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April 2014

It’s a Match!

Fourth-year students at Baylor College of Medicine are wrapping up medical school, but

first they had to unwrap the colorful match board and tear open the envelopes that chart

their future over the coming years.

Match Day at Baylor and across the nation was held March 21. It represents the culmination

of the National Resident Matching Program, which pairs fourth-year medical students with

residency programs throughout the country. It is held at institutions across the country on the

same day.

It is a special day at Baylor, when students and their families join with faculty and others in celebration of their medical career journey. Festive balloons lead the way through the halls of Baylor to the courtyard, where the event is held.

At Baylor, 173 fourth-year medical students participated in the match. Results of the match included:

n 79 students who are entering primary care residency programs in the fields of family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, medicine/pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology or emergency medicine. This represents 45 percent of the students participating in the match.

n 45 students who matched with programs at Baylor College of Medicine, and 70 who matched with residency programs in Texas.

It’s a great day at Baylor College of Medicine. When we think of the fun times here, we think of White Coat Ceremony as students are starting medical school, we think of graduation and, of course, we think of Match Day.

Dr. Alicia Monroe, Senior Dean of Education, told students they will be an important part of the alumni network, and urged them to stay involved with Baylor.

“You are Baylor College of Medicine,” she said. “How you carry yourselves, how you care for patients, how you are involved with your communities will carry the name of Baylor College of Medicine.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Stephen Greenberg, Senior Vice President and Dean of Medical Education, imparted the lessons of Capt. Kirk of Star Trek, including to always be explorers and to learn and listen to people with vastly different views and change when the circumstances change. “If you can do that, it will take you far.”

aLUMNI NewsLINK

wILLed Body PrograM Leaves IMPact oN stUdeNts

An important part of students’ medical education at Baylor College of Medicine comes through the

anatomy lab, where they receive training during their first months as students. They learn from

their instructors, through peer-to-peer learning and, perhaps most importantly, through their “silent

professors.”

These silent instructors are possible through the Willed Body Program at Baylor, which allows people to donate their

bodies after death to science so that students can train in human anatomy.

“In their silence, they have taught our students so much,” said Dr. Frank Kretzer, Director of Anatomical Sciences at Baylor. “We are

so grateful for these people who decided to donate their bodies to science and for the impact they have had on our future health care

professionals.”

Medical and allied health students recently honored those who made the ultimate contribution to the study of science at a ceremony held March

13. At the ceremony, students honored these donors through personal

stUdeNt corNerhengyu (henry) Lu

graduate student

Hengyu (Henry) Lu, a graduate student in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at

Baylor College of Medicine and trainee in the NCI-designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center

at Baylor, has received one of five nationally competitive Research Scholar Award grants from

the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation.

The $10,000 grant award recognizes exceptional graduate students conducting melanoma research and also provides distinction to lab directors, universities and cancer research institutions across the United States.

Lu’s research focuses on the homeobox transcription factor A1 (HOXA1) gene and its role in melanoma progression to provide insights in the molecular mechanisms of melanoma metastasis (the spread of cancer to other

parts of the body) and reveal inroads to novel therapeutic design.

“Henry certainly has a bright future ahead of him, and this award will provide him an excellent opportunity

to build his thesis research project aimed at making a sustained impact on the treatment of melanoma,” said

Dr. Kenneth Scott, an Assistant Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics and a member of the Duncan Cancer

Center at Baylor who serves as Lu’s mentor.

“Our Foundation’s Research Scholar Awards are invaluable at the grassroots level, to specifically grow interest in melanoma

research, at leading cancer research centers nationwide,” said Regina Shannon Bodnar, Chair of the Foundation. “If we can

attract the brightest young minds, that are considering or are already within the nation’s cancer research pipelines, to pursue

a career in melanoma research—we’re that much closer to better understanding the disease, identifying the means for effective

treatments and, most importantly, finding a cure for this deadly and increasingly prevalent disease.”

hengyu (henry) Lu

2

It’s a Match continued from page 1

Dr. Mary Brandt, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, reminded students of her three rules—always do what’s right for patients; look cool doing it by making sure they hone their skills and practice professionalism; and don’t hurt anyone, or anything, that has a name.

Class president Ben Ma told his peers to revel in the day and celebrate their accomplishments to date but to remember that there is much more to be done.

“This is an important occasion and a huge step for us. But today does not define us. We get to define our own futures,” Ma said. “We have a lot more patients to see and milestones to accomplish.”

Ma then led the countdown to 11 a.m., when students grabbed the envelopes from the colorful match board. They tore open their envelopes, and then the celebration began.

BayLor hIstory BooK avaILaBLe

Former Baylor College of Medicine President Dr. William Butler, has compiled a history of Baylor covering the 50-year period following the move to Houston in 1943. It will be

presented as a four-volume set, each with more than 300 pages and extensive photographs.

Volume 1 covers the move to Houston, the development of a modern curriculum—both medical and graduate—under Dean Stanley Olson, M.D., and the rise of research including the

cardiovascular breakthroughs of the 1950s and 1960s. Volume 2 describes the administrative turmoil of the 1960s that led to the election of Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., as President, the

separation from Baylor University, the partnership with the State of Texas, and the challenges and advances under DeBakey’s presidency. Volumes 3 and 4 addresses the dramatic growth of the

College and affiliated institutions leading up to the turn of the century.

Only a limited number of copies will be printed. Each volume including postage will cost $175, of which $110 will be tax deductible. The charitable gift will support the William T. Butler, M.D. Endowed

Scholarship. Volume 1 through 3 are available now for purchase by sending payment to Baylor College of Medicine, Office of Development, One Baylor Plaza, MS: BCM160, Houston, Texas 77030. You may make

your purchase online or download an order form at www.bcm.edu/alumni.

dr. Butler signs copies of his book at reunion weekend

LooK for aLL yoUr reUNIoN News aNd Photos IN the NewsLetter coMINg sooN

MedIcaL stUdeNts, resIdeNts INdUcted INto hoNor socIety

Select Baylor College of Medicine fourth-year medical students and residents were recently inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society, an international organization that recognizes, supports and promotes the values of humanism and professionalism in medicine.

The society, established in 2002, is named for Dr. Arnold P. Gold, a child neurologist at Columbia University, and its mission is to work within and beyond medical education to inspire, nurture and sustain lifelong advocates and activists for compassionate patient care. Students and residents are nominated by their peers and then selected through a faculty review.

The event consisted of remarks by Dr. Stephen B. Greenberg, Senior Vice President and Dean of Medical Education, as well as reflections from several medical student inductees in which they gave examples of what it means to be compassionate as a physician. Fourth-year medical student Shamaila Khawja discussed how she learned that for patients, their diagnosis never leaves them—although their treatment has a fixed day and time, the healing does not. She reminded students and residents that their role as a doctor includes their role as a human being.

The ceremony concluded with a pledge to uphold humanistic principles.

This year’s medical school inductees included: Michael Abers, Lauren Anderson, Danielle Applebaum, James Astin, Kelly Aylsworth, John Berens, Amelia Crawford, Rachel Davis, Neha Deshpande, Martin Duncan, Richard Fantus, Kimberley Farr, Paul Fischbuch, Daniele Gusland, Eric Hamill, Kristy Hamilton, Brittany Hodgson, Abhinav Khanna, Shumaila Khawja, Laura Knott, Justin Lantz, Mary Lomax, Zheng Ma, Thomas McCarty, Sarah Miletello, Chaya Murali, Joseph Nelson, Mitchell Peterson, Dennis Shung, Joshua Turkeltaub, Brittany Wise, Kylene Wood, Joshua Woolard and Nader Zamani.

This year’s resident inductees included: Tolulope Adebanjo, Eric Bilby, Ozlem Bilen, Alyssa Brown, Cindy Cedillo-Ruiz, Aravind Chandrashekar, Bryan Correa, Jonathan Hagedorn, Tara Harris, Bashar Ismail, Yoav Kaufman, Elizabeth Keating, Paul Kwak, Hai Le, Margaret Markham, Laura Medford-Davis, Zeyad Metwalli, Brenda Moore, Petra Pilgrim, Karen Sargent, Nathan Serazin, Joshua Thomas, Sergio Torres, Pablo Tovar, Amy Vyas, Joel Zarline and Benjamin Zellner.

reflections. As a memorial to the donors, they created a tree representing life on

which hangs written reflections from students. It will be permanently housed in

the Haley Museum in the DeBakey Building. The museum houses specimens and other

items related to Baylor’s anatomy program, and is named after the first anatomy professor

in Houston, Dr. John Haley.

The following first-year medical students served on the planning committee for the Donor Honor

Ceremony. They gave their thoughts on the impact of the Willed Body Program.

dana Larsen

“Being able to learn anatomy from a willed body, specifically for the purpose of educating future physicians,

is truly a unique and privileged opportunity that I received at Baylor College of Medicine that I am so thankful for. Never

again will I get such an experience to learn the intricacies of the human body. But more than that, my experience in the

lab was really my first moment of ‘awe’ in medicine. Part of the reason I chose to enter the field of medicine was for those

senses of awe you get to experience on a day-to-day basis … at a patient-to-patient level. This donor was in a unique way my

very first patient and, as such, instilled in me a sense of awe for what we know and learn and are able to treat in medicine. It left

me astounded as to the vast array of processes the body is capable of performing, the intricate precision of details that are required for

proper functioning, and how unique each and every one of us are in performing these similar functions. While the course progressed and

some of that initial awe was lost to frustration of memorizing terms and finding specific structures, the ever presence of the donor, who voluntarily

offered to teach us in a way no one else could, always reminded me of the greater goals I had for myself in the medical field.”

Lakshay Jain

“For me personally, I think the willed body program is an extremely necessary component of medical school training, and apart from the understanding of

anatomy that can be gleaned from direct observation of the human body, one of the most important lessons it teaches us is how to come to terms with our

emotions and with death in general. Anatomy lab has been, without a doubt, one of the most influential parts of my medical training, and one I doubt I will ever forget.

Through working with our donor bodies, all of us first-year medical students have learned so much, not just about the human body but about ourselves as well.”

rui Zheng

“I think our class can agree that anatomy lab was a trial by fire—you learn about yourself as well as the human body. Certain labs were particularly surreal as you find something

that personalizes the donors—painted nails, leftover prosthetic devices, sutures from past procedures, and the inescapable evidence of diseases that ravaged their bodies, visible even

after death. Our project ended up being the physical accumulation of everyone’s experiences: a tree that symbolically represents the roots of our medical education and the growth we have

experienced and will continue to experience as we continue forward. As someone who worked on accumulating the tags with everyone’s thoughts and wishes, I can whole-heartedly say that

the overwhelming response was one of gratitude for donors who gave us the opportunity to intimately explore the human body, garner expertise through mistakes, and learn the fragility of life.

Without the donors, we would not be able to appreciate how the body works and how easily it can be broken.”

wILLed Body PrograM continued from page 2

Medical students at their gold humanism honor society induction