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Houston Methodist Academic Institute
NEWSLETTER
Week of January 4, 2021
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The Center for Nursing Research, Education and Practice Joins Houston Methodist Academic Institute
CNREP nurse residency
The Center for Nursing Research, Education and Practice, the educational program responsible for training Houston Methodist’s RNs, became an official department within the Houston Methodist Academic Institute at the end of 2020. In addition to its longstanding role of educating nurses for clinical service and offering opportunities for research, CNREP is expanding its research activities. In 2020, the center created a nursing scientist position that serves as a research consultant for nurses across all Houston Methodist hospitals.
In the future, CNREP aims to add more staff to its research arm and increase its research productivity. It also encourages nurses with advanced degrees to apply for faculty appointments within the Academic Institute, which increases the visibility of the organization’s wide range of nursing expertise and talent. In 2021, the CNREP will host its first conference, “Back to Science Symposium,” to be held online Feb. 26. Find details here.
Announcements
Houston Methodist COVID-19 vaccine
First COVID-19 Vaccine Administered
The first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine arrived at Houston Methodist on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2021. The excitement was palpable as administration of the vaccine began that afternoon. The first Houston Methodist employee to receive the vaccine was Ashley Drews, MD, Houston Methodist medical director of infection prevention and control (first on left). To date, Houston Methodist has vaccinated more than 21,000 people. Watch this video about the vaccine arriving at Houston Methodist.
New Workshop Series Offered for Faculty Career Development
The faculty development team is offering a new Career Development series of workshops for faculty. Led by Dorothy Lewis, PhD, faculty development program director, each 90-minute workshops will be offered biannually, on Tuesdays in January and August. The format includes an online lecture combined with larger discussion opportunities and small working groups, with registration limited to 20 participants. Find details and registration at the links below:
Research Management Workshop - January 12
Biosketch & CV Development Workshop - January 19
Individual Development Plan Workshop - January 26
Faculty career development workshop series
Reminder for Managers
Houston Methodist Academic Institute Human Resources is reminding managers that the process is underway for management focal point review. Please note that the annual in-services were due on Jan. 4 and the evaluations are due Jan. 7.
COVID-19 Resources
Houston Methodist provides a variety of tools to facilitate collaborative research projects related to coronavirus. The following resources are available at www.tmh.tmc.edu/tmhri/acma.html
    • Elsevier Coronavirus Research Hub
    • Curated COVID-19 Funding Opportunities
    • National Institutes of Health Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources
    • PURE Coronavirus Portal for Research Collaboration
Read about our COVID-19 research on the Methodology COVID-19 News page.
Accolades
Pauline Todd, MBA, RN, has been promoted to System Director. Throughout the uncharted territory of the pandemic, she worked with new investigators, new sponsors, new sites and amalgamations of new teams to help Houston Methodist provide the nation's best COVID-19 clinical trial response. In her new role, Todd will maintain her oversight of the Academic Office of Clinical Trials, the Cockrell Center for Advanced Therapeutics, the new Reynolds Outpatient Clinical Research Center (located in Smith Tower), Pearland clinical trial operations, primary care group clinical trial strategy, and oversight for community hospital clinical trial business development. Additionally, Todd will oversee the Clinical Trial Management System (moving to OnCore in 2021), Quality Assurance Program, education and proficiency standards for clinical research staff, and “dotted line” oversight of all clinical trial managers.
In the Media
Marc Boom, MD, FACHE, president and CEO and Ella Fondren and Josie Roberts Presidential Distinguished Centennial Chair, was quoted in a Dec. 16 Houston Chronicle front page article about the first COVID-19 vaccines being distributed to Houston hospitals. His quote was used in the headline when he described the vaccine as the “the best gift of the year…because it is the beginning of the end of this terrible pandemic.”
James M. Musser, MD, PhD, Fondren Presidential Distinguished Chair, chair and professor, Department of Pathology & Genomic Medicine, and director, Center for Molecular & Translational Human Infectious Diseases Research, was interviewed for a Dec. 22 Washington Post article about the mutant virus first reported in the United Kingdom, where millions of people were in lockdown for the holidays. Musser stated that Houston Methodist is well-positioned to study virus mutations, having already sequenced 15,000 genomes with data collection daily. Musser also was interviewed for a Dec. 21 KVUE Austin (ABC-TV) coverage about the mutant virus. He discussed his team’s genome sequencing studies and the critical importance of collecting biological data to better understand the coronavirus as it evolves.
Ashley Drews, MD, Houston Methodist medical director of infection prevention and control and assistant professor of clinical medicine, Department of Medicine, was the hospital’s first employee to get the newly arrived COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 15, but the big moment came an hour later when the Houston area’s top two elected officials popped in. Read the City of Houston Mayor’s Office press announcement here.
Howard J. Huang, MD, medical director, lung transplant program, was interviewed for a Dec. 17 KTRK-Channel 13 update on the Houston Methodist clinical trial of bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody cocktail to treat COVID-19 for pre-hospitalized, high risk COVID-19 patients. Since he and his team started using the therapy around Thanksgiving, more than 1,100 patients have been infused at sites throughout the Houston Methodist system.
Mei Rui, DMA, assistant research professor of music medicine, Department of Surgery, is featured in a Dec. 21 Texas Monthly article about conducting research with her MUSICARE program, funded by Houston Methodist’s Center for Performing Arts Medicine. The program launched in April, enlisting both local and international musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax, to provide virtual concerts to patients in the surgical ICU. As the principal Investigator of five IRB-approved clinical protocols to gather data on the impact of targeted music interventions on health care providers and patients, Rui also seeks to examine the unique neurological wiring of expert musicians' brains. Preliminary evidence demonstrates that musical training or exposure may aid in stroke rehabilitation by "rewiring" the brain region with the lesion.
Recruits & New Employees
Rodolfo J. Oviedo, MD, FACS, FASMBS, has joined Houston Methodist as a robotic bariatric and general surgeon in the Department of Surgery, and will serve as teaching faculty with the Houston Methodist Hospital General Surgery Residency Program. Board-certified and fellowship-trained in metabolic and bariatric surgery, robotic advanced gastrointestinal and general surgery, and flexible endoscopic surgery, his clinical expertise also includes robotic primary and revisional metabolic and bariatric surgery, robotic complex abdominal wall reconstruction, robotic anti-reflux/foregut surgery, flexible endoscopic surgery, and interventional bariatric endoscopy.
Oviedo completed a general surgery residency at Houston Methodist in 2013, after graduating with his medical degree from The University of Texas at San Antonio in 2007. He joined Florida State University College of Medicine as a clinical assistant professor of surgery, where he developed his skills as a robotic surgeon. In 2018, he completed an advanced fellowship in minimally invasive gastrointestinal and bariatric surgery at Baptist Hospital of Miami, and then served as a metabolic and bariatric surgeon in Winchester, VA, where he built a successful robotic bariatric and complex abdominal wall reconstruction program.
Oviedo is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a Fellow of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Oviedo is certified to perform interventional bariatric endoscopy, and is also certified in FUSE, FES, and FLS. He serves on multiple committees at three national surgery associations: American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, American College of Surgeons and the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons.
We welcome our new employees who joined the Academic Institute on Jan. 4, 2021.
  • Muthu Kumar Krishnamoorthi, Postdoctoral Fellow, Heart Failure - Transplant
  • Teresa Martin, ACM Financial Analyst, Medicine - Administration
  • Chisom Onwunyi, Clinical Research Nurse, Medicine - Underwood Center
  • Kristina Reppond, Research Assistant I Bench, Infectious Disease
  • Jason Schultz, Research Assistant I Bench, Neurology
View postings for new job opportunities at the Academic Institute here.
Policy Reminders from the Business Practices Office
BP in Practice is an educational reminder designed to raise awareness regarding Business Practices hot topics, relevant laws and policies & procedures. Find archives of BP in Practice here.
  • The January 2021 issue of BP in Practice focuses on the topic of reporting questionable practices.
  • Use these links to access PDFs of System Policies BP01 and BP07.
If you have questions, contact the BP EthicsLine at 800.500.0333 or visit tmhs.myethicsline.com.
Publications
The publications with the highest impact factors posted in Scholars, Dec. 9 - 22, 2020, include:
Heritable Pattern of Oxidized DNA Base Repair Coincides with Pre-Targeting of Repair Complexes to Open Chromatin
Bacolla A, Sengupta S, Ye Z, Yang C, Mitra J, De-Paula RB, Hegde ML, Ahmed Z, Mort M, Cooper DN, Mitra S, & Tainer JA, Nucleic Acids Research. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa1120
Machine Learning Adds to Clinical and CAC Assessments in Predicting 10-Year CHD and CVD Deaths
Nakanishi R, Slomka PJ, Rios R, Betancur J, Blaha MJ, Nasir K, Miedema MD, Rumberger JA, Gransar H, Shaw LJ, Rozanski A, Budoff MJ & Berman DS, JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2020.08.024
Microengineered Human Vein-Chip Recreates Venous Valve Architecture and Its Contribution to Thrombosis
Rajeeva Pandian NK, Walther BK, Suresh R, Cooke JP & Jain A, Small, 16(49), [2003401].
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202003401
Warranty Period of a Calcium Score of Zero: Comprehensive Analysis From the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
Dzaye O, Dardari, ZA, Cainzos-Achirica M, Blankstein R, Agatston AS, Duebgen M, Yeboah J, Szklo M, Budoff MJ, Lima JAC, Blumenthal RS, Nasir K & Blaha MJ, JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2020.06.048
Women who Experience a Myocardial Infarction at a Young Age Have Worse Outcomes Compared with Men: The Mass General Brigham YOUNG-MI Registry
DeFilippi EM, Collins BL, Singh A, Biery DW, Fatima A, Qamar A, Berman AN, Gupta A, Cawley M, Wood MJ, Klein J, Hainer J, Gulati M, Taqueti VR, Di Carli MF, Nasir K, Bhatt DL & Blankstein R, European Heart Journal, 41(42), 4127-4137.
DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa662
If you have a featured publication, for example on a journal cover, please let us know so we can include it in our next issue.
Funding Opportunities
DoD Broad Agency Announcement for Extramural Medical Research
The Department of Defense funding for extramural medical research aims to provide solutions to medical problems of importance to the American service members at home and abroad, as well as to the general public at large. The scope of this effort and the priorities attached to specific projects are influenced by changes in military and civilian medical science and technology, operational requirements, military threat assessments, and national defense strategies. This funding opportunity is continuously open for a five-year period, from Oct.1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2022, 11:59 p.m. ET. Access the announcement, including all details, in this PDF. Find the DoD proposal form template in this document.
CITO-PSOC Funding Opportunities
The Center for Immunotherapeutic Transport Oncophysics (CITO) is funded by the NIH to examine the physics of cancer and strategies to improve immunotherapies. Details for the following RFAs are available on the CITO website:
  • Trans-Network Projects are small research projects aimed at addressing a challenge in cancer biology from a physical sciences perspective and leveraging the expertise and investigators from multiple PS-OP U01s and/or PS-OC U54s. Focus area(s) and collaborative teams for Trans-Network projects may be proposed by the teams of investigators, with appropriate rationale and justification. The budget is up to $100,000 direct costs per year, with applications submitted on a rolling basis.
  • Scientist Exchange Research Program allows scientists (faculty or researchers beyond the trainee level) to conduct laboratory or clinical research with a host investigator within the CITO, PS-ON, or beyond. A main goal of the Scientist Exchange Program is to encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations between research groups. Applications may address any particular challenge and are highly encouraged to complement or synergize with the current CITO projects. The budget is approximately $10,000 in direct costs for up to six months, with applications submitted on a rolling basis.
  • Trainee Research allows trainees (postdoctoral, graduate, or undergraduate trainees) to participate in short-term, interactive laboratory or clinical research with a host investigator within the CITO/PS-ON. The proposed research should be under the overarching theme of transport oncophysics, in the context of cancer immunology and immunotherapy. Applications may address any particular challenge and are highly encouraged to complement or synergize with the current CITO projects. The budget is approximately $5,000 in direct costs for up to 10 weeks, with applications submitted on a rolling basis.
All applications should be in PDF and emailed to cito-psoc@houstonmethodist.org. The PS-ON Catalogue of Techniques is available on the Synapse Knowledge Portal, offering additional methods for potential collaboration or training opportunities.