wide range of research opportunities for addressing research questions at many experimental levels, ranging from behavioral responses to drugs of abuse to the crystal structure of enzymatic active centers, though most questions are addressed at the cellular or molecular level. Currently 22 students are at various stages of their dissertation work leading to a PhD degree.

The Masters in Medical Science (MMS) Program is a longstanding program intended for individuals with the MD degree who wish a more advanced degree in basic or clinical research within the time frame of an existing clinical or research fellowship training program. There are no specific course requirements, and the student is expected to spend at least a year to fulfill the primary requirement of completing and publishing an original research project under the mentorship of an established investigator. This program is most suitable for students who do not have the need or time for completion of more advanced research training and course work.

The Institute for the Medical Humanities (IMH) was founded in 1973, and is committed to moral inquiry, research, teaching, and professional service in medicine and health care. Members of the Institute engage in research on ethical and legal problems in clinical practice and biomedical research; and on philosophical, historical, visual, literary, and religious dimensions of medicine and health care. Institute faculty are active in medical and graduate teaching, clinical ethics consultation, and health policy analysis locally and in state, national, and international academic and public contexts. The Institute encourages collaborative work among its faculty and between its faculty and their colleagues in the clinical and research departments at UTMB, as well as at universities around the country and abroad.

The IMH is one of the very few medical humanities entities in the country issuing its own PhDs and MAs, and it has taken the lead in training the next generation of scholars and professors in the field. It also offers MD/PhD and JD/PhD programs. Course work is also available for University of Texas Medical Branch graduate students

in other programs and for special students who do not seek a formal degree. PhD students in the Medical Humanities are expected to: 1) acquire a general knowledge of the humanist tradition; 2) become acquainted with the methods and literature of the humanities as these relate to medicine; 3) develop a competence in one or more humanities disciplines and apply this competence to the investigation of a particular problem; 4) transform this investigation into a dissertation that represents significant and original research; and 5) demonstrate an ability to teach and work with a variety of persons in the humanities and the health care sciences and professions.

The Institute hosts visiting scholars; sponsors symposia that deepen the dialogue between the humanities and the health professions; conducts a seminar course for trainees and postdoctoral fellows, entitled “Ethics in Science”; and provides services in ethics consultation, in which trained professionals facilitate discussion, analysis and understanding of ethical issues in patient care and research. Common issues that arise include end-of-life care, informed consent process, and patient confidentiality. The Ethics Consultation Service is available to physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, and administrators. Finally, the Institute’s research program in ethics and legal issues involved in scientific endeavors advances inquiry within the humanities, while enlarging the scholarly vision of connections between the humanities, health care, health policy, and biomedical research. The IMH is heavily involved in clinical research education, as described below, in relation to the K30 Program and the GCRC.

(long version)The School of Nursing (SON) has graduated more than 7,000 students since its establishment in 1890 as the first nursing school in Texas. 164 BSN degrees and 32 MSN degrees were awarded in 2005. Required courses for the BSN degree include methods used to acquire, generate, and utilize knowledge in the practice of professional nursing. Emphasis is on research methods and resources for knowledge acquisition. Students are guided to develop critical thinking skills to pursue creative solutions to clinical nursing problems.

The Master’s Nursing Program (MSN degree) is designed for nurses who hold a baccalaureate degree in nursing and wish to obtain advanced preparation as nurse practitioners, nurse educators or nurse leaders in complex organizations. The curriculum is flexible in meeting the needs and interests of a diverse student population and enables students to utilize many available learning opportunities. Students may select from a variety of courses in nursing. All students complete the course, “Issues and Methods in Nursing Research” where they learn skills to evaluate the credibility of reported research, determine its usefulness in guiding advanced nursing practice, and to develop a research proposal. Students may also elect a qualitative research methods course which instructs in several qualitative approaches, validity/reliability issues, and strategies for combining qualitative and quantitative methods.

The PhD Program in Nursing is designed to provide nurses who hold baccalaureate or master’s degrees an opportunity to become scholars and researchers capable of advancing nursing practice and education. Three focus areas, health promotion, human response, and healing, provide the structure to develop knowledge that will extend the understanding of the promotion of physical, psychological, and social well-being. These are applied within the context of prevention and the maintenance or restoration of health. The program prepares nursing scholars to design, conduct, communicate and evaluate research that contributes to a body of knowledge in nursing science.

(long version)School of Allied Health SciencesThe School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS), established in 1968, offers multi-level educational programs for a diverse group of students in the rehabilitation and health professions and has produced more than 6,000 professionals for the nation's health care workforce. The SAHS also facilitates student and faculty involvement in scientific investigation and scholarly activities that advance health care, and promotes service through active participation in professional and community activities. The SAHS offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees through a full range of programs in allied health disciplines including clinical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, and respiratory care. The professional masters’ degrees in physical therapy (MPT) and occupational therapy (MOT) are entry-level degrees that qualify persons for practice and allow graduates to take national registration and state licensure exams. Similarly, the master’s degree in physician assistant studies (MPAS) qualifies graduates for certification as physician assistants in the State of Texas. For students with backgrounds in rehabilitation interested in

pursuing advanced research, the PhD curriculum in Rehabilitation Sciences is offered through the Graduate Program in Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. The SAHS also offers postdoctoral fellowship experiences in the interdisciplinary rehabilitation research training program and the psychology training program. A brief overview of the masters’ degree programs, PhD curriculum, and postdoctoral fellowship programs is included below. Additional information about the SAHS departments and programs can be obtained at www.sahs.utmb.edu.

Master of Physical Therapy. The UTMB physical therapy program was founded in 1943 and was the first educational program for physical therapists in Texas. The Department of Physical Therapy currently offers a Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) degree that requires a baccalaureate degree for admission. The department has 11 core faculty members and a large number of adjunct, supporting, and clinical faculty who also teach in the program. An extensive network of over 250 clinical sites provides professional clinical experience for students. The MPT program admits 44 students each year. Throughout its 62-year history, the physical therapy program has graduated more than 1,400 physical therapists who have served or currently serve the health care needs of Texas and the nation. The program and faculty demonstrate academic excellence, outstanding scholarship, and continuing professional service. The department is preparing an application to begin offering the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in 2008. Master of Occupational Therapy. The occupational therapy program at UTMB is the oldest in the southwest and is accredited by the American Occupational Therapy Association. The Department of Occupational Therapy currently offers a Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) entry-level degree requiring a total of 82 credits to complete. Prerequisites include a baccalaureate degree and health related experience. The department has six core faculty members and several clinical faculty who contribute to instruction and clinical training. Clinical affiliations are in place with more than 200 hospitals, rehabilitation centers and health care facilities across the nation that provide clinical training to qualify for full-time six month clinical field-work experience. The program accepts 40 students each year and has graduated more than 1,000 occupational therapists. The quality of the educational program is reflected in the fact that more than 90% of the students pass the national certification exam on the first attempt; national average first time pass rate is 81%.  Master of Physician Assistant Studies. The UTMB physician assistant studies program was established in 1971 and was the first baccalaureate program in Texas. The Department of Physician Assistant Studies currently offers a Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) degree and received the maximum accreditation award of seven years from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (2002-2009). The department has eight core faculty and many clinical/adjunct faculty who provide training for students. The program accepts about 125 students per year and has graduated more than 1,100 students. The program maintains over 100 quality training affiliations at physician offices, hospitals, clinics, and other health agencies state-wide and has been named one of the top ten graduate physician assistant programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Reports for the past three consecutive years.

Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Sciences PhD Curriculum. The interdisciplinary rehabilitation sciences curriculum was implemented in 2000 to address recommendations included in the Institute of Medicine’s report, Enabling America: Assessing the Role of Rehabilitation Science and Engineering. The curriculum is offered through the Graduate Program in Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and is administratively supported by the Division of Rehabilitation Sciences in SAHS. The core faculty have appointments in a variety of departments at UTMB, including Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Internal Medicine (Geriatrics), Preventive Medicine & Community Health, Orthopedic Surgery & Rehabilitation, and Neurology. Students complete course work and a dissertation focused on rehabilitation outcome and practice designed to improve the lives of persons with a disability or chronic disease. Full-time students are supported by a combination of external research and training grants from the National Institutes of Health, and by internal endowment and scholarship funds.

Postdoctoral Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Research Training Program. The postdoctoral research training program was implemented in 1999 under a training grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research and is administered through the Division of Rehabilitation Sciences in SAHS. Postdoctoral fellowships are available in applied biomechanics and physiology of rehabilitation,

Table XX. UTMB minority graduates – total as of 2004

HispanicAfrican

AmericanTotal

Total Graduates 655 252 907Deceased 49 10 59Practicing Primary Care 178 68 246Total Practicing* 293 102 395Practicing in Texas 422 146 568Practicing out-of-state 148 81 229

*Based on available business addresses (probably undercounted).**Based on specialty noted at graduation from SOM, also

cognitive/neurological rehabilitation, and rehabilitation in aging. Fellows conduct collaborative research with core faculty who have expertise in rehabilitation, disability, and recovery. Fifteen postdoctoral fellows have been recruited into the program; of these, seven have completed fellowships and are currently in faculty, research, clinical, or administrative positions.

Postdoctoral Psychology Training Program. UTMB offers intensive psychology training through research and clinical experiences/supervision, patient care, and seminar and research presentations. The psychology training program is administered through the Division of Rehabilitation Sciences in SAHS and is designed to prepare fellows for assuming roles of scientist/practitioner in a medical setting. Clinical training is focused on the advanced practice of clinical health psychology in the areas of orthopedic surgery, burns, chronic pain, oncology, functional GI disorders, and community psychology. Research focus includes women's health, rehabilitation science, chronic medical conditions, trauma and injury, and quality of life.  UTMB is a member of the Association of Postdoctoral and Psychology Internship Centers (APPIC) and the program had a recent site visit for possible accreditation from the American Psychological Association.

(long version)Diversity. UTMB is located in a state with considerable ethnic and racial diversity. One of UTMB’s five core values addresses diversity, and states, “We are committed to employ and educate a health care work force whose diversity mirrors the population they serve.” Serving a tri-ethnic patient population provides an ideal training ground and rich research resource for our clinical research education programs. UTMB is also fully cognizant and supportive of the needs of employees and students with disabilities.

UTMB has a long standing history of recruiting, matriculating and graduating under-represented minority students, as well as students from economically and educationally disadvantage backgrounds.  A Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE) has been located at UTMB for more than 25 years.  UTMB has committed substantial institutional resources toward our core institutional value of diversity.

The first Hispanic medical student was enrolled at UTMB in 1917 and graduated in 1921.  According to the most recent data from the US Department of Education, UTMB, in the most recent year for which data is available, ranked number three in the number of Hispanic graduates among all US medical schools and ranked number one in total Hispanic graduates.  UTMB also ranked in the top ten of those conferring medical degrees to minority students.  Over the last five years, of the 949 UTMB medical graduates, 28% were underrepresented minority and 19.5% were Hispanic.  During the last academic year, the student body of the School of Medicine of 930 included 25% underrepresented minority and 16% Hispanic students.  The graduating class included 34 Hispanic students, four of whom graduated as members of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (AOA).

To achieve this goal, UTMB has established partnerships with several Texas colleges and universities, community organizations and school districts to enhance the recruitment, matriculation, retention, and graduation of minority and educationally and economically disadvantaged premedical and medical students.  These programs include the Early Medical School Acceptance Program (EMSAP) and the Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP), which target students at the beginning of their college experience; the Medical School Familiarization Program (MSFP) and Research and Academic Enrichment Training Program (RACE), which target college students interested in medicine and biomedical research as a career; and the Prematriculation Reinforcement Enrichment Program (PREP), which provides academic enrichment for students already accepted to medical school.  In addition, as a retention measure, students on campus have access to a wide variety of programs, including peer tutoring and academic counseling.

UTMB's Efforts to Increase Numbers of Disadvantaged Students in the Health Professions. Substantial institutional resources were committed toward the goal of attracting a student body that better mirrors the demographics of the State of Texas. In addition, funding from HRSA, local foundations and the Herzog Foundation has elevated UTMB to a national leadership position in the enrollment and graduation of minority physicians.

Academic programs, policies and procedures, and non-academic support systems were implemented and have resulted in a substantial increase in recruitment, retention, and graduation of minority students. In addition, students from disadvantaged backgrounds were introduced at an early age to careers in the health professions.

Grade and High School Initiatives. UTMB initiated its first health professions program for high school students in 1982 and its first grade school program in 1983, and these continue today. For over 20 years, several other programs have been highly successful in introducing Hispanic and African American students to careers in medicine and biomedical research. These consist of the Saturday Biomedical Science Forum, Summer Science Camp I, Summer Science Camp II, the Summer Research Program for High School Students, and the Science Education Program.

Undergraduate Initiatives. Summer enrichment programs have become a traditional method used by institutions of higher education to attract a select group of disadvantaged students. UTMB's Medical School Familiarization Program (MSFP) includes motivational activities that encourage students to achieve their goals; clinical experiences, which include attending rounds, observing hospital procedures, assisting in the emergency room; and academic support activities which are comprised of learning skills workshops, lectures about basic biomedical sciences, and MCAT preparation courses. In addition, students receive assistance with personal statement preparation, interviewing skills, and admissions policies and procedures. Four hundred twenty six (54%) of the 823 students who participated in the UTMB MSFP program subsequently entered medical school, while an additional 73 (8%) entered another type of health professional school, bringing the total number entering the health professions to 499 (62%). The proportional acceptance of the MSFP students to medical school exceeds those reported by Cantor, et al. (Cantor, JC, Bergeisen, L, Baker, LC. Effect of an intensive education program for minority college students and recent graduates on the probability of acceptance to medical school. JAMA.1998;280:770-776), who reported a medical school acceptance rate of 49.3% of participants, compared to 41.6% of non-participants. This effort is further described below in the section on Development of a More Competitive Applicant Pool.

RACE T-35 is a five-year NIH funded Research and Academic Enrichment program that provides up to 15 minority undergraduate students an opportunity to engage in biomedical research in cardiovascular, pulmonary, and hematology for three months during the summer. It is a strong recruitment vehicle, particularly for out-of-state students.

Institutional Committees, Offices, Policies and Procedures Supporting Disadvantaged StudentsDiversity in Medical Education Committee: The original President's Alumni Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs was formed in 1975. In 2002, it became a standing committee of the SOM Alumni Association, and changed its name to the Diversity in Medical Education Committee, establishing permanence for the group and its mission. Today, the Diversity in Medical Education Committee is a standing committee of the School of Medicine Alumni Association, assisting UTMB in attaining its core value of diversity in the admission, matriculation, retention and graduation of medical students. Like UTMB, the Alumni Association believes that a diverse body of students should be educated to provide culturally competent health care to the diverse population of the State of Texas. The committee works with under-represented and disadvantaged students to assist them in overcoming any obstacles to their assimilation into the main stream of the student body and in achieving their goal of becoming trained, outstanding physicians. The scope of the committee's activities has broadened to include the recruitment and retention of residents, faculty, and upper-level administrators.

Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Policies: UTMB's policies governing academic recruitment and selection of faculty and administrators assure that vacant and new positions are widely announced and specifically target women and minority candidates. In order to ensure equitable consideration

of these candidates, the director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity sits on all search committees and is a member of the Core Committee for the Support of Under-represented Ethnic Groups.

Admissions Procedures and Activities: The SOM Admissions Committee's policies and procedures strongly support the admission of minority and disadvantaged students. All applicants are carefully screened for an interview and subsequent admission, based on their potential for success in medical school. Their MCAT scores and undergraduate GPA are but two factors in this process. After the Supreme Court decision on the Grutter case in September 2004, the Board of Regents for the University of Texas System approved a new admissions policy which allows UTMB to consider race and ethnicity as one of several factors in the admissions process. This policy is posted on our website, in recruitment materials, brochures, and became effective with the 2006 entering class. In addition, the Dean of Medicine, Garland D. Anderson, MD, has articulated UTMB’s strong commitment to and advocacy for the admission and graduation of under-represented minority students.

UTMB's Mission Statement and Strategic Plan: UTMB's mission statement includes the recruitment of students and faculty from under-represented groups. The UTMB Strategic Plan for 2001-2005 (under revision for 2007) states that, "UTMB School of Medicine will further develop, implement, and sustain recruitment and retention programs that encourage the acceptance, matriculation, and graduation of women and those from minority groups who are under-represented in medicine.”

Core Committee for the Support of Minority Faculty and Administrators: This University committee was established in 1998 “to encourage activities which seek to improve relationships among all faculty and to identify issues pertinent to racial and ethnic minority faculty such as recruitment, retention and advancement, and administrative and professional employment opportunities.” The ultimate goal of this committee is to ensure fairness, equity, diversity and collegiality at UTMB. The committee membership includes faculty representatives from each of the University’s four schools. Its main role is to be consultative in nature to the University leadership.

Diversity Committee on Minority Education: Established in 2003, this initiative seeks to strengthen the University’s awareness of diversity through proactive activities. Its main purpose is to further enhance current efforts to increase diversity, especially in medical education. It celebrates diversity in July of each year through a week long series of activities, featuring lectures, guest speakers, health fairs, and an essay contest on “Cultural Competence and Diversity.” In 2003, UTMB established the Diversity in Health Care Scholarship honoring William C. Levin, UTMB President Emeritus. A person who represents a commitment to diversity in some way gives the William C. Levin Lecture each year during Diversity Week, and a scholarship in that person’s name is given in the fall. Jordan Cohen, MD, was the lecturer in 2003; Louis B. Sullivan, MD, in 2004; Vivian Pinn, MD, in 2005, and Albert Hawkins in 2006. A student from any of UTMB's four schools is eligible for the scholarship; the selection is based on an original essay about the student’s commitment to diversity in the health care professions.

Office of Educational Outreach: The Office of Educational Outreach (OEO) was established May 1, 1991, and recently was incorporated under the Office of Community Outreach in order to enhance its reach and resources. The OEO is dedicated to service and achieving excellence in the following areas: (1) Increasing the availability, interest, application, and relevance of science for students, K-12 educators, and the community through a wide variety of science education programs; (2) promoting career opportunities in the health sciences to students in the local school districts and private schools; and (3) assisting, enhancing, and supplementing existing recruitment efforts for under-represented minority students and faculty in order to promote a higher standard of education, patient care, and research.

Financial Aid and Scholarships: Significant strides have been made in awarding scholarships to disadvantaged and under-represented minority students. With the establishment of the Herzog Foundation scholarship program at UTMB in 1994, the SOM now has more than $7,000,000 in endowments which provide scholarships for students from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds. Several other scholarship programs are available and new ones are added each year. In the 2004-2005 academic year, UTMB gave a total of 69 scholarship awards to under-represented minority students, which amounted to $389,100. Over the past three years, the total amount of scholarships for African Americans was $361,930; for Hispanics $595,960 and the

combined total was $963,890. This does not include exceptional need scholarships, or other awards given by UTMB. Two years ago, UTMB embarked upon a capital campaign that designated minority scholarships as a top priority.

UTMB’s Experience in the Recruitment, Enrollment, Retention, and Graduation of Under-represented Minority Students. Recruitment. UTMB conducts aggressive recruitment conferences throughout the State of Texas and nationally through a series of well-planned activities. In 2002, a full-time recruiter for the SOM was hired who was specifically charged with the responsibility of increasing UTMB’s minority applicant pool. He coordinates all recruitment activities, such as campus visits, spring and fall meetings, development of recruitment materials, website updates, and the admissions process.

Enrollment. Of the Texas medical schools, UTMB remains the leader in the number of minority and under-represented students currently enrolled. They make up 23% of the total enrollment (Table XX). Despite stiffer competition from other State medical schools and Hopwood, our URM enrollment has remained above the national mean.

Retention. UTMB has with strong institutional support made significant strides during the past three years in the retention of under-represented minority students. For example, for students who entered in the 2000 academic year, under-represented minority students have lagged behind majority students in yearly promotion and four-year graduation rates, as shown in Table XX.

Implementation of the Linear Academic Progression Program (LAPP) in 2002 has made a significant difference in the academic progression of our students. As shown in Table XX, 53 under-represented minority students entered UTMB in 2000. A total of 14 African Americans graduated after five years, for a 93% graduation rate, and 30 Hispanics graduated in five years, for an 83% graduation rate. One African American withdrew during the third year because of Step 1 board failure; four Hispanic students withdrew for academic reasons, one because of board failure, and one student withdrew because of health-related issues. For the majority students, this rate was 91%, with four students still enrolled in the MD/PhD program. The national 5-year graduation rate for all minority students has been estimated at approximately 82%, and for the non-under-represented minority matriculants, it is 92% (AAMC Minority Students in Medical Education: Facts and Figures XII, 2002). Thus, UTMB is above the national mean for graduating its disadvantaged students.

Table XX. Information on progress and completion of students entering in 2000 as related to ethnicity.

EthnicityNumber entering

Promoted toYear 2

(2000-2001)

Promoted toYear 3

(2001-2002)

Promoted toYear 4

(2002-2003)

Completed in4th Year(2003-04)

Completed by5th Year

(2004-05) *Num-ber

%Num-ber

%Num-ber

%Num-ber

%Num-ber

%

African-American 15 13 86.7% 11 73.3% 10 66.7% 10 66.7% 14 93.3%Caucasian 107 97 90.7% 88 82.2% 86 80.4% 86 80.4% 97 90.7%Asian 33 31 93.9% 29 87.9% 28 84.8% 28 84.8% 30 90.9%Hispanic 36 31 86.1% 27 75.0% 27 75.0% 27 75.0% 30 83.3%Other 8 6 75.0% 5 62.5% 5 62.5% 5 62.5% 6 75.0%Native American 2 2 100% 2 100% 2 100% 2 100% 2 100%Total 201 180 88.7% 162 80.2% 158 78.2% 158 78.2% 179 88.9%

Table XX. Total and minority enrollment in Texas medical schools in 2004. Texas Schools Hispanic Black NA URM URM% TOTAL

UTMB 123 58 3 184 23% 811UT Houston 117 33 3 153 19% 816Baylor 59 60 8 127 19% 672UT San Antonio 140 31 4 175 21% 818UNT-TCOM 35 6 6 47 9% 501UT Dallas 96 54 4 154 18% 853Texas A&M 30 11 2 43 15% 292Texas Tech 48 11 2 61 12% 527Abbreviation: URM, under-represented minority students. Source: Texas Medical Dental Schools Application Service & Baylor College of Medicine

*Expected to complete by 5th Year

Graduation of Under-Represented Minority Students. As noted, UTMB has made significant strides during the past twelve years in the acceptance and graduation of under-represented minority students, despite Hopwood and other efforts to roll back affirmative action programs. Table XX depicts the current schools of medicine Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE) grantees with the 2004 total under-represented minority graduates by number, percent, and ethnicity. Of the 194 UTMB graduates last year, 58 (30%) were minorities. Of the 11 HCOE’s, UTMB ranked first in the continental US in the number of graduating Hispanic and African American medical students.

It is critically important to share our Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) progress with other institutions, undergraduate schools, and the public, not only to communicate the barriers, but also the promises and gains of our minority and disadvantage recruitment and graduation. UTMB HCOP outcomes are submitted to national and state conferences on an annual basis, and through the AAMC, National Association of Minority Medical Educators, and the National Hispanic Medical Association.

Hispanic Center of Excellence. The University of Texas Medical Branch is one of 11 universities in the United States with a federally funded Hispanic Center of Excellence, funded initially in 1992. The Hispanic Center of Excellence at UTMB addresses five priorities: 1) student recruitment and academic quality, 2) student performance, 3) faculty and student research, 4) information issues related to Hispanic health, and 5) faculty recruitment, training, and retention. Dr. Jose A. Loera is Associate Director for the Center. The Hispanic Center of Excellence has an excellent record of achieving its objectives. For example, for the previous funding period one goal was to hire five new Hispanic faculty members. During this period the number of new Hispanic faculty members hired was 16.

UTMB Education Resources(short version)Clinical Research Education Office (CREO). To further enhance clinical research education, UTMB established a Clinical Research Education Office under the Dean of Medicine. CREO operates in close association with the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and the Office of Educational Development (OED). Directed by Karl E. Anderson, MD, GCRC Associate Program Director, CREO activities are supported by a team of faculty research educators who develop new courses for our two core curricula and initiate other new research education activities for students, clinical trainees, and faculty. Additionally, review and advice on the functions and progress of the CREO are guided by an Advisory Committee, chaired by the Dean of Medicine, composed mostly of chairs or directors of major departments, centers or institutes. An NIH Clinical Research Curriculum Award (K-30), awarded in 1999, supports CREO activities. Core activities in clinical research education include a new curriculum through the Graduate Program in Preventive Medicine and Community Health intended primarily for MDs with an interest in advanced clinical research training, leading to the award of a M.S. or PhD in Clinical Investigation or Health Services Research Tracks. Additionally, CREO and the GCRC co-present “Clinical Research: Tools and Techniques," an annual course of approximately 40 weekly sessions offered for UTMB faculty, fellows, residents and students. This course includes modules on Regulations & Ethics of Clinical Research, and Epidemiological & Statistical Methods in Clinical Investigation. Other clinical research education activities include an annual seminar on Scientific Writing for Clinical Research, a monthly grants development workshop, and an e-mail based Clinical Research News service. The

Table XX. Schools of Medicine with Current HCOE Grants2004 Total URM Graduates

School Hispanic Black NA URM URM%Class

TOTALPuerto Rico 108 0 0 108 96 112UTMB 40 16 2 58 30 194Stanford 12 7 2 21 23 90UT San Antonio

34 5 1 40 20 200

New Jersey 18 12 0 30 19 162Illinois 28 16 2 46 15 306Arizona 13 0 1 14 14 103San Diego 9 3 1 13 12 108San Francisco 11 8 0 19 12 163Texas Tech 10 1 0 11 10 112Albert Einstein 10 3 0 13 8 165Source: AAMC depicts total graduation regardless of year of matriculation

goal of these efforts is to provide physicians, graduate students and faculty with the knowledge and skills needed to become effective clinical investigators and encourage more of them to make clinical research a career goal.

(alternate version)Clinical Research Education Office. To further enhance interdisciplinary clinical and translational research education, UTMB established the Clinical Research Education Office (CREO) under the Dean of Medicine. Directed by Karl Anderson, MD, CREO has managed a K30 program and its many activities for over six years. Core activities in clinical research education include a graduate program administered through the Graduate Program in Preventive Medicine and Community Health intended primarily for MDs with an interest in advanced clinical training, leading to the award of a MS or PhD in Clinical Investigations or Health Services Research.

Additionally, CREO and the GCRC co-present “Clinical Research: Tools and Techniques,” an annual course of approximately 40 weekly sessions offered for UTMB faculty, fellows, residents and students. There are course modules on Regulations & Ethics of Clinical Research and Epidemiological & Statistical Methods in Clinical Investigation. Other clinical research education activities include an annual seminar on scientific writing for Clinical Research and a monthly grants development workshop. The goal of these efforts is to provide physicians, graduate students and faculty with the knowledge and skills needed to become effective clinical/health services investigators and encourage more of them to make clinical/health services research a career goal.

(long version)Clinical Research Education Office (CREO). UTMB offers extensive educational programs in conjunction with the UTMB Clinical Research Education Office, which has been supported since 1999 by a K30 grant. CREO Programs provide current information and instruction on research methods, clinical research ethics and regulatory compliance. The K30 award also supports MS and PhD graduate degree programs in Clinical Science at UTMB. Two newly added CREO programs include a Clinical Research Scholars Program, which provides a mentored environment for clinical fellows and junior faculty, and selective course in translational research for fourth-year medical students. The CREO and its director, Dr. Anderson, report to the Dean of the School of Medicine.

The CREO was established under the Dean of Medicine prior to submission of the initial K30 grant application, demonstrating an early institutional commitment to clinical research education. Its central location within the newly renovated General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) better enables the office to enhance clinical research education on the GCRC and throughout the institution. Being near the main inpatient facilities of the UTMB Hospital, the subspecialty outpatient building, and the Children’s Hospital facilitates joint efforts with many departments, all schools, trainees and faculty.

A full-time Administrative Coordinator, Marie Carr, plays a key role in organization and management of CREO’s activities. CREO interacts extensively with many clinical departments, the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health (PMCH) and the Graduate School, the Office of Educational Development (OED), and the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME), Dr. Thomas Blackwell. Since funding of the K30 grant, CREO has become the major focus for clinical research education at UTMB.

The CREO Director, Associate Directors and staff are guided and advised by the CREO Steering Committee (Table XX), which includes representatives from the GCRC, the Associate Dean for Research, the Office of Clinical Research, the School of Allied Health’s Research and Educational Technology Office, and faculty from clinical and basic science departments who are active in clinical research education. This team of faculty clinical research educators meets monthly and periodically reviews in detail progress on the Clinical Science degree program, the certificate course, the scientific writing course and other courses, and discusses the development of new curricular offerings. The CREO Steering Committee reviews all applications to the Clinical Science degree program and its members are assigned to interview the most qualified applicants.

To facilitate expansion of our clinical research education programs in the next K30 funding period, we have revamped the administrative structure of CREO, with the addition of two associate program directors: Dr. Tasnee Chonmaitree, MD, who is experienced in patient-oriented and clinical trials research and mentoring, and Dr. Jean Freeman, PhD, who is an expert in conducting and teaching health services research. We have

also created smaller working committees, operating under the supervision of the CREO Steering Committee, who will oversee the Clinical Science degree program (led by Dr. Anderson), the Clinical Scholars program (co-directed by Drs. Freeman and Chonmaitree), and the Translational Research Selective Course for medical students (led by Dr. Chonmaitree).

At a higher administrative level, the Clinical Research Advisory Committee (CRAC), chaired by the Dean of Medicine, meets quarterly to review and approve major decisions of the Steering Committee. The Advisory Committee members include high-level administrators, deans and department chairpersons (Table XX). In addition to its advisory and oversight role, this committee provides encouragement and support for K30-supported activities throughout the University, and helps ensure institutional commitment and support. Specific items that are reported to this committee for review, comment and approval include: applicants and individual student progress in the Clinical Science Graduate Program, disposition of K30 funds, applicants and progress in the Clinical Research Scholars program, progress of the GCRC/CREO seminar course, and development of other clinical research education activities. CREO and K30 educational activities are subject to additional review processes within the University, providing for additional quality control. Admissions to the Clinical Science PhD/M.S. Program must be approved by the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), and the bylaws and procedures of the GSBS require approval of new graduate courses and periodic review of all existing courses.

Table XX. Members of the Clinical Research Education Office Steering CommitteeKarl E. Anderson, MD (Chair) Director, Clinical Research Education Office Associate Program Director, GCRC Professor, Preventive Medicine & Community Health, Internal Medicine, and Pharmacology and Toxicology

Rodger Marion, PhD Professor and Assistant Dean for Research & Educational Technology, Humanities and Basic Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences

David P. McCormick, MD Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Samuel Baron, MD Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Internal Medicine

Don W. Powell, M.D Associate Dean for Research Program Director, GCRC

Abbey B. Berenson, MD Director, Division of Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Professor, Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Division of Family Planning Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health

Wayne Snodgrass, MD, PhD Professor, Pediatrics and Pharmacology-Toxicology Head, Clinical Pharmacology-Toxicology Unit Medical Director, Texas Poison Center

Richard Carroll, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health

Myrta Stager Director, Office of Research Education, Office of the Vice President for Research

Tasnee Chonmaitree, MD Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology Associate Director, CREO Director, Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program

Elizabeth Reifsnider, PhD, APRN Professor & Associate Dean for Research, School of Nursing Director, Office for Nursing Research & Scholarship

Hari Dayal, PhD Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health

Harold Vanderpool, PhD Member, Professor in the History and Philosophy of Medicine, Institute for the Medical Humanities Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health

Jean Freeman, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine Associate Director, CREO

Ex-Officio: Marie Carr, M.S. Administrative Coordinator, Clinical Research Education Office

Gilbert Hillman, PhD Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Ex-Officio: Lori A. Wiseman, B.S. Administrator, GCRC

Table XX. Members of the Clinical Research Education Office Advisory Committee.Garland D. Anderson, MD (Chair) Dean, School of Medicine Professor, Microbiology & Immunology and Internal Medicine

Don W. Powell, M.D Associate Dean for Research Program Director, GCRCDonald S. Prough, MD Professor and Chair, Department of Anesthesiology

Tetsuo Ashizawa, MD John Sealy Professor and Chairman, Neurology

Sharon A. Raimer, MD Chairman, Department of Dermatology Professor, Dermatology and Pediatrics

Thomas A. Blackwell, MD Associate Dean, Graduate Medial Education Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine

C. Joan Richardson, MD Chief Medical Director of Hospital Services Assistant Dean for Faculty Practice Professor, Pediatrics

Table XX. Members of the Clinical Research Education Office Advisory Committee.Allen R. Brasier, MD Associate Vice President for Clinical Research Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and Sealy Center for Molecular Sciences

Lawrence R. Stanberry, MD, PhD Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics

Harvey Bunce, III, PhD Senior Associate Dean for Administration Professor and Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine & Community Health

Karen H. Sexton, R.N., PhD, CHE Chief Operating Officer, Director, Patient Care Services

Ronald A. Carson, PhD Harris L. Kempner Distinguished Professor and Director, Institute for the Medical Humanities

Leonard E. Swischuk, MD Chairman, Department of Radiology

Michele A. Carter, PhD Research Subject Advocate, GCRC Associate Professor, Institute for the Medical Humanities

Courtney M. Townsend, Jr., MD Professor and John Woods Harris Distinguished Chairman, Department of Surgery

Cary W. Cooper, PhD Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Pamela G. Watson, Sc.D., R.N. Dean, School of Nursing

David G. Gorenstein, PhD Associate Dean for Research Professor, Human Biological & Chemical Genetics

Ex-Officio: Karl E. Anderson, MD Director, Clinical Research Education Office (CREO) Associate Program Director, GCRC Professor, Preventive Medicine & Community Health, Internal Medicine, and Pharmacology and Toxicology

Randall J. Urban, MD Chairman ad Interim, Department of Internal Medicine

Ex-Officio: Marie Carr, M.S. Administrative Coordinator, Clinical Research Education Office

Richard S. Moore Vice President for Business and Administration

Ex-Officio: Tasnee Chonmaitree, MD Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology Director, Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program Associate Director, CREO

Massoud Motamedi, PhD Director, Biomedical Engineering

Ex-Officio: Jean Freeman, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine Associate Director, CREO

Wayne Patterson, PhD Executive Director, Research Services

Ex-Officio: Lori A. Wiseman, B.S. Administrator, GCRC

(short version)Scientific Writing for Clinical ResearchSponsored by the General Clinical Research Center, Clinical Research Education Office, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health and UTMB, this popular series of seminars is presented annually. Designed primarily for UTMB faculty and fellows, the course allows attendance by fellows, residents and staff as group size permits. The course helps participants to develop an effective writing style for all kinds of scholarly documents, with special emphasis on research articles and grant proposals. The seminars are taught interactively with constructive critique of writing samples contributed by previous participants. Handouts summarize principles and techniques. Upon completion of this course, participants are able to:

Demonstrate improved skill in writing clear, concise and effective prose; Describe the form, content and modes of argument conventionally used in scientific articles and grant

proposals; and Use strategies that drive the persuasive presentation of ideas in scientific articles and grant proposals.

The course consists of four, 3-hour seminars.

(long version)Scientific Writing for Clinical ResearchSponsored by the General Clinical Research Center, Clinical Research Education Office, this popular series of seminars is presented annually. Designed primarily for UTMB faculty and fellows, the course allows attendance by fellows, residents and staff as group size permits. The course helps participants to develop an effective writing style for all kinds of scholarly documents, with special emphasis on research articles and grant proposals. The seminars are taught interactively with constructive critique of writing samples contributed by previous participants. Handouts summarize principles and techniques. Upon completion of this course, participants are able to:

Demonstrate improved skill in writing clear, concise and effective prose; Describe the form, content and modes of argument conventionally used in scientific articles and grant

proposals; and Use strategies that drive the persuasive presentation of ideas in scientific articles and grant proposals.

The course consists of four 3-hour seminars.

SCIENTIFIC WRITING FOR CLINICAL RESEARCHPart 1. Developing an effective writing Style

Controlling word choice and sentence structureUsing extracts from the participants’ own writings as examples for discussion, the group learns how to choose words with precision, avoid overused and ill-used phrases, and compose clear and concise sentences. Participants receive practice exercises to sharpen their self-editing skills.Writing paragraphs and extended argumentsBuilding on skills practiced in the previous session, the participants learn how to construct clear and readable paragraphs and develop sound arguments that persuade the reader. Practice exercises include unscrambling poorly ordered paragraphs and reorganizing longer passages to heighten their clarity and persuasive impact.

Part 2. Writing Research Articles and Grant ProposalsWriting productivity Participants discuss the obstacles to writing productivity and strategies for overcoming these barriers. The group learns and talks about 10 tips to writing efficiency and seven tips for avoiding procrastination. The discussion covers how to protect one’s time for writing, creating a productive and supportive environment, using the computer effectively, recycling old work, multi-tasking, and overcoming psychological barriers to productivity. Writing successful research articlesIn a session focused on the research article, the class discusses the importance of choosing a focused, significant subject and developing it in keeping with the conventions of a scientific report. The group evaluates selections from their own articles in preparation and discusses the content and strategy of the introduction, methods, results and discussion. Finding an appropriate balance between “big picture” issues and scientific details is also considered.Writing successful research grant proposalsThis session addresses the basic principles of successful proposal writing: selling the “big picture,” providing essential details efficiently, and making proposals as easy to read and navigate as possible. Pre-planning steps to enhance writing efficiency also are discussed. The group then focuses on appropriate content and winning strategies for each section of the NIH application: Specific Aims, Background and Significance, Preliminary Studies, and Experimental Design and Methods, plus supporting documentation. This information is useful for preparation of research grants targeting any foundation or agency.

Moody Medical Library, housed in a modern five-story building and centrally located on the UTMB campus, is the oldest medical library in Texas and one of the largest medical research libraries in the Southwest. The Library is committed to the advancement of education, research, patient care and public service programs of the University by obtaining, applying and disseminating biomedical information and the tools for its management and use. The Library is implementing electronic networks and information technologies to achieve a high technology vision of the 21st Century academic medical library.

The library occupies 50,519 sq. ft., has a seating capacity of 579, and offers 80 public computer workstations. The nine library faculty and 44 support staff allow the library to be open 97 hours per week. The library provides access to extensive collections including subscriptions to 24,117 journals, 172 databases, 1,287 A-V materials, 550 linear feet of manuscript and archival material and acquires approximately 2,000 monographs each year. Of the total number of journal subscriptions, approximately 23,538 journals are available in online format. Additional resources include 44,040 electronic books. During the 2004-2005 academic year, the UTMB Library housed 258,120 print volumes. The library has multiple resource sharing agreements with other libraries and commercial vendors to supply information that is not available within the library's own collections.

The Office of Educational Development (OED) is dedicated to taking a local and national leadership role in focused areas of medical education. Its goals are to:

Collaborate with faculty groups to design documentation and reward systems that fairly and accurately reflect all faculty contributions to education.

Continue and/or establish collaborative relationships with non-OED colleagues across campus through project and committee work, through Education Scholars, and through consultations.

Develop our own professional skills/areas of expertise.

Use contacts outside of medical education to identify new ideas and resources that can be applied to UTMB.

Maintain our professional identities and our credibility with campus colleagues. Achieve excellence in our Standardized Patient Program and establish the Testing Center/Skills Lab for

the Standardized Patient Program. Increase the educational research conducted and publications produced by the faculty. Provide leadership and support for faculty development programs at UTMB, including community-

based programs. Maintain a scholars program and consider instituting a degree program in Medical Education. Provide support and guidance for faculty educational development projects that require specialized

educational expertise, including educational strategies, evaluation methodologies, instructional and curriculum design, and tele-technology skills.

OED conducts research on medical education topics and provides consultation and mentoring to School of Medicine faculty conducting educational research projects. Consultation is provided for SOM faculty in the areas of educational research design, effective measurement of knowledge, skills-based performance and attitudes, statistical analysis and interpretation in the context of educational research, and abstract and manuscript preparation. The Curriculum Research Committee, chaired by Ann Frye, PhD is a standing committee of the School of Medicine Curriculum Committee. The Committee oversees the longitudinal studies database and reviews educational research proposals involving medical students on behalf of the Curriculum Committee.

Research Education. The Research Services’ Office of Research Education, in the Office of the Dean, School of Medicine, offers a variety of training and education programs related to research services and other sponsored project activities and provides to the UTMB community help in identifying funding sources and other information useful in the grant development process through our Research Funding Library. These goals are accomplished by providing workshops on current rules, regulations, policies, procedures and program guidelines, training for use of all research services, video conferences pertinent to UTMB's research mission, development of education programs for research facilitation, Research Funding Library activities, including funding opportunities, and information resources. This office works closely with the K30 office on programs related to clinical research education, such as the Grants-for-Lunch Series, and sponsors monthly clinical coordinator meetings and workshops. Additional programs include the Advanced Training Program on the Protection of Human Research Participants (supported by an NIH grant), Navigating the IRB and Investigator Responsibilities series, Conflict of Interest Forum, and workshops on such topics as finding grants, patent rights, time and effort reporting, and managing clinical trials. In addition, a new program series titled “Federal Grants Management” was launched in October, 2005. This program, which is mandatory for grants administrators, provides overall grants management training from pre-award to post award administration, reporting, close-out, and audit. Separate classes on effort reporting and financial responsibilities are mandatory for research faculty who participate (paid or unpaid) in sponsored research projects.

Research Resources UTMB places major emphasis on basic and clinical research. It provides nearly 400,000 square feet of space specifically designed for research and houses one of the largest research libraries in the southwest.

Funding from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies has more than doubled in less than 10 years. Total grant funding for FY2003 was $132,634,904 of which $110,461,214 was from federal sources and $22,173,690 from state and local government, foundations and industry. UTMB funds additional research-related projects yearly from the John Sealy Memorial Endowment Fund (corpus $97 million), which supports general biomedical research projects and programs, and the McLaughlin Fellowship Fund (corpus $18 million), which supports training fellowships in infectious diseases and immunology, the Blocker Fund, which supports students in the MD-PhD Program, and the Herzog Foundation Endowment, which supports students in the Clinical Science Program and MD-PhD students interested in translational research. UTMB has 17 federally funded and two local endowment funded research training grants.

Growth in NIH funding is has occurred in part because UTMB has invested considerable resources over the past two decades in developing areas of research strength in all four schools. This investment has established

the infrastructure necessary to facilitate clinical and basic research in the 21st century. For example, the institution has matched and supplemented a NCRR award for a new General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and has funded state of the science bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics programs. UTMB is now poised to be among the leading institutions to “re-engineer the clinical, basic and translational research enterprise of the country” as articulated by the NIH director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, in his November 2002 address to the AAMC. Some of these research resources are described in more detail under Research Resources.

UTMB currently ranks 19th nationally in NIH funding. However, this reflects a major but temporary increase resulting from the recent award of a $110 million construction grant to create one of two national biodefense containment laboratories in the US. Ordinarily, UTMB ranks in the low 40s in NIH funding for basic and clinical investigation. This includes a large grant for a NIH-NLBI Proteomics Center, which complements our active program in genomic microarray research and our very active bioinformatics support program, and several center or program project grants in aging, hepatitis, biodefense and emerging infections, environmental toxicology, asthma and other areas.

UTMB has considerable strength and depth in both clinical and basic research, and is working diligently to increase translational research and product commercialization. It has a very active GCRC, which includes a satellite for NASA studies, two separate inpatient units and several outpatient satellite units and laboratories. GCRC utilization now exceeds 2,000 inpatient bed days and 5,500 outpatient visits yearly.

A major thrust in translational research at UTMB is in the field of biodefense and emerging infections. In addition to the construction of one of two national biocontainment laboratories in the United States with Biosafety Level 4 facilities, UTMB is the lead institution for the Western Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease Research (WRCE), with over $50 million in funding from 2003-2008. The major aims of both the containment laboratory and the WRCE are to support the development of diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics to combat the organisms that are involved in bioterrorism and emerging infections.

(short version)The General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at UTMB, one of the first NIH/NCRR supported GCRCs in the US, has been continuously funded for 43 years and has just received a five year renewal. Don W. Powell, M.D. is the GCRC Program Director. With the addition of the NASA Bed Rest satellite in 2005, the UTMB GCRC has annual funding of nearly $5 million yearly, and consists of a 8-bed in-patient unit for multidisciplinary clinical research, with an additional 10 in-patient beds for NASA best rest/antigravity countermeasures research. In the two units are three observation/procedure rooms, five outpatient rooms, a four bed sleep laboratory, an exercise physiology room, a telemedicine room, two physiologic testing rooms, two metabolic kitchens, conference rooms and offices. An informatics facility aids investigators in data management and data mining, NMR image archiving and analysis, and coordinates genomic and proteomics studies with the UTMB Bioinformatics Core. A Core Laboratory aids in sample preparation/distribution and measures of metabolism using indirect calorimetry. In addition, the GCRC maintains satellite outpatient rooms in UTMB’s Primary Care Pavilion and satellite laboratory areas for body composition research utilizing a total body potassium analyzer, a total body nitrogen counter, and a DEXA instrument for measurements of bone density. A short arm radius (10 ft.) human centrifuge supports NASA studies of bed rest/weightlessness countermeasure research. The GCRC staff consists of 3 Program Directors, 1 nurse manager, 22 nurses, 6 patient care technicians, 3 health unit coordinators, 1.5 research dietitians, 1 dietary supervisor, 6 dietary technicians, 1 imaging/laboratory technician, an informatics manager, a science writer/protocol coordinator, 1.5 administrators and 4 administrative assistants/secretaries. A GCRC biostatistician and a Research Subject Advocate help approximately 150 principal investigators from basic and clinical science disciplines at UTMB (Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health), Shriners Hospital for Children and NASA use the center.

(alternate version)The General Clinical Research Center (GCRC). The GCRC at UTMB has been continuously supported by the NIH for over 40 years and was one of the first of approximately 75 such centers in the nation. It is currently directed by Dr. Don Powell, Project 3 Director on this GI Cancer SPORE, and is supported by a grant from the National Center for Research Resources as well as institutional funds. The Center supports a broad spectrum of biomedical research conducted by investigators funded by the NIH and other agencies of the Department of

Health and Human Services, by research foundations and societies and by industry. A number of cancer related studies are currently performed in this Center including the effect of cancer on muscle cachexia as well as various clinical trials testing for new therapies. The GCRC has eight private inpatient rooms and an outpatient nursing station with exam rooms, administrative offices, metabolic kitchen, sleep laboratory, core laboratory, special procedures, support rooms, a telemedicine room, expanded bioinformatics core offices, private dining and waiting rooms and a large conference room for GCRC staff members and clinical research education. UTMB’s GCRC, along with their satellite at NASA, is very active and has approximately 2,000 investigator-initiated bed days and over 6,000 outpatient visits annually. In addition, as part of our recent CTSA application, we plan to expand clinical trials and pharmacokinetic studies on the GCRC.

(long version)The General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at UTMB is one of the first of approximately 75 centers in the nation currently supported by this program, and has been continually funded since 1962. The GCRC is supported by the University of Texas Medical Branch and by a grant from the National Center for Research Resources General Clinical Research Centers Program of the National Institutes of Health (M01 RR00073). A broad spectrum of biomedical research is conducted in these centers by investigators funded by NIH and other agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, by research foundations and societies, and by industry. We anticipate that all clinical research funded through the CPHHD Pilot Research Program will occur in collaboration with the GCRC.The UTMB General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) is a 10-bed research unit located on the 5th floor of John Sealy Towers. Dr. Donald Powell is director of the UTMB GCRC. The GCRC contains both outpatient and inpatient facilities. Approximately 90 investigators from basic and clinical science disciplines use the facilities and specially trained personnel to conduct carefully controlled studies and procedures on patients of all ages. UTMB's GCRC is typical in size and function, but has several unique features. In addition to the specially trained nursing and dietary staff and metabolic kitchen, the GCRC incorporates an outpatient suite, a sleep laboratory, and a metabolic studies unit with indirect calorimetry. GCRC investigators can use the computer facility that provides on-site research database management, statistical analysis, and graphic display and output. A special laboratory within the Department of Radiology is available for non-invasive body composition determination and neutron activation studies. The GCRC staff consists of 3 Program Directors, 1 nurse manager, 22 nurses, 6 patient care technicians, 3 health unit coordinators, 1.5 research dietitians, 1 dietary supervisor, 6 dietary technicians, 1 imaging/laboratory technician, an informatics manager, a science writer/protocol coordinator, 1.5 administrators and 4 administrative assistants/secretaries. A GCRC biostatistician and a Research Subject Advocate help approximately 150 principal investigators from basic and clinical science disciplines at UTMB (Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health), Shriners Hospital for Children and NASA use the center.

Patient Services. The GCRC is a 24-hour multiservice inpatient and outpatient unit. The nursing staff is particularly adept at timed sampling (i.e., pharmacokinetics studies), precise research documentation, and monitoring of subjects. In addition to this three-chair phlebotomy room, there are two outpatient examining rooms, for procedures as well as examinations. The unit has a sample processing area equipped with a refrigerated centrifuge and laminar hood. Research subjects seen in the GCRC rarely have long to wait before being seen and evaluated. The nursing staff and unit clerks help facilitate paperwork, and provide a pleasant and positive atmosphere for patients participating in clinical studies.

Metabolic Control Unit. The Metabolic Control Unit houses equipment needed for detailed study of the human metabolism. Besides a metabolic cart, there is exercise equipment, a refrigerated centrifuge, glucose analyzer, biosafety hood, and 24-hour constant blood withdrawal pumps. The nursing staff (all R.N.'s) are scheduled so that studies requiring timed pharmacokinetic sampling can have one or more nurses in the MCU on a 24-hour basis, if necessary. Specimens which need special processing can be stored in our -80-degree freezer until picked up. Centrifuging and most processing can be done on-site in the GCRC.

Body Composition & Whole Body Counter. The UTMB Body Composition Laboratory and Whole Body Counter laboratory (short: WBC) is located on the first floor of the John Sealy Annex on the Campus of the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, and can easily be reached from the Harborside Boulevard Parking Structure. The complex consists of a low background counting room, a sensitive detector array, a data

analysis/ laboratory area, and patient/ subject preparation facilities. Although there are several similar facilities around the country (including a WBC for children at Baylor College of Medicine), the UTMB Body Composition Laboratory is the only one inside a hospital, with easy access for patients and doctors: in fact, it is below the main operating rooms of UTMB. After a long construction period, the laboratory started its operation in 1997 and is a state-of-the-art facility, one of only a handful nationwide.

Body Protein Monitoring. The Body Protein Monitor (BPM) is part of the UTMB GCRC Body Composition Laboratory and located in room 211, Clinical Sciences Building. It is designed to measure, in vivo, the total body content of nitrogen in human subjects. This is accomplished by directly measuring the gamma ray emissions from body nitrogen during exposure to a low intensity, collimated neutron beam. The estimate of body protein mass is based on the assumption that 16% of protein is nitrogen.

Sleep Laboratory. Located within the GCRC, and used for sleep research as well as for diagnosis of patients with sleep-related physiological problems (such as sleep apnea), the Sleep Lab suite consists of two soundproofed bedrooms and an anteroom which contains equipment to monitor, record, and analyze two patients during sleep. The lab is equipped with a Astro-Med/Grass computer data acquisition and analysis system for the performance of polysomnograms and multiple sleep latency tests. The laboratory is also equipped with: a Grass amplifier system, two impedance plethysmographs (Respitrace), three pulse oximeters (Biox), two infrared cameras and video monitors, two one-way intercoms, three portable monitors (Healthdyne) and a lserjet printer (Hewlett Packard). The laboratory also is well equipped to perform nasal CPAP titrations.

Metabolic Kitchen. Each member of the staff of the Metabolic Kitchen is specially trained to create palatable and attractive meals which are, at the same time, precisely calibrated to fit the needs of an investigator's study. The Research Dietitian, Ann Livengood, works with researchers and subjects to assure that the experimental diet is rigorously prepared and followed. Industrial-quality kitchen equipment facilitates food preparation. The nutrient intake of patients who are permitted a regular hospital diet can be estimated using precise weighing of the food before and after service. On occasion, UTMB hospital patients with special dietary needs are admitted to the GCRC so that their care can include the extra attention our dietary staff can provide. When the study design permits, subjects may get "take-out" meals from our kitchen to be reheated and eaten in their homes.

GCRC Computer Resources. In the administrative office there are computers (MAC and PC), a 1200-dpi laser printer, color laser printer, digital cameras, a slide scanner, and other equipment and software available for investigator use. Most peripherals are accessible through the campus network, as is the statistical software which resides on the Windows NT servers. Users running Novell, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, and Macintosh can connect to the GCRC-NT server.

The Office of Biostatistics (OBIOS) provides statistical support services to all UTMB faculty, staff and students. Areas of expertise include design support (power calculations, sample size determinations, and identification of appropriate methods to minimize experimental error, and to collect, summarize and analyze data), data management (development of data collection techniques/instruments, data entry screens, and data editing and error checking programs), and data analysis (application of appropriate methods to allow valid statistical inferences). Developmental procedures include quantitative research that will produce improved methods and procedures to collect, manage, analyze and interpret biomedical data. OBIOS provides expert and technical support for the computer package SAS®, a statistical application with extensive data management capabilities. The SAS system is maintained both on the UTMB IBM mainframe and on personal computers throughout campus. In addition to statistical support, OBIOS provides technical assistance in adapting or creating questionnaires and survey instruments and in the training of operational personnel. The OBIOS also acts as liaison for UTMB researchers requesting US Vital Statistics data and National Health Surveys data from the National Center for Health Statistics. The Computing Services Center maintains an IBM 3090 500J Mainframe computer. It supports two Telex 3420 tape drives and 12 3480 IBM cartridge drives. The CPU has 512 megabytes of memory and 200 giga bytes of direct access storage devices. The system supports MVS/ESA, the ROSOOE editor, SAS, VSAM/DBMS, IM/DBMS, and ADABAS/DBMS. The center has an SNA network and supports TCIP devices which support access to INTERNET and BITNET, and Ethernet.

(alternate version)The Office of Biostatistics (OBIOS) provides statistical support services to all faculty, staff and students at

UTMB. Design support includes producing power calculations, determining sample size, designing studies that minimize the effects of measurement and experimental error, and identifying appropriate methods for data collection summary and analysis. Data management includes developing data collection techniques, constructing data collection instruments, setting up data entry screens, entering data and/or writing programs for data editing and error checking. Data analysis includes identifying and applying appropriate procedures to allow valid statistical inferences. Adaptation and development include quantitative research that will produce improved methods and procedures to collect, manage, analyze and interpret biomedical data. OBIOS provides support for the computer package SAS® at UTMB. SAS® is a statistical application with extensive data management capabilities. The SAS system is maintained on the IBM mainframe and personal computers. In addition to statistical support, the OBIOS provides assistance with the scanning and scoring of examinations and other pre-coded forms.

In collaboration with the Moody Medical Library, OBIOS also maintains a repository of public data files and their documentation. These files include U.S. Bureau of Census data and the national health surveys conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. OBIOS offers students assistance in the analysis of these data and other complex sample surveys with special statistical software packages such as SUDAAN.

The UTMB Bioinformatics Program, directed by Bruce A. Luxon, PhD, specializes in computational genomics and proteomics, and the analysis of biomedical information using state of the art computational methods. The UTMB Bioinformatics Program has built a high performance intranet designed for large-scale data management, analysis, and visualization. In practice, array expression files are transferred via the UTMB intranet into our Oracle data warehouse and relational database management system for further analysis via our proprietary web-based data-mining environment. With a GUI written almost entirely by Dr. Luxon, our database management and data mining environment is completely cross-platform compatible and is accessible via any web browser. This allows UTMB research groups to warehouse and mine vast amounts of microarray data easily and efficiently on our high performance Unix servers from their lab and desktop PCs. The Bioinformatics Program has also written a series of software robots for automated searches of web databases (e.g. BLAST, etc.) including GenBank at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), PubMed, etc. These robots can be activated automatically while using our proprietary analysis software or can be programmed to perform searches at night to conserve bandwidth. Analyses of microarray data will often include a variety of data clustering methods to assist discovery of groups of genes displaying similar behavior within very large datasets. Data clustering offers our investigators a broad set of powerful exploratory multivariate statistical analysis tools. We have developed significant expertise in this important area. In practice these fall into several categories. A popular method is Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which segregates a data set comprised of a number of microarray experiments into a small number of groups (3–10 with 5 a common choice)of genes, which behave phenomenologically similar. Typically, when the technique is successful, over 90% of the response can be ascribed to the first two or three principal components. This permits graphical visualization of the discovered groups using standard screen or print graphics output as desired. Partitioning and Hierarchical Clustering. In the “k-means” partitioning method, objects are classified into k clusters such that all the members of each cluster behaved similarly in their response on each experiment (i.e. had a small dissimilarity to each other). In “agglomerative nesting” (AGNES), hierarchical clustering methods often produce a “dendrogram,” a type of family tree where those genes whose response patterns were most similar are shown to be most closely related by their close proximity within the branches and leaves of the tree. Other available methods to discover trends, patterns and groups in data, some descended from the partitioning and hierarchical methods discussed above, include Self-Organizing Maps and Artificial Neural Networks (SOMs and ANNs), two-dimensional hierarchical clustering, Bayesian Networks, Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Petri Nets and Gene Shaving. Finally, the Bioinformatics Core also has available several commercial microarray analysis software programs as well as a professional data mining suite (MineSet) with state of the art visualization and statistical analysis capability. A significant strength is the ability to write virtually any custom data analysis, viewing or porting software needed in the future.

At the AT&T Center for Telehealth Research and Policy, the mission is to operate sponsored programs in experimental telehealth, perform outcomes studies, and undertake policy development in the areas of telemedicine, telehealth, and technology-supported medicine. The center studies the operational, clinical, and distance education programs of the UTMB Electronic Health Network, as well as the industry as a whole. It is

also an information clearinghouse on telehealth issues, nationally and internationally. Critical research on outcomes, effectiveness, and best practices in telehealth take place in the center, whose staff also develops, promotes, and communicates policies relating to telehealth.

Research Centers(short version)The Sealy Center on Aging and the NIH-funded Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independent Center (OAC), both directed by Dr. James Goodwin, provide a wide range of expertise and resources in clinical care, research and education related to aging studies and older adult populations. Given the predisposition of cancer to the elderly population, the Center has been important in initiating studies in under-represented populations of elderly individuals with various cancers including breast cancer. Education regarding the prevention and detection of these cancers is provided by the Center.

(Alternate version)Sealy Center on Aging. The Sealy Center on Aging is an independent, multidisciplinary component of the University of Texas Medical Branch that provides a wide range of expertise and resources in clinical care, research, and education related to aging studies and aging populations. Dr. James Goodwin directs the Center on Aging, and is supported by endowment funds from the Sealy and Smith Foundation. The Center is comprised of the Director, Associate Director (K. Ottenbacher), a volunteer registry coordinator, administrative coordinator, and two support staff. The 23 Senior Fellows and 41 Fellows affiliated with the Center on Aging represent all four schools and three institutes at UTMB. Among the collaborative research projects spearheaded by the center are a $3.9 million program-project grant on the cell biology of stress response in aging, the Health of the Public Needs Assessment Survey sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $3.9 million study of Mexican American Elderly Health, and the $6.5 million Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.

The Volunteer Registry of the Sealy Center on Aging contains information on people age 55 and older who are interested in participating in medical and social research studies. Sociodemographic and health information obtained by questionnaire is stored in a database managed and analyzed by the General Clinical Research Center. The registry is available to all UTMB researchers, and it facilitates research on aging by helping to recruit subjects and disseminate information about research projects through mailing lists, newsletters, and presentations. Approximately 600 volunteers are currently in the registry.

The facilities of the Sealy Center on Aging include a suite of 12 offices contiguous to the offices of the Geriatrics Division of Internal Medicine. Clinical geriatric training and research takes place in the 12- bed clinical research center, the 20-bed geriatric inpatient unit, the Geriatric Day Hospital and the Geriatric Clinic, and with the assistance of staff and faculty in the departments of Internal and Family Medicine.

Faculty and students utilize a linked SEER-Medicare claims database to examine patterns and outcomes of care provided to cancer patients in community settings. To support this research that utilizes large databases, the Center has built the Data Management System for Medical Research (DMSMED). This computer system was developed by a group of statisticians and SAS programmers to analyze large Medicare claims databases. It provides investigators with expertise and resources related to database management, and is an important resource for studies and training when secondary analyses of health care data are involved. DMSMED is user-friendly, and enables new investigators without access to sophisticated computing capabilities and/or personnel to devise an efficient, integrated data management system and participate in Medicare and other large database research, and facilitates training of faculty, doctoral students and medical fellows. The data server can be accessed through the UTMB computer network, which maintains data security. Dong Zhang, PhD, oversees the data management procedures for individual projects. He devotes most of his efforts to the management of complex and large databases, and has considerable expertise in statistical computing and data management.

(long version, includes four sections with italic headings, below)Sealy Center on Aging. The Sealy Center on Aging is an independent, multidisciplinary component of the University of Texas Medical Branch that provides a wide range of expertise and resources in clinical care,

research, and education related to aging studies and aging populations. Dr. James Goodwin directs the Center on Aging, supported by endowment funds from the Sealy and Smith Foundation. The Center is comprised of the Director, Associate Director (K. Ottenbacher), a volunteer registry coordinator, administrative coordinator, and two support staff. Some 23 Senior Fellows and 41 Fellows affiliated with the Center on Aging represent all four schools and three institutes at UTMB. Among the collaborative research projects spearheaded by the center are a $3.9 million program project grant on the cell biology of stress response in aging, the Health of the Public Needs Assessment Survey sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $3.9 million study of Mexican American Elderly Health, and the $6.5 million Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.

The Volunteer Registry of the Sealy Center on Aging contains information on people age 55 and older who are interested in participating in medical and social research studies. Sociodemographic and health information obtained by questionnaire is stored in a database managed and analyzed by the General Clinical Research Center. The registry, available to all UTMB researchers, facilitates research on aging by helping to recruit subjects and disseminate information about research projects through mailing lists, newsletters, and presentations. Approximately 600 volunteers are currently in the registry.

The Sealy Center on Aging facilities include a suite of 12 offices contiguous to the Geriatrics Division of Internal Medicine. Clinical geriatric training and research takes place in the 12- bed clinical research center, the 20-bed geriatric inpatient unit, the Geriatric Day Hospital and the Geriatric Clinic, and with the assistance of staff and faculty in the departments of Internal and Family Medicine.

Senior Services Office. The UTMB Office of Senior Services was created at the behest of the Sealy Center on Aging to work within the UTMB hospital structure to develop a more holistic model of clinical services to the elderly, particularly to frail elderly. In addition, the Senior Services Office develops programs and services to various elderly populations, including those on the Galveston County Mainland, rural elderly, and others in our potential catchment area. The Office of Senior Services and the Sealy Center on Aging work closely to provide educational activities, especially for internships and community-based student projects, assessing the needs of older residents of Galveston County, and working with public and private agencies in designing community-based programs to meet identified needs. Office of Senior Services sponsors SageSource, an array of health and wellness information programs and other activities to persons over the age of 65. More than 2,100 seniors participate monthly in various programs supported by the Senior Services Office. These programs include, but are not limited to, health education and wellness lectures; health fairs; defensive driving classes; functional fitness exercise classes; memory retention classes; and share your life story events. In addition, a newsletter is sent out to approximately 4,500 individuals quarterly, and the SageSource Sage Site web site receives an average of 260 hits monthly. The Senior Services Office established a Gulf Coast Senior Care Provider networking organization that has approximately 539 members, representing 341 organizations from Galveston and Harris counties and the surrounding area.

Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine. The ten MD and five PhD faculty of the Division of Geriatric Medicine teach medical students, pre-doctoral graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in clinical gerontology, epidemiology and health policy. The Division also has a fellowship training program in geriatric medicine for graduates of Internal Medicine or Family Medicine residencies. The program provides didactic education in gerontology, ethics, biostatistics and research study design. Clinical training is obtained on an acute care geriatrics inpatient unit, a geriatric outpatient clinic and a community long-term care center. All fellows complete a clinical research project. A primary care outpatient clinic for those ages 75 and older had more than 12,000 visits in 2003. Growth since then includes construction of a 20-bed ACE (acute care for elderly) unit; expansion of the primary care geriatrics clinics with the opening of two additional clinics; expansion of the nursing home service to all 12 nursing homes in Galveston County; and expansion of the house call program to all homebound elderly in Galveston County.

Geriatric Services is a multi-disciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, occupational and physical therapists, and others who provide specialized care for older patients, and even make home visits to Galveston County residents age 65 and over who are unable to leave their homes. Geriatric Services coordinates all health care components of UTMB – the emergency room, X-ray suites, pharmacy, outpatient clinics – to ensure that our older patients receive first-class service. A local foundation, the Sealy and Smith Foundation,

tentatively agreed to fund construction of a senior complex on a plot of land adjacent to the UTMB campus, on Galveston Harbor. This would contain senior housing, assisted living, a nursing home with a special dementia unit (using the Eden Alternative Model) and a four-story building for the academic and clinical programs in aging at UTMB.

Data Management System for Medical Research (DMSMED) . In 1996, a group of statisticians and SAS programmers developed the Data Management System for Medical Research, which provides support for database management and data analyses for research. For the past six years, DMSMED has provided investigators with expertise and resources related to database management. The DMSMED enables new investigators who are without access to sophisticated computing capabilities and/or personnel to devise an efficient, integrated data management system that allows them to participate in Medicare and other large database research. The capabilities and availability of the user-friendly DMSMED greatly facilitates data analysis for faculty, doctoral students and medical fellows. In addition, the data on the data server can be accessed through the UTMB computer network, which maintains data security, for investigators who have been approved by National Cancer Institute for work on these data. It is convenient and flexible for investigators and staff members to work on their projects.

Personnel. Since the inception of DMSMED, Dr. Dong Zhang has overseen the data management procedures for individual projects and coordinated interaction between the staff and investigators. He has a PhD in biostatistics, but now devotes most of his efforts to the management of complex and large databases. He has considerable expertise in statistical computing and data management. He formally instructs in statistical computing courses, and gives advice for PhD student’s dissertations. His other responsibilities include providing security for data server access and planning for new equipment purchases and upgrades to computer systems.

Equipment and Software . The following hardware and peripheral configurations are currently housed in DMSMED offices: a) Dell Workstation 330 (Pentium IV, 320GB SCSI HD); b) Dell Workstation 610 (Dual Pentium III, 36GB SCSI HD); c) Fujitsu 3480 cartridge drive (refurbished); d) 20GB tape backup; and e) CD-ROM and CD-RW Drives. Software running on the workstations includes Windows NT 4.0, MS-Office 2000, Outlook 2000, Internet Explorer 6.0, SAS for windows 8.01, Outright for WinNT 3.03, and McAfee Anti-Virus.

Network Connection and Communication. The Dell workstation 330 is the data server used to store sharable databases. The peripheral devices, such as the cartridge drive and CD-RW drives are installed into the data server to enable input and output of large datasets into different storage media. Only permitted users can share the data files in the data server, usually as read-only information. Shared data files can be managed in the investigator’s office through UTMB’s Local Area Network (LAN). The network at UTMB provides all staff members and researchers with the ability to connect and share files. UTMB’s LAN is supported by 3Com products. The core (campus backbone) and distribution (individual building backbone) portion of the network uses 3500 series Ethernet switches. The core of the LAN is supported by multi-mode fiber optic cable and runs at 100Mbs. The distribution cable plant is a combination of fiber and copper also running at 100Mbs. The edge (enduser connection) of the network is a combination of 10Mbs Ethernet switches and hubs, all of which are on copper. The specifications, installation, maintenance, and updating of the equipment are the responsibility of the Information Service Telecommunications Infrastructure group. The existing network infrastructure at UTMB has been assessed as to its traffic demands and bandwidth capacity against both current and anticipated use.

Security Schema. Shared working data files are stored on an NT workstation that can be accessed only by using passwords designated by the systems manager. The customized analytic files are stored in separate folders for each individual study. Only assigned personnel can access each folder. The UTMB network has been equipped with a “fire wall” to protect against Internet hackers.

Archiving and Backup Schema. The original data tapes and backup CDs are stored in a locked file cabinet in a secure and locked room on the 3rd floor of the Jennie Sealy building. All program and text files on the data server are backed up onto 250MB zip disk daily. The backup disk is replaced with a new zip disk every month. The recorded disks are reused after 12 months providing there are no problems with the disks. All the data files on the data server (except raw data) are backed up every month onto a 20GB tape. When the tape is full, it is replaced with a new tape. The record tape is reused after five cycles of backup have been completed.

The Center for Population Health and Health Disparities (CPHHD) is directed by Drs. James Goodwin and Kyriakos Markides, and was funded by the NCI in 2003 for $9.3M over five years. The theme of the CPHHD is health disparities, both positive and negative, in the Hispanic communities. There are three major projects, two cores and four pilot projects. The patient population at UTMB is diverse and a high percentage is indigent who oftentimes present with more advanced cancers.

UTMB Center to Eliminate Health Disparities. In September 2003, Dr. John D. Stobo, UTMB President, named Barbara Breier, Ph.D., who was at that time Executive Director of Development for the University of Texas System, to lead a new UTMB program to improve the health of medically underserved populations. As Director of the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities, reporting directly to Dr. Stobo, Dr. Breier promotes UTMB’s mission to provide care to all area residents, including African Americans, Hispanics, the poor, the elderly, rural inhabitants and other traditionally underserved groups. Dr. Breier’s charge is to lead the effort to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to improve the health status of the medically underserved and to reduce the cost of providing care to these patients, building on the many programs already present at UTMB.

Dr. Breier helps coordinate fund raising, shape public policy, and develop programs for research, clinical practice, education and other activities in an effort to help reduce these disparities. The center also works to increase the funding UTMB receives to research diseases that disproportionately afflict underserved populations. This includes promoting community awareness of existing UTMB programs such as the Regional Maternal and Child Health clinics and telehealth. Additionally, the center helps UTMB forge partnerships with other University of Texas health science institutions and universities and with agencies like the Texas Department of Health. The center aims to enhance existing UTMB programs that address the needs of special groups (e.g., the elderly, low-income pregnant women, Medicaid patients), and to explore ways to expand access to care.

Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health. The Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health (CIRWH) was inaugurated in February 2002. The mission of this Center is to promote, stimulate and support interdisciplinary research related to the health of women across the life span. This Center: 1) designs and seeks funding for collaborative grants, 2) partners with existing programs to encourage investigations of sex/gender differences in health and disease, and 3) provides structured mentoring to motivated junior investigators who are committed to women's health. The Center seeks solutions to health problems that are more common in women, have different manifestations in women than men, or require different treatment in women than men. Furthermore, the Center promotes interactions between investigators from different backgrounds who can contribute different perspectives, training, and expertise to collaborative efforts. The CIRWH interfaces with other centers including the GCRC, and 25 of the >75 members have been GCRC investigators.

The Asthma and Allergic Diseases Research Center at UTMB is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Asthma is a respiratory disease that causes inflammation of the airways and is characterized by hyper-reactivity to allergies and viral infections. Prevalence of asthmas has risen rapidly over the past several decades, particularly in impoverished inner city neighborhoods. Investigators at the Asthma Center work in collaboration with investigators from the Center on Environmental Health and Medicine to better understand the causes of the recent asthma epidemic, from molecular, physiologic, behavioral and population perspectives.

Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine (SCEHM) was established in 2000 with the mission to address important issues in environmental health by promoting excellence in research, education, community outreach, and clinical intervention. Envisioned as a Center without walls, the SCEHM draws support from ~48 full time, well published, funded faculty devoted to study of Asthma Pathogenesis, Bioactivation and Transport, CNS and GI Pathophysiology, Viral Potentiation of Toxicant Exposure, and Environmental Carcinogenesis. Galveston’s proximity to many sources of significant environmental problems, such as oxidant and particulate pollutants, hazardous chemical releases, toxic waste sites, and old buildings with peeling lead paint, makes UTMB a compelling site for a multidisciplinary environmental health sciences center. During the SCEHM’s first five years, this Center successfully promoted new research initiatives, provided transition funding for faculty recruitment, provided critical support for mass spectrometry and proteomics, facilitated recruitment of outstanding students and fellows, and supported creative community outreach activities. In addition, the SCEHM addressed the institution-wide need for analytical morphology by developing a Research Histopathology Service Core and for gene expression analysis by supporting a Molecular Genomics Service Core. Contributions of the SCEHM to UTMB’s excellence in environmental health research and training were important factors in sustained funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for our Environmental Toxicology Training Grant and our Center in Environmental Toxicology (re-funded for five years starting April 1, 2005). Thus, the SCEHM has helped UTMB achieve national and international pre-eminence in the environmental health sciences.

The four central goals for years 2006-2010 of the SCEHM are: 1) to promote new initiatives in environmental health problems of particular concern, including asthma, cancer, diabetes, and women’s and neonatal health by mechanisms that will sustain and extend external funding for research centers and program projects; 2) to support and develop core services vital to future growth in research in environmental health sciences; 3) to enhance outreach and interventional activities, particularly for communities surrounding the Houston Ship Channel; 4) to support new educational initiatives in support of the Environmental Toxicology Training Grant. The guiding principle of the SCEHM will be to initiate and develop innovative projects and then facilitate their transition to other sources of funding.

The NIEHS Center in Environmental Toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch is a scientific research center of the highest intellectual standards, dedicated to the study of environmental health science problems, as well as to the education of our community about solutions to these problems. Our overarching theme is the role of oxidative stress in mediating the health effects of exposure to environmental factors. Center Investigators study the mechanisms by which reactive oxygen species are produced and detoxified, modulate signaling pathways, damage DNA, and are involved in the etiology of asthma. To aid these scientific programs to their full potentials, a seminar program and state-of-the-art service cores were established to facilitate collaborative research projects, enhance the scope and quality of individual Center Investigators’ research, and provide access to expertise and instrumentation that would not otherwise be cost-effective. These Service Cores include the 1) Molecular Genetics Core, 2) Biomolecular Resource Facility Core, 3) Synthetic Organic Chemistry Core and 4) Cell Biology Core.

This NIEHS Center exists as a force to address today’s disparate and compelling human concerns about environmental health problems and the intellectual framework that drives the research towards possible solutions. The Center focuses the environmental concerns of and develops useful programs for the local communities via the Community Outreach and Education Core (COEC), in which a majority of all Center investigators participate. From its inception, the NIEHS Center has been an integral component within a much larger UTMB program in the Environmental Health Sciences that includes a toxicology training program, with centers of excellence in molecular science, structural biology, aging and cancer cell biology. Thus, the Center has become a good neighbor and responsible leader among the University, community and government entities dedicated to environmental health science problems in Southeast Texas. The NIEHS Center is directed by Dr. James R. Halpert, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. He also is director of the Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine.

Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (CBEID). The Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases is a multi-disciplinary umbrella organization that builds on the strengths and work of more than 60 researchers in UTMB’s Center for Tropical Diseases and various departments on campus. The CBEID has two main objectives: 1) to reduce the vulnerability of the U.S. and other nations to the

use of biological weapons for warfare and terrorism, and 2) to alleviate suffering from emerging and tropical infectious diseases through application of basic, applied, and field research, and through education. Fields of research include basic molecular and structural biology, animal models of infectious disease pathogenesis, and aspects of vaccine and anti-viral drug development and evaluation.

BSL-4 Laboratory (John Sealy Pavilion). The Robert E. Shope, M.D., Laboratory in the John Sealy Pavilion for Infectious Disease Research is the only full-sized biosafety level 4 facility on a University campus in the United States.  It provides the infrastructure to permit research to be carried out on easily aerosolized highly infectious, potentially lethal agents.  The 2,000-square-foot laboratory is essential for research on many highly pathogenic hemorrhagic fever viruses.

The laboratory is a suited facility with entrance and egress of personnel through a chemical shower. Equipment and samples can also move through double door autoclaves, an air lock (87 ft2), and an immersion tank. A high intensity radiation source (Gamma Cell, Cobalt 60 irradiator) is available to allow infectious samples to be inactivated before use at lower containment levels for certain types of assays such as antibody testing and proteomics. The BSL-4 laboratory is fully equipped with biosafety cabinets, ultracentrifuge, high speed centrifuge, table top centrifuges, freezers, etc. All protocols and SOPs are in place and approved by the office of biosafety and a training program for laboratory has been established. The laboratory is housed in a limited-access support building with 11,405 ft2 of floor space. It comprises 1595 ft2 divided into two approximately equal parts. One half is equipped as a classical and molecular virology laboratory. This area has all the equipment needed for virological studies, including incubators, biosafety cabinets, centrifuges, balances, microscopes, and freezers. A 110 ft2 space of the total 803 ft2 is set aside to house centrifuges and a reference collection of BSL-4 virus strains. The other half is equipped as an area for animal holding. The majority of work is with rodents and the separation of multiple agents will be achieved with laminar flow isolators for each cage. This room has the equipment and sterilization capacity to handle non-human primates should this become desirable. The 792 ft2 animal laboratory has a separate 147 ft2 procedure room plumbed for a biological safety cabinet or a down-draft autopsy table. Most of the time multiple agents will be used in the two laboratories and an internal door will connect them. The animal space can also be re-programmed to use as a separate module either as BSL-4 or as an augmented BSL-3. In that case, the two main laboratory modules will be sealed from one another, the suited shower can be used in a 3-way configuration, and the animal procedure room can be converted into a laboratory. This configuration would be desirable for dealing with some new pathogens or work with agricultural pathogens such as Rift Valley fever virus or novel influenza strains.

Western Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (WRCE). In response to NIAID’s call for the creation of strong infrastructure and multifaceted research and development activities applying the best basic, translational, and clinical science to the generation of new diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccine countermeasures for Category A, B, and C pathogens posing threats as agents of bioterrorism, over 30 institutions in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana have combined their energy, creativity, and resources to create the Western Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (WRCE). Seven scientific cores provide access to state-of-the-art proteomics, genomics, standardized small animal, and nonhuman primate models of infectious diseases, BSL4 laboratory facilities, as well as crosscutting functions in computational biology and a streamlined process for translational development of vaccines and drugs leading to FDA approval. A wealth of scientific expertise on biothreat agents and contemporary biomedical technology is applied to establishing the scientific basis and translating it through major research projects, developmental research projects, and career development projects. The scientific program includes: 1) the development of vaccines against Rift Valley fever, Ebola and Lassa hemorrhagic fever, dengue, flaviviral and alphaviral infections, smallpox, brucellosis, tularemia, anthrax, glanders, and epidemic typhus; 2) new therapeutic agents against Bacillus anthracis (including the spore), rickettsial diseases, Q fever, cryptosporidiosis, ricin toxin, bunyaviruses, SARS coronavirus, Ebola, and flaviviruses; 3) advanced diagnostic methods for Q fever, rickettsial diseases, tularemia, Norwalk viral infections, flaviviral infection, and botulinum infection; and 4) development of vaccines and antiviral therapies for potential human pandemic strains of influenza. A consistently strong spirit of cooperation among traditionally competing institutions has established an interlocking network of projects, cores, and administration. The guidance of this network of interactive research projects and core resource facilities is executed under a comprehensive administrative plan to contribute substantially to the nation’s

biodefense mission by fulfilling a carefully crafted scientific strategy on a common theme. Collaborations for host–pathogen biology-based development of novel vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics against biothreat agents are at the forefront of the WRCE’s scientific endeavors.

Biosafety   and   Animal BioSafety   Level 2, 3 and 4   laboratory facilities .  Of the 102,000 gross square feet in the CBEID Keiller Building there are 49 BSL 2 laboratories (although, not all of these labs are currently used as BSL2) , as well as two BSL 3 facilities, one ABSL2 2 facility, one ABSL3 facility, two Arthropod Containment Level 2 (ACL2) facilities, and one ACL3 facility. The BSL3, ABSL3 and BSL4 facilities have been inspected by both HHS/CDC and USDA/APHIS and are registered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Select Agent Program.

National Biocontainment Laboratory at Galveston (The Galveston National Laboratory; GNL). Currently under construction with support of a $110 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIAID/NIH), the Galveston National Laboratory (Dr. Stanley Lemon, PI) will provide laboratory space for research on new therapies, vaccines and diagnostic tests for naturally occurring emerging diseases such as influenza and West Nile encephalitis, as well as protective measures against viral and bacterial agents.  The new $167 million structure with approximately 174,000 gross square feet; 63,000 square feet dedicated to laboratory space for BSL2, BSL3 and BSL4 laboratories is projected to open in June 2008.

Biodefense programs and facilities. Since the mid 1990s, UTMB has been a major contributor to research and training on biodefense and emerging infectious diseases. An outgrowth of this effort was the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (CBEID). The CBEID was established to serve as the hub for all infectious disease research activities involving NIAID Category A–C agents at UTMB, with emphasis on emerging infections and biothreat select agents. From the Center offices, activities are managed and coordinated among more than 62 members. From 2002 to 2004, CBEID members published more than 121 peered-reviewed articles and secured more than $95 million in total research funding, of which 98% is provided by NIH/NIAID. The animal core serves CBEID members and researchers funded by the Western Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (WRCE). UTMB is the lead institution for the WRCE (Principal Investigator, Dr. David Walker). More than 35 projects, distributed among investigators throughout the Department of Health and Human Services Region VI, which includes Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, comprise the WRCE.

UTMB investigators, including WRCE and Galveston National Laboratory investigators who utilize the animal core, conduct some research in the containment laboratories (described below) in accordance with appropriate policies and regulations. UTMB has state-of-the-art BSL3 and BSL4 laboratories and animal facilities (ABSL3 and ABSL4), and a documented ability to conduct work in accordance with guidelines for Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories and the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The DoD, CDC and USDA have approved our laboratories and AAALAC has certified our animal facilities.

Animal Model Capabilities. UTMB’s biodefense and emerging infectious disease research has been focused on developing animal models to study the pathogenesis of several infectious disease agents and to evaluate candidate therapeutics and vaccines for Category A-C agents. Currently, animal models are available for selected agents associated with viral encephalitis and hemorrhagic diseases in the genera Arenavirus, Alphavirus, Flavivirus, Orthobunyavirus, Phlebovirus, and for anthrax. Studies supported by an NIAID emerging infectious diseases contract will develop models for several other agents. More recently, internal funding was allocated to evaluate transgenic mice bearing the human coronavirus receptor (AC2), an animal model for SARS Coronavirus. These significant contributions demonstrate that UTMB has the facilities and expertise to carry out research services, to develop animal models, and to employ such models in state-of-the-art preclinical studies on relevant agents at the BSL2/3/4. Expertise and equipment also are available to assist and train investigators and their staffs to conduct their own research in developing models, diagnostics, and candidate therapeutics and vaccines.

Biosafety Containment Laboratories. In 2003, UTMB was awarded a contract to build a National Biocontainment Laboratory, recently named the Galveston National Laboratory (2 were awarded nationwide).

As described below, the Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) will house additional BSL4 laboratories in addition to a significant amount of space allocated for BSL2 and 3 laboratories and animal research already available at UTMB. Dr. Stanley Lemon is the Principal Investigator of the GNL award. The high containment laboratories, including those already on campus and the new ones being constructed, are designed specifically to: 1) protect the laboratory worker from infection, 2) protect humans elsewhere in the laboratory building, and 3) prevent the spread of the agents to humans and animals in the community. The research conducted in these facilities focuses on the more important emerging infections and biodefense agents, such as West Nile virus, SARS Coronavirus (Co-V), Rift Valley fever virus, arenaviruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers, viruses that cause encephalitic diseases, anthrax, and tularemia. The emphasis is to understand how these agents cause disease, establishing research capacity leading to therapeutic drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics, and expanding the pool of biodefense researchers and technical personnel.

BSL2/BSL3 Facilities. The experimental pathology division of the Department of Pathology is located in facilities that were renovated in 1995. The laboratory space available to UTMB investigators involved in biodefense projects includes 49 standard BSL2 laboratories (total space approximately 95,000 square feet), plus special BSL3 laboratories (approximately 3,412 square feet total) for work with hazardous viral agents. The BSL3 laboratories have been inspected by both CDC and USDA/APHIS and are approved for work with select agents. Core facilities include a 6,550 square feet animal biosafety level 2 and 3 labs; a 750 square feet level 2 arthropod containment insectary; a fully equipped electron microscopy laboratory; and a darkroom equipped to develop X-ray film.

BSL4 Facilities. The Robert E. Shope, MD, Laboratory in the John Sealy Pavilion for Infectious Diseases Research is a positive pressure suit facility with entrance and egress of personnel through a chemical shower. Equipment and samples may move through double door autoclaves, air locks, and immersion tanks. The BSL4 laboratory is housed in a limited-access support building (John Sealy Pavilion). The BSL4 laboratory comprises 1,595 square feet, divided into two approximately equal parts. One-half is equipped as a classical and molecular virology laboratory. This area has all of the equipment needed for virological studies, including incubators, biosafety cabinets, centrifuges, balances, microscopes, and freezers. A separate room (110 square feet of the total 803 square feet) houses centrifuges and a reference collection of BSL4 virus strains. Investigators who use the BSL4 facility have access to a high intensity gamma irradiator allowing inactivation of samples for further analysis or use of the materials outside the BSL4 laboratory. The other half is equipped for animal holding. Laminar flow isolator caging systems house animals and allow for use of multiple agents in the animal BSL4 space. The BSL4 animal room has the equipment and sterilization capacity to handle non-human primates should this become desirable. The 792 square feet animal laboratory has a separate 147 square feet procedure room plumbed for a biological safety cabinet or a downdraft autopsy table. Most of the time, multiple agents are used in the two laboratories connected by an internal door. The animal space also can be reprogrammed as a separate module, either as BSL4 or augmented BSL3. In that case, the chemical shower can be operated in a 3-way configuration, the two main laboratory modules will be sealed from one another, and the necropsy room can be converted into a laboratory. This configuration is desirable for dealing with new pathogens or for work with agricultural pathogens such as Rift Valley fever virus or novel influenza strains. The BSL4 facility has a double HEPA-filtered exhaust system. Heating in two large pressured tanks prior to cooling and discharge treats the liquid effluent. Personnel in positive pressure suits do research in vertical laminar flow hoods. The BSL3 and BSL4 laboratories have a dedicated safety officer who oversees training. Biosecurity is maintained by coded entry and limited access of personnel to stocks of select agents.

Galveston National Laboratory (GNL). UTMB’s $167 million Galveston National Laboratory (GNL), currently under construction, is one of two sites selected in October 2003 by the NIAID/NIH; NIH awarded $110 million and UTMB provided $57 million for the project. The primary purpose of this laboratory is to serve as a national resource 1) to support the Biodefense Research Agenda of the NIAID/NIH, and 2) to assist local, state and national public health efforts in the event of a bioterrorism emergency. The GNL will be owned by UTMB under an agreement with NIAID to operate the laboratory for 20 years. The projected completion date is December 2007, with activation in June 2008. It will be a seven-story research building with 82,411 net square feet, including 12,362 net square feet of BSL4 laboratory space (15.0%), 18,223 net square feet of BSL3 laboratory space (22.1%), 13,368 net square feet BSL-2 laboratory space (16.2%), and 8,733 net square feet of animal support space (5.0%). The distribution of space was based on the NIAID’s projected critical requirements to develop therapies, vaccines and diagnostic tests.

Major Equipment. The major items of equipment located in the Keiller BSL2/3 and Shope BSL4 containment laboratories include the following: chemical and biological safety cabinets; CO2 incubators; -20°C, -80°C, and liquid nitrogen freezers; a Philips 525M scanning microscope and two Philips transmission electron microscopes (DM 100 and 201); a Meridian Insight confocal microscope and digital image analysis system; inverted and standard microscopes and a fluorescent microscope with photographic capabilities; a Strategene Eagle Eye II still video system; a Packard instant imaging System; a Silicon Graphics indigo graphics work station; an automatic X-Ray film developer; a Scanalytics benchtop plus scanner densitometer; a Dynatech MRX automated plate reader; a Coulter Epics C fluorescence activated cell sorter; Coulter, scintillation and gamma counters; a Perkin Elmer automated DNA sequencer; an ABI Prism 7700 Sequence Detection System; a work station for nucleotide sequence analyses; numerous thermal cyclers (including a Beckman Biomek 2000 robotic PCR system); spectrophotometers; gel electrophoresis equipment; gel dryers; isotope facilities; two ultramicrotomes; cryotomes; ultra-, super-, and low-speed centrifuges; and glassware washing and sterilization equipment.

World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses (WRCEVA). The WRCEVA at UTMB serves as a virus reference center for the world. Any zoonotic virus suspected of being biologically transmitted by arthropods or vertebrates is accepted for identification and characterization. A collection of more than 640 already characterized type viruses is maintained with complementary sera and diagnostic antigens. In addition to arthropod-transmitted viruses, a number of other vertebrate viruses (i.e. poxviruses, paramyxoviruses, orthomyxoviruses, herpesviruses, coronaviruses, hantaviruses, arenaviruses, picornaviruses and rhabdoviruses) together with their respective antigens and antisera are also included in the reference collection. Many of the latter viruses were initially isolated and characterized by arbovirologists, as these agents have occasionally been isolated from clinical samples taken from wild animals or people during arbovirus field studies.

The WRCEVA is a direct outgrowth of the worldwide network of laboratories, established by the Rockefeller Foundation, to study the role of arthropod-borne viruses in producing human and animal disease and the mechanisms by which these viruses are maintained and transmitted in nature. When this program was initiated at the Rockefeller Foundation Virus Laboratories in New York City in 1951, fewer than 28 arboviruses had been described; and only a few, such as yellow fever, the encephalitides, and dengue were known to cause serious disease in human beings. Concurrent with the initiation of the Rockefeller Foundation program, the U.S. Army, Navy, Public Health Service and several foreign governments also established arbovirus laboratories and field research programs. This network of field laboratories relied on the Foundation’s central virus reference laboratory in New York, until 1964 when the central laboratory and some of the Rockefeller staff were moved to Yale University in New Haven, and the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit (YARU) was established. In mid-1995, Drs. Robert Tesh and Robert Shope moved from YARU to the Center for Tropical Diseases (now renamed Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases) at UTMB in Galveston and brought the reference collection with them. The decision to establish the Reference Center at UTMB was based in part on the willingness of the University of Texas to provide modern state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and space, including BSL3 and BSL4 containment facilities for working with these potentially hazardous agents.

The WRCEVA at UTMB provides prompt analysis of disease outbreaks, as well as identification of new and emerging viruses to agencies around the world; it also serves the world research community with basic certification of arboviruses and arboviral reagents. The extensive arbovirus reference collection maintained at the Center differs from culture collections like that of the American Type Culture Collection in several ways. First, the collection is not static; new virus strains are continually being archived. Second, instead of having just one or two prototype or well characterized strains of each known virus, there are many different strains of arboviruses of medical and veterinary importance (i.e. dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile, eastern equine encephalitis, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis). A number of viruses in the collection are select agents. An effort has been made to collect representative strains of these viruses from a variety of sources, geographic localities and time periods. This diversity has proven extremely useful in studies of arbovirus emergence, evolution, pathogenesis, and now biodefense. Third, viruses and serologic reagents are provided at no cost upon request to qualified investigators; this is essential for maintaining an active reference collection, since collaborators often send us new viruses in return for this service.

Our ability to supply viruses and viral reagents without charge is also a valuable service to the virology community at large, since few of these items are available commercially. Current regulations governing work with infectious agents and vertebrate animals now require that biosafety level 3 facilities (or higher) be used when handling many arboviral pathogens. In addition, concerns about bioterrorism have greatly restricted the transfer and exchange of some infectious (select) agents between investigators. Consequently, just the production of viral RNA or an immune serum to some viruses has become extremely expensive or impossible for researchers and diagnostic laboratories that do not have access to approved facilities. The WRCEVA is often able to fill this need by supplying some of these reagents. The availability of the BSL4 facility (since January 2004) further enhances the ability of the Reference Center to meet these needs.

Training is another important part of the Reference Center’s activities. In addition to UTMB graduate students and fellows, a number of visiting scientists each year spend time in the Reference Center, learning classical virologic and serologic techniques, as well as newer molecular methods for arbovirus assay and identification. Members of the Reference Center staff also participate in workshops and conferences on arbovirus techniques and arboviral diseases.

Since 1971, the World Reference Center has been supported by grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health. Since 1995, the University of Texas has also provided extensive in-house support to the Reference Center. Dr. Robert Tesh, Professor of Pathology and a member of the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, is the current director of the WRCEVA.

Electron Microscopy. The Electron microscopy laboratory of the Department of Pathology has three transmission electron microscopes (TEM) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an energy-dispersive x-ray microanalysis (EDAX) system to determine elemental composition of samples. The lab is equipped with ultramicrotomes and has all necessary facilities to prepare biological samples for EM examination and producing high quality EM prints. The staff of the lab also has expertise in immunoelectron microscopy and is well published in peer-reviewed journals.

W. M. Keck Center for Virus Imaging. Through a generous $1.7M gift from the W. M. Keck Foundation to Dr. Scott Weaver, and matching funds from a HRSA grant and the Kleburg Foundation, UTMB houses a specialized research center for high containment virus imaging. This is a unique research and training facility to study the assembly, replication and structure of emerging viruses that represent a threat to the United States and other regions of the world. The center includes two major instruments for studying the structure, replication and pathogenesis of viruses: 1) An Olympus FV1000 Spectral Confocal microscope system and 2) a JEOL JEM-2200FS high voltage (200 kV), high resolution transmission cryoelectron microscope with energy filtering, including a cryotransfer system, cooling control unit, CCD camera, remote control operating system and operation computer. The housing of the confocal microscope in the Keiller BSL-3 suite allows samples to be imaged without disinfection or fixation.

Dr. Michael Sherman was recently recruited from Purdue University to manage the virus imaging facility. Dr. Sherman trained with Dr. Wah Chiu at the Baylor College of Medicine and is highly experienced in operating and maintaining cryoelectron microscopes, as well as in software development and other technical and theoretical aspects of electron microscopy.

Core Facilities. UTMB has created additional core facilities that provide essential interdisciplinary coordination of efforts in research activities. These are fully staffed core laboratories that supply oligonucleotides, synthetic peptides, HPLC separation and analysis, proteomics and microarray analyses, monoclonal antibodies, and a transgenic mouse facility. Most of these facilities are adjacent to the building housing our laboratories, while the rest are within short walking distance on campus. The Infectious Diseases and Toxicology Optical Imaging Core (OIC) provides high-resolution imaging and analysis of specimens, including those exposed to BSL2 infectious agents and/or treated with toxic substances. The OIC is equipped with a Zeiss LSM 510 UV META laser scanning confocal microscope, a large format fluorescence microscope (Zeiss Axiophot 2) with attached high-resolution digital camera, and a SLM 4800S life-time spectrofluorometer. An experienced instrumentation specialist guides operation of the confocal microscope and assists in image analysis and presentation. The Sealy Center for Molecular Science supports core labs dedicated to gene array analysis, DNA sequencing,

protein expression and purification, and education in molecular biology. Proteomics capabilities represented by mass spectrometry include the Protein Analysis Core.

(long version)UTMB’s Animal Resources Center (ARC) encompasses 89,694 square feet in nine facilities across campus and is AAALAC (Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory and Care International) accredited. The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) operates to comply with the USDA Animal Welfare Act (Public Law 89-544) as amended by PL91-579 (1970), PL94-279 (1976), and 45 CFR37618 (6-30-80); Health Research Extension Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-158); follows the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (revised September 1986); and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals DHEW (NIH) 85-23 revised 1985. UTMB is a registered Research Facility under the Animal Welfare Act. It has a current assurance on file with the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), in compliance with NIH Policy. The ARC follows all standards for AAALAC and institutional IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) compliance and is staffed by full-time veterinarians and professional staff overseeing all program aspects. The ARC provides animal care and holding space in 9 facilities across campus to support a wide range of animal models, surgery, and research support. Rooms are available to provide barrier- and virus antibody free- (VAF-) housing for rodents. Facilities up to animal biosafety level 4 (ABSL4) are available. Some 22,000 additional square feet of animal space are being added in 2007 for a rodent barrier and for large animal holding.

Other University Facilities. In addition to the resources enumerated above, UTMB has a number of core laboratories that advise investigators in the application of their services, provide assistance with protocol development and implementation, provide fee-for-service assays/products, and assist in data analysis. These cores support the following activities: flow cytometry and cell sorting; molecular genomics assays; protein sequencing; DNA sequencing; HPLC analyses; mass spectrophotometric analyses; carbohydrate analyses; peptide synthesis; protein production and purification; monoclonal antibody production and purification; DNA/RNA isolation, transformation and screening; oligonucleotide synthesis; Southern blot hybridization; PCR analyses; TA-cloning; site-directed mutagenesis; organic chemical synthesis; cell culture; media formulation; serum screening; sterility testing; transgenic/knockout mouse production; knockout embryonic stem cell generation; rederivation; and ovary transfers.

The Sealy Center for Structural Biology (SCSB) is another major resource. The SCSB is comprised of six instrumentation and resource centers: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray, Computer, Macromolecular Assembly, Bioinformatics, and the Protein Expression Laboratory.

Safety and Biosecurity. UTMB’s Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) office and UTMB’s Police Department are responsible for ensuring the safety and security of all the select agent laboratories. The Keiller Building has electronic key card access to the building, elevator, and stairwells, and has a guard on duty 24 hours every day, seven days a week. All personnel are finger printed and registered with the CDC and the Department of Justice. All select agent users are required to have Department of Justice security risk assessment approval prior to having access to select agents. Each employee is issued a unique Identification number upon employment. The electronic key card system identifies the name, ID number, date and time of entry into the building and biocontainment facilities. The electronic security system tracks entry by name, date and time for movement though elevators and stairwells. Entry and exit is recorded for the select agent laboratories. Additions and deletions to the building security system are made through the University Police Department. Removal of access can be accomplished within minutes should the need arise. Key card encoded staff members have key card access at specific perimeter entry doors and to specific laboratories. An investigator and support staff are given access to only those laboratories approved for their work. Written authorization is required for any person entering the facilities who is not SRA approved. All persons not having SRA approval are required to be escorted by an SRA approved person when entering select agent laboratories.

A senior Safety Coordinator-level HSS staff member is assigned to all the high containment laboratories and is on call at all times to respond to issues relating to safety and security. Both UTMB Facilities Operation & Management and HSS routinely conduct visual confirmation of performance several times per week. The frequency is increased according to project demands. Written authorization is required of any person entering

the facilities that is not approved, and these individuals are kept at a minimum.

UTMB’s HHS is a division of Preventive, Occupational & Environmental Medicine designed to maximize workplace health, safety and well being through nine integrated prevention programs. One component, the Biological and Chemical Safety Program has the mission of providing a comprehensive approach to health and safety for UTMB. The staff provides direction and consultation for the safe use, handling and storage of biological and chemical agents in the research, academic and healthcare arena. The program provides: consultation and technical information for handling biological agents; reviews proposals and protocols for the use of hazardous biological agents, rDNA, and submits these to the Biological Safety Committee with recommendations; oversees the annual certification of biological safety cabinets by an outside contractor; presents biological safety seminars upon request; reviews and approves purchases of biological safety cabinets and other safety-related equipment; surveys laboratories for compliance with approved standards and policies of UTMB, CDC and NIH; provides assistance or advice in the disinfection of facilities and equipment; assists in the development of safety plans and training programs. Elements of the Health and Safety Services programs germane to this proposal are summarized below:

Compliance. UTMB is a registered select agent facility for CDC, USDA and overlap agents. The University has an existing safety program that is in accordance with appropriate Federal, State, and local regulations for research performed safely under BSL2, BSL3 and BSL4 laboratory conditions. Similar safety programs are in development for the new BSL4 facilities that are under construction for the GNL. All principal investigators are responsible for the implementation of and adherence to University safety policies and procedures. Failure to do so could result in suspension or withdrawal of committee approvals for approved research projects.

Institutional BioSafety Committee. UTMB researchers using BSL2, BSL3, and BSL4 agents are required to have Institutional Biological Safety Committee (IBC) review and approval prior to use. Dr. Weaver is Co-chair of this committee. The UTMB Biological Safety Committee requires the submittal of a Notification of Use for Biological Agents and rDNA (NOU) for biological agents meeting criteria for BSL2, BSL3 and BSL4. Included in the NOU submittal are the written procedures for transport, surface decontamination, spill procedures, methods for disposal, methodology, transmission routes and a review of occupational health issues as well the description of Principal Investigators experience and scope of research. The IBC is directly linked into the University Employee Health Center and Health and Safety Services. The IBC meets once a month, allowing for timely review of the submitted NOU. Committee membership includes the County of Galveston Health Department Epidemiologist as a voting community member. CDC/HHS select biological agent users must have received Biological Safety Committee approval prior to CDC Select Agent Registration submission.

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). UTMB researchers planning the use of animals in their research are required to submit protocols for all studies to the IACUC and obtain its approval. The number of animals, purpose of experiments, animal procedures, and treatments must be approved before initiating research, in compliance with NIH regulations. Our Animal Resource Center is an AALAC-approved facility. The IACUC works in tandem with the Biological Safety Committee when animal studies involve infectious agents.

Chemical Safety Committee. Chemical hygiene and high risk chemical and select agent toxin issues are addressed by the UTMB Chemical Safety Committee. The Chemical Safety Committee is responsible for High Risk Chemical Safety Plan review and approval. The High Risk Plan includes a research project description, the written procedures for transport, surface decontamination, spill procedures, methods for disposal, methodology, transmission routes and a review of occupational health issues as well the description of Principal Investigator and staff experience and scope of research. The Committee is multidisciplinary with both faculty and non-faculty members. The Committee meets quarterly with additional meeting called on an as needed basis. CDC/HHS Select toxin users must have received Chemical Safety Committee approval prior to being added the CDC Select Agent Registration. In addition, the Chemical Safety Committee is assigned responsibility for faculty needing the use of the ECL facility.

The Chemical Safety Committee is responsible for the approval for space allocation in the Environmental Containment Laboratory. Principal Investigators must have prior project approval from the Biological Safety Committee, Radiation Safety Committee and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee before submitting an ECL application.

Select Agent Registration .   The University of Texas Medical Branch is a select agent registered entity with Health and Human services (HHS), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) National Select Agent Program.  The University has been inspected by HHS/CDC and USDA/APHIS National Select Agent Program for use of HHS Select Agents and Toxins, Overlap Select Agents and Toxins and USDA/APHIS Select agents and Toxins.  Per the requirements of Title 42 CFR Part 73 the certificate of registration was issued October 19, 2004 for use of select agents at BioSafety Levels 2, 3, and 4 and Animal BioSafety Level 3 and 4.  The University has been registered with the HHS/CDC a select agent facility since 1997.

The proximity of our state-of-the art BSL2, BSL3 and BSL4 laboratories, experimental animal facilities, histopathology core and support personnel allow close collaboration and consultation among the various scientists and support personnel involved in the project. This combination is unique among U.S. universities.

Emergency Response . Environmental Health and Safety maintains a trained team of HAZWOPER trained emergency response staff. Laboratories need only contact the team by phone to receive step-by-step information for small spill situations or activate the response team for in laboratory clean up. Each laboratory worker receives information on appropriate spill procedures during their initial new-hire, Basic Radiation Safety in the Laboratory and Laboratory Safety Orientation and updates during periodic refreshers. Environmental Health and Safety, biological, chemical and radioactive materials emergency response is available seven days a week 24 hours a day. Laboratory procedures for emergency response are reviewed during Laboratory Safety Orientation, Laboratory Safety Refresher and BSL3 training programs.

Procedures for accidental spills of an infectious agent are provided in the SOP manuals for the BSL3 laboratory, the Animal BSL3 laboratory, the BSL4 laboratory and the Environmental Containment Laboratory. The facility director, principal investigator and the safety office are notified immediately that an exposure/spill has occurred. The facility/laboratory is closed as appropriate upon notification. Decontamination procedures are initiated under the direction of Environmental Health and Safety and the facility director.

Hazard Communication. The University has implemented the State of Texas Hazard Communication Act, Revised 1999 (HCA). Every new employee is provided initial general training through the Human Resources Department immediately upon employment. Employees receive chemical-specific training from the designated HCA trainer in the work area. The HCA trainer, after completing the HCA documentation, forwards the form to Health and Safety Services – Biological & Chemical Safety Program (HSS-B&C) for review. The document is then forwarded to Human Resources for inclusion in the permanent employee record. Department / laboratory HCA trainers attend HCA trainer courses that provide information on requirements under the law, as well as sharing techniques for providing the training.

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are procured by contacting the manufacturer or HSS-B&C. MSDSs are maintained as hard copies, on CD-ROM and available via the UTMB Internet Home Page. Laboratories are also able to access MSDS on line. UTMB also has developed a campus-wide labeling policy to ensure labeling of all hazardous chemical substances.

Occupational Medicine and Employee Health. Routine medical monitoring/occupational health programs fall under the auspices of the Employee Health Center. These services are provided upon request from the department to the Employee Health Center medical director. For example, routine surveillance for Tuberculosis and Hepatitis B immunizations is coordinated through the Employee Health Center. These services are available free to employees under the University immunization policies. Investigational vaccines are made available to employees for specific research projects.

Procedures for accidental exposure to an infectious agent are provided in the SOP manuals for the BSL3 laboratory, the Animal BSL3 laboratory, the BSL4 and the Environmental Containment Laboratory. Notification is made to the principal investigator, facility director and the safety office. During working hours the Employee Health Center is contacted; after hours, the employee is referred to the UTMB Trauma Center, Infectious Disease physician.

Training. Additional training opportunities include Lab Safety Orientation, a 3-hour course covering laboratory safety issues in detail. Lab Safety Refresher is required every two years. EH&S staff are also available to develop and conduct topic specific training, as needed. Biosafety Level 3 users meet with Environmental Health and Safety before being allowed access to the BSL3 laboratory for initial BSL3 training. Users are referred to the Director of the BSL3 facility to complete initial check off to prepare for entry procedures. Likewise, BSL4 training is handled by the Director of Biosafety and Containment Facilities and by the Director of BSL4 Operations in accordance with standard operating procedures. First time users are mentored during an initial training period then allowed limited key card access to the facility. Once training has been completed, 24 hour, 7-day-a-week access is granted. Blood-borne pathogen training is conducted during initial employee orientation by UTMB Healthcare Epidemiology personnel and updated periodically. Radiation Safety training is provided by the Radiation Safety Program. Basic Radiation Safety in the Laboratory and Authorized User training programs and refreshers are provided to radioactive material users.

Disposal of Hazardous Materials. Hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials are disposed and/or recycled by the Chemical and Radioactive Material Pickup Program administered through Environmental Health and Safety, Environmental Protection Program. Chemicals are evaluated for potential recycling, reuse or final disposal. The University contracts with outside contractors for ultimate disposal of chemical and radioactive wastes. Biohazardous waste is placed into red-bag-lined, single use biohazard boxes. The boxes are transported to the campus services building and are incinerated on site. The University owns and maintains a licensed medical waste incinerator, which is operated by EnviroClean Inc. All disposable materials leaving the BSL3 and BSL4 facilities are autoclaved, then placed in a biohazard container for incineration; non-disposable items are either autoclaved or chemically disinfected, then sent out for final processing. Sharps containers are used to dispose of needles, capillary tubes, glass Pasteur pipettes and glass slides as required by the State of Texas Municipal Solid Waste Regulations for Healthcare Facilities.

Certification of Biological Safety Cabinets and Chemical Fume Hoods. In order to maintain NIH/CDC requirements for certification of biological safety cabinets, the University has implemented a campus wide certification program. The program is administered through Environmental Health and Safety, Biological and Chemical Safety. An outside contractor under the direction of Biological and Chemical Safety provides BioSafety Cabinet certification. Each cabinet receives an annual certification at no charge to the research laboratory. A trained representative of Environmental Health and Safety, Biological and Chemical Safety Program certifies chemical fume hoods. Each cabinet receives an annual certification with no charge to the laboratory.

Safety Manuals and Standard Operating ProceduresUTMB Safety Manual. Environmental Health and Safety developed the UTMB Safety Manual, which contains the safety-related policies and procedures for the UTMB campus. The manual is available on line at http://www.utmb.edu/poem/B&C/sm2002.htm.

The Environmental Containment Laboratory Manual. The ECL manual provides the safety procedures and protocols for the Environmental Containment Laboratory.

Biosafety Level 3 Manuals. The BSL3 Manual prescribes safety procedures and protocols for the in vitro BSL3 laboratory and the BSL3 insectary. The manual provides information such as entry procedures, spills, personal protective equipment, and transportation of material and disinfectants. The ABSL3 Manual provides animal care and use standard operating procedures. The manual includes animal husbandry procedures, autoclaving chart and immunization information. The ABSL3 SOP supplement addresses the research component as it corresponds to animal safety and use issues with BSL3 agents. Transport of infectious material between the BSL3 and ABSL3 laboratories is outlined.

The Robert E. Shope, M.D. Laboratory (BioSafety Level 4) Manual. The BSL4 Manual describes safety procedures and protocols for the Shope BSL4 laboratory, and includes standard operating procedures for handling animals in the BSL4 facility. The manual provides information such as entry procedures, spills, personal protective equipment, transportation of material and disinfectants, and exit procedures.

The Hepatitis C Research Center (HCRC), directed by Dr. Stanley M. Lemon, focuses on further delineating the viral and host factors that determine whether acute HCV infection is controlled by the host immune response, or progresses to long-term viral persistence, thus setting the stage for progressive hepatic fibrosis and the development of liver cancer. The research is translational in nature, addressing these issues through studies ranging from the identification and characterization of sub-cellular molecular interactions between viral and cellular proteins, to clinical studies involving the prospective collection of specimens from persons undergoing acute HCV infection. A secondary focus is on the development of improved animal models and cell culture systems that will facilitate this research.

Primary funding for the HCRC is through a cooperative agreement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the HCRC, UTMB researchers work with a multidisciplinary coalition to examine the acute and chronic infection caused by HCV. The Center's $5-million, 5-year cooperative agreement has allowed the development of strong collaborative ties with researchers from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio (SFBR), The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). Dr. Lemon's UTMB research group focuses on HCV's replicative mechanisms to develop cell lines that are more permissive for viral replication and production of infectious virus particles. At SFBR, researchers examine HCV in animal species that are susceptible to the disease and are delineating the ways in which the disease mimics the course of the infection in humans. At JHU, a cohort of drug users is being followed for development of HCV infection, thereby providing the HCRC with a clinical core, and UTSW researchers are examining the role of innate intracellular immune defenses in regulating HCV replication, and studying the mode of viral persistence.

In addition, the Center has a strong core of UTMB-based members examining HCV through individual grants. This coordinated effort consists of research projects with distinct but interactive and interrelated major research aims that have contributed substantially to the development of cell-based systems for HCV RNA replication, the development and characterization of animal models of hepatitis C and current understanding of hepatitis C pathogenesis and immune responses as reflected in HCV-host interactions at the molecular, cellular and whole animal level. As part of these research efforts, the center is screening, through a major, 7-year contract from the NIH, nearly 4,000 antiviral compounds to determine which have activity against HCV via a cell culture system developed by HCRC's scientists.

(short version)The Sealy Center for Structural Biology (SCSB), established in 1995 provides state of the art resources for structural and functional studies of biological macromolecules. The faculty of the SCSB apply and develop x-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, solution thermodynamics and computational methods to elucidate the biological functions of constituent molecules of the human cell through knowledge of their three-dimensional structures and the chemical ground rules which govern their mutual interactions. The research at the SCSB is focused on the studies of chemistry of molecular recognition, signal transduction, allosteric regulation, protein folding and drug design. Thermodynamic and kinetic data complement the structural view and understanding of these biological processes. The SCSB is the primary center that supports the interdisciplinary physical, structural and computational biology graduate program which educates graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and UTMB informal courses and workshops on using these quantitative biophysical approaches to solve important biological problems. The SCSB supports interdisciplinary core facilities and NMR spectroscopy and imaging, x-ray crystallography and membrane proteins.

(long version)Sealy Center for Structural Biology, established in 1995, provides state-of-the-art resources for structural studies of biological macromolecules. The 20 Core Members of the of the Center, along with the five Senior Scientists who manage the Research Cores,  apply and develop X-ray crystallographic, nuclear magnetic resonance, solution thermodynamics, cryo-electron microscopic and computational methods to explain the biological function of constituent molecules of the human cell through knowledge of their three-dimensional structures and their mutual interactions. The research at the SCSB, besides improving current techniques to determine high resolution structures of biomolecules, is focused on studies of the chemistry of molecular recognition, signal transduction, allosteric regulation, protein folding and drug design. Thermodynamic and kinetic data complement the structural view in understanding these biological processes. The SCSB educates graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and UTMB faculty in formal courses and workshops on using NMR,

CryoEM and X-ray techniques and molecular modeling tools. Initial funds for creation of the Center included a $2.5M grant from the Sealy and Smith Foundation, a $2M construction grant from NIH and a $1M grant from the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust (one of six awards in the country at the time). More recently funding has been obtained from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and W.M. Keck Foundation. As recently described by the reviewing panel in an NIH training grant application, UTMB has a “world class” structural biology facility. It is the first such integrated structural biology center in Texas.

NMR Spectroscopy and MRI.  The NMR, computer and graphics Center facilities of the Sealy Center for Structural Biology are located in a dedicated two-story Dockside building on the UTMB campus, with additional space provided in the Hall Magnetic Resonance Center, with a combined area of over 9,000 square feet. Varian Inova 750 and 600 and Unity Plus 400 MHz NMR spectrometers with three-channel operation and pulsed field gradients are available (four channels on the 750).  Each instrument also has five mm triple resonance, pulsed field gradient probes (1H, 15N and 13C; 1H/13C/31P is also available for the 600 MHz instrument). 2H decoupling, four-channel operation is available for the 750 MHz instrument. A Varian Inova 800 MHz NMR with a triple-resonance cryogenically cooled probe was installed in 2005.  A new cryo-probe was added to the 800 MHz NMR in the summer of 2006 as part of the Gulf Coast Consortia. Animal imaging is available on both 4.7 and 9.4 T MRI’s (the latter for microimaging to10 µm resolution).

BSL3/Advanced Cryoelectron Microscopy Imaging Keck Facility:  A new Electron Cryo-Microscopy (CryoEM) Center for Macromolecular Systems Imaging opened at UTMB in April 2006.  The Center has two electron cryo-microscopes available for general usage and a BSL3 containment laboratory that houses the W. M. Keck funded microscope. The microscopes are computer controlled, and the JEM 2200FS instrument has remote imaging capabilities and an electron energy filter. Both microscopes have film- and CCD-cameras as electron detectors. This high-resolution instrumentation, together with its BSL3 containment, makes our CryoEM Center a unique facility for macromolecular systems imaging. It is the only facility in the world for CryoEM studies under BSL3 containment.  The Center is expected to produce high-resolution structures of multi-subunit macromolecular complexes and cell organelles using single particle approach, structures of two-dimensional protein crystals, or other regular arrays of macromolecules. This includes imaging highly symmetric spherical virus particles. Unique 3D structures will be studied using cryo-electron tomography (cryoET), enabling researchers to visualize unique events (e.g. membrane fusion) or to study very flexible samples (e.g., flu viruses). In addition, asymmetric cellular organelles with unique 3D organization will be studied using this approach, although with lower resolution. CryoET could be used to bootstrap higher resolution studies of large assemblies without well-defined structural details (e.g. thick filaments from C. elegans, etc).  The Center  will collaborate with on- and off-campus researches interested in high-resolution studies (by EM standards, 4-9 A) of wild type infectious viruses, single particle reconstructions of protein molecules and nucleic acids, their complexes and/or cell organelles using regular CryoEM and CryoET.

Macromolecular Assembly and Biophysical Chemistry.  As our knowledge expands and new systems are investigated, it becomes clear that elucidating precise biochemical regulatory mechanisms requires detailed understanding of the chemistry of macromolecular assembly processes. For example, the regulation of gene expression involves an intricate network of protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions. A direct way of studying macromolecular assembly is to monitor the resulting changes in size and shape of the macromolecules. Among the transport methods sedimentation analysis using analytical ultracentrifigation is the technique of choice because of the sound fundamental principles on which the method is based, and because of its resolving power. The Macromolecular Assembly Facility includes a Beckman XL-A analytical ultracentrifuge. This instrument is backed up by another XL-A and two Model E ultracentrifuges in the laboratory of Dr. James Lee, professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Data processing software packages are available to allow researchers to define the physical parameters characterizing the assembly process.  A new Johnson & Johnson ThermoFluor unit will be installed as part of a Biological Stabilization Resource (BSR) in the fall of 2006.  The ThermoFluor measures protein stability as a function of temperature  by “monitoring changes in the fluorescent intensity of an environmentally sensate dye that is highly quenched in aqueous environments but increases in fluorescence on binding to the hydrophobic core of nonnative proteins, thus giving a fluorescent readout of protein stability as the temperature is increased.”  In addition, the ThermoFluor allows rapid triage of screening hits by use of its concentration-response curves, which allows ranking of inhibitors based on their affinity, as well as initial classification of inhibitory mechanisms.

X-ray Crystallography.  The SCSB X-ray Crystallography Core resources currently consist of two X-ray area detector systems, each with a high brilliancy Cu rotating anode X-ray generator and mirror optics. The first area detector is a Mac Science DIP2030H-VLM dual 30 cm diameter Imaging Plate detector equipped with modern confocal gradient multilayer optics. This system is suitable for protein crystals of 30 to 400 Å cell dimensions, that diffract up to 1.3 Å resolution. The second detector is a Bruker SMART 2k CCD, equipped with Göbel mirror optics, that can reach up to 0.84 Å resolution.  For enhanced data quality we have available a choice of sample cooling systems. Each system is equipped with a CRYOLTD Liquid Nitrogen cold-gas sample freezing system for cryo-cooling of crystals. Normal operating temperature with the CRYO-LTD is 100 °K. At this temperature radiation and thermal induced decay of a crystal is virtually eliminated. A Cold Air refrigerated cooling system is available for samples which cannot be frozen, or do not require freezing. The Cold Air Refrigerator has an operating range from -5 °C to about 15 °C. The X-ray Core maintains a crystallographic computing facility with four SGI stereographics workstations, a 4CPU SGI O2000 server, plus three Linux workstations. Additionally UTMB is a member of the Gulf Coast Protein Crystallography Consortium, which operates a MAD capable protein crystallography beamline at the nearby CAMD/LSU synchrotron, with scheduled access to synchrotron beam time. With the support of the GCC for X-ray Crystallography beamline and local diffractometers, UTMB has a state of the art facility capable of determining the crystal structures of any macromolecule, including intact virus particles

Center for Biomedical Engineering. With significant funding from the NIH, NSF, DOD, NASA and industry, the Center for Biomedical Engineering (CBME), which is directed by Masood Motamedi, PhD, provides an effective organization for research and training. In a strong multi-disciplinary environment, the CBME combines engineering, imaging and computer sciences with molecular and cellular biology and clinical sciences in order to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches and to foster research in the rapidly growing discipline of Biomedical Engineering. To accomplish its mission, the Center has developed state-of-the-art core facilities that foster a broad range of multidisciplinary research with emphasis in biomedical imaging, laser and spectroscopy, optical sensing and monitoring, neuroengineering and sensing, biomedical applications of nanotechnology, confocal and multi-photon imaging, biomechanics, an artificial lung program, and molecular cytometry. Research projects within the Center involve collaboration with most of the clinical departments in the School of Medicine including Anesthesiology, Dermatology, ENT, Internal Medicine, Ophthalmology, Pathology, Radiology, Surgery, as well as the Departments of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, and Pharmacology and Toxicology. Much of the research in humans is carried out on the GCRC.

(alternate version)The Center for Biomedical Engineering (CBME) provides an effective organization for research and training in a strong multidisciplinary environment. The CBME was established in 1989 as one of the UTMB Centers of Excellence and part of the School of Medicine. The structure of the Center pairs biomedical engineers with clinicians and basic scientists to achieve common research goals and serves as an outstanding vehicle for the success of diverse research activities. Under the direction of Massoud Motamedi, a collaborator on Project 4 of the SPORE, investigators at CBME have ongoing, active collaborations with colleagues in the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Allied Health. The CBME’s mission is to improve the quality of health care delivery through the advancement of bioengineering and biotechnology. This goal is achieved by: 1) developing cooperative research and teaching relationships between UTMB medical faculty and bioengineers at UTMB and other Texas universities; 2) providing graduate and postdoctoral students with a means to conduct their research endeavors alongside experienced physicians, scientists and biomedical engineers; 3) establishing strategic alliances with industry partners to enable access to advanced technology and facilitate the process of technology transfer; and 4) attracting funding for research and training from diverse organizations.

Center for Addiction Research. The Center for Addiction Research (CAR) functions as a multidisciplinary research center and provides the academic focus for scholarly investigation, education, and clinical care activities related to the etiology, prevention and treatment of substance abuse. The overall mission of the CAR is to promote, stimulate and support discovery and translational research in the etiology and pathophysiology of addictive processes in order to design targeted ways to prevent, diagnose and treat this disorder. The center brings to bear cutting edge technologies in molecular biology, biochemistry, behavior, pharmacology, genetics,

proteomics, bioengineering and drug design to discover novel approaches to diagnose, cure or alleviate addiction and its medical complications.

(Short version)Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology. The overall mission and predominant focus for the Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology is to promote original scientific research in the molecular and cellular biology of cancer on the UTMB campus and to facilitate translation of novel research findings into clinical applications for the improved treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A broader mission is to coalesce all ongoing efforts in cancer research, clinical care, education, and prevention into a larger cancer center effort with multidisciplinary, multi-departmental and multi-institutional components to provide the most up-to-date and compassionate care for the cancer patient.

UTMB Cancer Programs Brief History of Cancer Programs at UTMB. UTMB has a long-standing commitment to cancer research, education and patient care. In June of 1975, after a two year planning effort which was supported by a National Cancer Institute (NCI) planning grant, UTMB was awarded a Cancer Center Support Grant for support and coordination of a campus-wide cancer program. This effort was continuously funded by the NCI Cancer Center Program through May of 1988. In 1978, Dr. William Levin, UTMB President, invited the Cancer Center, as a free-standing program, to submit a budget proposal as a line item for direct bi-annual support from the State of Texas. The State Legislature approved the proposal, and State funding for the Educational Cancer Center began September 1, 1979. In addition to providing support for the Cancer Education Program, the Educational Cancer Center funds and operates the following research shared resources for support of cancer research at UTMB: the Nude Mouse Facility and the Transgenic Mouse Facility.

Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology. In the early 1990s, UTMB recognized that a center of research excellence which would focus on oncologic diseases would be the most efficient way of achieving successful curative therapeutic and/or preventative outcomes. To facilitate the development of such a center, UTMB created and underwrote the development of the Sealy Center for Oncology and Hematology. Dr. W. Stratford May was recruited February 1, 1995 as the Director of this newly created center. The Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology was the successor of the Sealy Center for Oncology and Hematology and was established in 1999 with the two-fold mission to promote original scientific research in the molecular and cellular biology of cancer and facilitate translation of novel research findings into clinical applications for the improved treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. Dr. Mark Evers was named Director of the center in October of 2002 and with the support of the administration at UTMB, cancer-related activities devoted to clinical care and research has expanded with the overall goal of supporting the development of a campus-wide NCI-funded cancer program.

Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2005, UTMB established a comprehensive cancer center which includes the Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology, the Educational Cancer Center and the clinical enterprise. The mission of the comprehensive cancer center is to coalesce all ongoing efforts in cancer research, clinical care, education, and prevention into a larger cancer center effort with multidisciplinary, multi-departmental and multi-institutional components to provide the most up-to-date and compassionate care for our cancer patients. The overall goals of the comprehensive cancer center are to:

Develop and support a strong multidisciplinary approach to coordinate and integrate all cancer efforts Foster the development of new and novel curative strategies for patients with cancer through

translational research Obtain NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center Status

Cancer-related research and activities on campus have been coalesced under the auspices of the Cancer Center. Currently there are 88 members, associate members and general members of the Cancer Center representing multiple departments and disciplines who are actively engaged in basic science, clinical or health disparities research related to oncology. Total current funding for cancer related activities at UTMB include over $8 million from the NCI, over $2.6 million from other NIH agencies and nearly $1 million from other foundations and organizations, such as the American Cancer Society and Department of Defense, for a total of $11.6 million directly related to cancer research. We believe that the multidisciplinary approach to the research and the multiple consortiums that have been established with other Texas Medical Schools provide a

tremendous incubator for the translation of basic research discoveries to the bedside.

Oncology Clinical Trials Office (OCTO). In December 2005, the Oncology Clinical Trials Office was approved by University leadership headed by Valerie Parisi, MD, Dean of the School of Medicine, and Karen Sexton, PhD, CEO for UTMB hospitals. The School of Medicine and hospital have agreed to allocate over $1.3 million to fund OCTO. Before this, all oncology-related clinical trials (NCI-sponsored, cooperative group, industry sponsored) were managed separately where the PI was based (Division of Hematology/Oncology or the Departments of Gynecology/Oncology, Pediatrics, Radiation Oncology and Surgery).

OCTO is headed by Dr. Avi Markowitz, Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and a co-Investigator on Project 3 of this SPORE proposal. Under Dr. Markowitz’s leadership, OCTO will provide the infrastructure to allow for cross-coverage of prior departmentally focused nursing staff, Spanish translation of patient consent forms, support for several cooperative group trials, a reduction in losses from pharmaceutical supplies and transportation costs to bring poor patients to UTMB who cannot afford a way to travel here. The goals of OCTO are to:

Provide service excellence to our patients, faculty, staff and outside entities with whom we interact Provide culturally-fluent patient care Enhance and facilitate future clinical trials Increase patient accrual and satisfaction while decreasing overall costs and increasing revenue

The centralized OCTO is one step that UTMB, specifically the comprehensive cancer center, is taking to provide for future translational studies for our cancer patients. OCTO will facilitate taking the discoveries made at the bench to the beds of our patients. For our SPORE proposal, OCTO will play a key role in ensuring the translational research focus of all four projects so that each uses knowledge of human biology to develop and test the feasibility of cancer-relevant interventions in humans and/or determines the biological basis for observations made in individuals with cancer or in populations at risk for cancer.

Programs in Cancer Prevention and Education. Cancer Teaching and Curriculum Enhancement in Undergraduate Medicine (CATCHUM). Directed by Billy Philips, PhD, the CATCHUM Project was created in response to the serious lack of preparation among Texas medical schools evidenced by facts such as these about cancer:

The leading cause of death in the United States In Texas, estimates call for 85,570 new cancer diagnoses and 34,530 deaths from the disease in 2006 The national overall cost for cancer is over $100 billion annually Breast, lung and prostate cancers account for more than half the $37 billion spent for direct

medical costs Preventive interventions and early detection of cancer can improve outcomes dramatically

Opportunities for prevention and screening are greatly underused in physicians' offices Advising patients to change their health-related behaviors is not enough Medical schools fail to adequately prepare future physicians to become effective agents in

cancer prevention and control

On January 1, 1990, UTMB received a contract from the Texas Cancer Council to identify ways that medical schools in Texas and the Texas Cancer Council might collaborate to achieve the goals of the Texas Cancer Plan. Bringing together the deans of these schools was the starting point.

The Goal of the CATCHUM Project is to promote and advance cancer prevention and control education for undergraduate medical students in Texas. This consortium of the eight Texas Medical Schools is dedicated to developing, implementing and evaluating state-of-the-science education to ensure that every medical student in Texas has an opportunity to become an effective agent for cancer prevention and control. The ultimate purpose of CATCHUM is to reduce the burden of cancer on Texans by preparing those in training to become physicians:

To reduce risk and alter susceptibility for developing cancer in themselves, their communities and their practices To detect, diagnose and treat cancer earlier when cure is more likely

To improve the accessibility, availability and quality of cancer resources, services and programs

To advance the control of cancer through development and application of new prevention, detection, diagnostic and therapeutic methods and techniques in appropriate arenas of action

The most profound outcome of CATCHUM has been the project's catalytic stimulus for self-critical examinations of the cancer curriculum at each school. This scrutiny has led to curricular change and innovation. Levels of involvement, interest and collaboration among deans, department chairs, curriculum committee members and key faculty have risen clearly. Curricular content on cancer prevention and control has been enhanced at a faster rate than would otherwise have occurred. Problem-based learning activities using standardized patient problems are being planned. The pool of key faculty is growing as new members are added and trained annually in faculty development workshops. Evidence shows that students are performing better on the United States Medical Licenser Examination and on clinical evaluation exercises that test knowledge and skills of cancer screening and detection. Finally, initiatives that address unique educational issues pertaining to cancer prevention and control at each school are taking shape.

The CATCHUM Project has spilled over to affect teaching strategies in other disciplines as well as in cancer prevention and control. For example, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, the CATCHUM Project was among various factors that led to a major curriculum review. Aiming to develop an integrated curriculum based on the interrelationships among the basic and clinical sciences, the reviewers identified core curriculum components, determined the sequence and relationship of the se components, developed content outlines of integrated components, selected instructional methods to achieve mastery of the curricular content, and determined types, levels and skills of the clinical and basic science faculty required.

The Cancer Nutrition Network for Texans (CNNT) Project is a statewide initiative, funded by the Texas Cancer Council, dedicated to helping meet the nutritional support needs of cancer patients and their principal caregivers. The Director for CNNT is Billy Philips, PhD. The CNNT Project aims to provide consistent, scientifically grounded, well-documented information on nutritional support. The hope is that such information will help cancer patients, caregivers, family members and health care professionals obtain the best nutritional support during their cancer experience, especially in symptom control and nutrient replacement. From conducting 14 focus groups across the state of Texas, the CNNT Project gained first-hand information on cancer nutrition needs from cancer patients in active treatment and their primary caregivers. The information provided to CNNT during these focus groups has been our guiding force in which the medically trained Education and Science Councils use to developing our website, patient education materials and monthly newsletters.

(short version)The Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine (SCMM) is a newly transformed interdisciplinary research center at UTMB directed by Allan R Brasier, MD. SCMM scientists are over 20 leading investigators in Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Internal Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, Pediatrics, Neuroscience & Cell Biology. SCMM is a focal interface between clinical and basic scientists, addressing UTMB’s strategic plan for personalized medicine. Primary pursuits of the SCMM include the discovery and translation of the basic principles governing the signal transduction and the cellular stress response in airway inflammation, diabetes and aging. In addition, the SCMM is part of the newly formed Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), focusing on developing technologies for biomarker identification and molecular systems approaches for developing individualized treatments for human diseases.

(long version)The Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine (SCMM) is a newly transformed interdisciplinary research center at UTMB directed by Allan R Brasier, MD. SCMM scientists are over 20 leading investigators in Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Internal Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, Pediatrics, Neuroscience & Cell Biology. SCMM is a focal interface between clinical and basic scientists, addressing UTMB’s strategic plan for personalized medicine. Primary pursuits of SCMM scientists include discovery and translation of the basic principles governing the signal transduction and the cellular stress response in airway inflammation, diabetes and aging. In addition, the SCMM is part of the new Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), focusing on developing technologies for biomarker identification and molecular systems approaches for developing individualized treatments for human diseases.

A number of core technologies are part of the SCMM. The Molecular Genomics Core, under the direction of Dr. Thomas Wood, provides cutting-edge technologies in functional genomics, currently performing all aspects of Affymetrix gene chips including sample labeling, hybridization, scanning and quantitation. The Molecular Genomics Core offers custom and pre-optimized TaqMan and SYBR Green real-time assays supporting aspects from assay design to data analysis for gene expression profiling (microarray study validation), copy number determination, siRNA knockdown validation, Allelic discrimination and SNP genotyping. Currently, aptamer screening capabilities are being developed.

The Recombinant DNA Laboratory, provides state-of-the-art reagents and technical support in the areas of recombinant DNA technology. Available services include plasmid DNA production, phage DNA purification (lambda and M13), competent cell preparation, transformation and screening, isolation of eukaryotic RNA and DNA, DNA sequencing, genomic and cDNA library construction, polymerase chain reaction technologies, vector/plasmid construction, bacterial expression and various types of mutagenesis (deletion, replacement or site-directed).

The SCMM leadership also directs the NHLBI Proteomics Center, a seven-year, $14.9 million contract to develop innovative technologies to globally analyze proteins involved in airway inflammation. This center involves 19 different researchers split into seven teams, four focusing on technology and three on biology. New developments in 2DE, high-performance liquid chromatography, MS, proteomics arrays, and affinity isolation of protein complexes are among the technologies being refined. To more rapidly transfer new technologies into research, the proteomics center serves as an academic interface with private industry, and has established collaborations with Nonlinear Dynamics, Genome Solutions, Ciphergen, GenoLogics, Ingenuity and AptaMed, all companies with specific areas of expertise.

The Bioinformatics Program (B. Luxon, Director) has built a high-performance intranet designed for large-scale data management, analysis, and visualization. This allows UTMB research groups to store and mine vast amounts of microarray data easily and efficiently on high-performance Unix servers from their lab and desktop PCs. High-performance servers and workstations are fully integrated over a gigabit local area network. The Bioinformatics Program purchased an unlimited site license for Spotfire’s DecisionSite® software, a premium web-based microarray analysis and data-mining suite. Spotfire allows graphical, 2- and 3-D visualization of microarray data, statistical analysis, and a suite of data query devices for various cluster analyses that can be performed in a researcher’s own lab. In addition, site licenses for Ingenuity Pathways Analysis have recently been obtained. The UTMB Bioinformatics Program is a charter member of the Gulf Coast Consortium on Bioinformatics (GCCB), which also includes Rice University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Houston, the UT Houston Health Science Center, and Baylor College of Medicine. This provides access to state-of-the-art collaborations across the health, mathematics, and computer science fields.

Stark Diabetes Center was established with a $1.5 million grant from the Stark Foundation of Orange, TX, in September 2001. The grant was renewed in 2004 for another three years. The primary purpose of the Center is to facilitate diabetes care throughout Texas. The Center is founded on the four principles of our academic medical center; patient care, research, education, and community. The mission of clinical care is served by the Stark Diabetes Clinic located in the Primary Care Pavilion at UTMB. This is a multidisciplinary clinic for the treatment of patients with diabetes. Patients who come to the clinic can be seen by an endocrinologist, an ophthalmologist, a cardiologist, and an orthopedist. Other services include Point of Care testing for HbA1c, urine for microalbumin, and cholesterol, and wound care. The missions of education and community outreach are achieved with an ADA-certified diabetes education program and a highly developed telehealth program. Semi-monthly education lectures are provided, via telehealth links using T1 line technology, to more than 1,000 health care providers throughout Texas for continuing medical education credits. Patient education classes are also offered, in English and Spanish, through the use of telehealth technology. A diabetes education program for hospitalized patients is being developed through the School of Nursing, and the Stark Diabetes Center is working with the School of Allied Health Sciences to help train clinical technologists in the management of the Point of Care laboratory in the Stark Diabetes Clinic. Stark Center staff is also working in local school districts to train employees on diabetes management. The mission of research is being achieved through basic and clinical science projects being conducted by numerous Investigators on campus.

Center for Population Health and Health Disparities (CPHHD). This center was funded by the National Cancer Institute in 2003 for $9.3 million over five years. The theme of the center is health disparities, both positive and negative, in Hispanic communities. It has three major projects, two cores, and four pilot projects, each year. Project 1 explores the influence of community context (percent of census tract that is Hispanic, percent households below poverty level) and cancer incidences and mortality using several available data sets. In addition, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey is employed to examine the association of the community context (tract percent Hispanic, percent poverty) and social support with health behaviors relevant to cancer and physiologic measures. Project 2 proposes a community survey of Mexican Americans living near a large petrochemical complex. The aim is to examine associations among neighborhood context, perceived risk from the hazard, coping, stress, and health outcomes over time. Project 3 conducts community-based participatory research to test interventions to reduce cancer risks in Mexican Americans and uses knowledge obtained from Projects 1 and 2 to expand those interventions. The Administrative Core provides overall direction and administrative support and coordination of all components. The Survey, Data Management and Statistical Analysis Core conducts surveys for Projects 2 and 3 and provides analytical support to all investigators. The CPHHD has no funds for training stipends, but does have pilot research funds to support projects by trainees and junior faculty.

East Texas Area Health Education Center (AHEC). The East Texas Area Health Education Center was established at UTMB in 1991 to connect students to careers, professionals to communities, and communities to better health. This program improves access to healthcare by fostering an appropriate health workforce and effective community health strategies. AHEC provides health workforce development activities including health careers promotion and preparation; placement of health professions students in communities for real world experiences; and supports the recruitment and retention of health professionals in community settings, especially underserved communities. Through a variety of strategies, AHEC helps improve the health of communities through support for the community health system and fostering community health literacy. AHEC strategies promote good health in East Texas communities through preventive medicine, community health, disease prevention, and health promotion activities, as well as efforts to maximize local health care resources. Many of its activities were developed in response to community identified needs. AHEC serves 111 counties of east Texas through nine community-based regional centers. Partners include local colleges and universities, health related organizations, community hospitals, and governmental agencies that support each of these nine regional centers. The program facilitates community evaluation, discussion and decision-making processes that address issues pertaining to access to primary health care. Each year, the East Texas AHEC attracts >34,000 under-represented and disadvantaged individuals to health career promotions and prepares >4,000 individuals for entry into health profession education programs. This program maintains >600 regional community-based training sites and, every year, facilitates the placement of >900 health professions students in those training sites throughout UTMB’s service area. AHEC also establishes and supports programs that recruit and retain health professionals for underserved populations and, to date, has identified 788 health professionals who have been added to underserved regions.

(short version)Animal Resources Center (ARC). UTMB’s Animal Resources Center (ARC) encompasses 89,694 sq. ft in nine facilities across campus and is AAALAC (Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International) accredited. The ARC follows all standards for AAALAC and international IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) compliance and is staffed by full-time veterinarians and staff overseeing all program aspects. Some 22,000 additional square feet of animal space are being added in 2007 for a rodent barrier and for large animal holding. Investigational Drug Service. This service was established to specifically support clinical research. Staffing includes a Coordinator, a Clinical Research Pharmacist, and a Clinical Research Technologist. Services provided by the service include receipt and storage; drug preparation; dispensing; collection of unused articles; maintenance of inventory; randomization and patient counseling. The Investigational Drug Service is also able to produce placebo medications. The Investigational Drug Service has managed over 100 studies, and has successfully worked with NCI, FDA, NIH and numerous pharmaceutical companies.

Office of Community Outreach (OCO). The Office of Community Outreach is designed to improve the health status of Texans through integrating programs in community development, enhancing community partnerships, continuing education, educational outreach and knowledge management with existing health care services at

UTMB. OCO brings together established programs such as the Area Health Education Centers, the Summer Undergraduate Research Program, the Work-School Program, and the Center for Telehealth and Distance Education to foster a high-caliber health care workforce, establish successful working relationships with for-profit and not for-profit partners to enhance outreach efforts and apply technology to improve access to quality health care.

Galveston and Eastern Texas Galveston’s economy has grown tremendously in the past few years and promises to set new records for 2005-2006. According to the Galveston Economic Development Partnership’s Construction Update, more than $1.7 billion in new investment is currently underway or planned for Galveston Island. This growth includes a diversity of industries including healthcare, life sciences/biotechnology, tourism/hospitality, offshore oil, maritime, services, retail, education, and government. More than 1,000 jobs will be added to the economy in the coming year and more than 3,800 new residential units will be added to the housing stock.

UTMB is the county’s largest employer and is in the process of investing over $300 million into campus facilities, including the Galveston National Laboratory (described elsewhere) which is one of two national biocontainment laboratories awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease/National Institute of Health. In tandem with the increase of life science research at UTMB, the number of local biotechnology companies continues to grow (>15 in a recent count).

The Bay Area Houston encompasses much of the territory between Houston and Galveston, and includes Friendswood, Houston, Kemah, LaPorte, League City, Nassau Bay, Pasadena, Seabrook, and Webster. The regional economy is flourishing, as new businesses based in the aerospace, health care and tourism industries continue to add growth and diversity to the region’s commercial sector. Projections show 7-10% annual growth in the region’s population, accompanied by the same projected growth in industrial sales and new home constructions. As a result, household income is projected to grow by 13.3% over the next five years.

The City of Texas City is located in central Galveston. Like Galveston and the Bay Area, Texas City is growing, with recent energy industry projects initiated by British Petroleum, Valero and Marathon Petroleum. More than 2500 new homes are in progress or planned in the next several years. The Port of Texas City, in operation for more than 100 years, is the third largest port in Texas and the largest privately owned port in the nation. The population of Texas City is 27.5% black and 20.5% Hispanic.

The economy and community in Galveston and surrounding areas are vibrant and growing. UTMB will continue to play an important role in the success and prosperity of the region.