UTMB Quarterly Summer 2002

VOL. 4, NO. 1 SUMMER 2002

Page 8

Page 18

Page 24

FEATURES

7 Of Biodefense, Bioterrorism, andthe Coming BSL4 LaboratoryThe new Center for Biodefense and nascent biosafety level 4laboratory give UTMB an even larger role in the fight againstbioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases.

8 Death in the WindBy Jim KellyIn Russia, UTMB’s Dr. David Walker uncovered a terrible secret:the true source of the worst anthrax epidemic in history.

17 Quotations from Chairman David H. WalkerThe media had questions about anthrax, and UTMB’s pathologychairman had answers.

18 Following the Viral Trail Around the WorldBy Abigail ZugerFrom tropical jungles to maximum-containment labs, C.J. Peters hasspent decades hunting the most dangerous microorganisms on Earth.

23 The Quotable Dr. PetersThe director of UTMB’s Center for Biodefense responds toreporters.

24 Thinking SmallBy Patrick L. BarryDr. James F. Leary and his colleagues are exploring a new type oftherapy that can fix cells from the inside out.

DEPARTMENTS

2 StrandsSaving muscles; making rats schizophrenic; short-circuitingmyasthenia gravis; and studying Epstein-Barr in the oralepithelium—and in orbit.

28 News Briefs

30 News of the Schools

38 Portrait of Giving

40 Faculty Notes

41 Quote/Unquote

42 Class Notes

56 Body & SoulThe art of walking slowly.By James S. Goodwin

U T M B Q U A R T E R LY ■ S U M M E R 2 0 0 2

S T R A N D S

2

Body buildersFor patients who have suffered severe injuries, woundhealing is only the first step in convalescence. In aparadoxical tradeoff in the natural healing process, aseverely injured patient’s muscle mass turns into fuel forboosting the immune system, leaving the patient evenweaker. This loss of strength hobbles those who havealready experienced an arduous journey toward recovery.It also challenges physicians looking to quickly returnpatients to daily life. UTMB researchers are tackling thischallenge.

David N. Herndon, UTMB professor of surgery and chiefof staff and director of research at the Shriners BurnsHospital in Galveston, is studying the ability of a drugnamed propranolol to counteract the wasting of musclemass after severe trauma. A so-called beta-blocker,propranolol has been shown to lower the risk of cardiaccomplications as well as reduce overall death rates aftermajor surgery by lowering heart rates and thus slowingenergy expenditure. Herndon and his colleagues sus-pected that decreased energy expenditure would also

mean less muscle mass loss. Aided by modern muscle-measuring methods, whose absence had been a majorbarrier to previous investigative attempts, the team setout to prove their theory. Their initial results werereported last October in the New England Journal ofMedicine.

Researchers studied twenty-five children severely burnedover at least 40 percent of their bodies. Thirteen receivedthe drug propranolol, while twelve received the tradi-tional therapy. Upon leaving the hospital after stays thataveraged eight weeks, the group that received thepropranolol lost just 1 percent of their muscle mass, whilethe control group lost an average of 9 percent. Elevenothers treated with propranolol showed similar positiveresults.

Researchers were surprised by one twist: rather thanpreventing the loss of muscle mass, they discoveredpropranolol speeds up protein synthesis, thus allowingmuscle to be built more quickly—in effect canceling outthe body’s conversion of muscle into fuel.

Why propranolol works this way is still a mystery and thetotal number of patients studied remains small. Still, thestudy team hopes “this is the real deal,” said UTMBsurgical resident David Hart, a co-author of the study. Ifso, the implications are huge: should propranolol prove tobe as successful as it appears, it would “enable people toundergo a three-month hospitalization or whatever isrequired and not be completely weak and debilitated.”

Herndon continues to investigate propranolol’s benefits inburn victims. In addition, he is exploring the use ofanabolic steroids—well recognized for their muscle-building features—as a possible partner for the beta-blocker in maintaining and even increasing seriouslyinjured patients’ muscle mass. —Ann T. Lemon

…rather than preventing

the loss of muscle mass,

they discovered propranolol

speeds up protein synthesis,

thus allowing

muscle to be

built more

quickly…

…rather than preventing

the loss of muscle mass,

they discovered propranolol

speeds up protein synthesis,

thus allowing

muscle to be

built more

quickly…

3T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S M E D I C A L B R A N C H AT G A LV E S T O N

S T R A N D S

PCP + rat = schizophreniaHallucinations, inappropriate social behavior, and delu-sional thoughts and speech are just a few symptoms ofschizophrenia, a devastating disease that frequentlyleaves its victims nonfunctional. Therapy remains rudi-mentary, and only a few new drugs, such as olanzapine,have been introduced since the early 1960s. Meanwhile,the underlying cause of schizophrenia remains unknown.Only when researchers can pin down the condition’sorigin (or origins) will they be able to design more-effective drugs.

Kenneth M. Johnson, professor of pharmacology andtoxicology and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences atUTMB, believes that an animal tranquilizer called PCP (forphencyclidine)—popular in the late 1960s and 1970s as therecreational drug “angel dust”—may provide valuable clues.

Schizophrenia is associated with a pronounced loss oftissue in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain thatguides social behavior, attention, planning, and motiva-tion. In healthy individuals, slender, wire-like extensionsof brain cells or neurons in the prefrontal cortex form afar-reaching network that allows the cells to communicatewith neighbors by releasing chemicals known as neuro-transmitters. The neurotransmitters then spread out andselectively adhere to receptors on other cells. In schizo-phrenics, a lack of glutamate, the neurotransmitter ofchoice in this region of the brain, is thought to hamperthis communication between cells. It is this “hypogluta-matergic” state that researchers believe causes thesymptoms peculiar to schizophrenia, and it is this statewhich Johnson is investigating with PCP.

PCP has a nasty tendency to produce hallucinations,delirium, and memory deficits—symptoms similar to thoseof schizophrenia. As it turns out, PCP prevents glutamatefrom delivering messages to neighboring cells, mimickingthe hypoglutamatergic state found in schizophrenia. Notsurprisingly, many researchers have eyed treating rats andmice with PCP as a model for this disease, but the schizo-

phrenic-like condition lasts only while the drug ispresent. Johnson, however, has discovered a way toinduce a chronic condition more like full-blown schizo-phrenia.

Because evidence now suggests that schizophreniaoriginates during fetal development, Johnson exposesneonatal rats to PCP. The PCP selectively kills a largenumber of brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, puttingthe rats into a permanent hypoglutamatergic or“hypofrontal” state similar to that observed in schizo-phrenia. When these rats are older, they also displaysymptoms typical of schizophrenia, such as loss ofworking memory. One common behavioral test Johnsonuses is startling the rats with loud noises. Normal ratsstartle less easily if a loud noise is preceded by a lower-decibel “warning” tone. But PCP-treated rats areequally unnerved despite the warning tone.

With a $45,000 grant from Eli Lilly, Johnson has shownthat the company’s product olanzapine, one of the fewavailable drugs that is effective against most symptomsof schizophrenia, not only prevents PCP-inducedneuronal death but also helps return his PCP-treatedrats’ behavior to normal. These results provide strongvindication for Johnson’s model of schizophrenia.

As a consequence of this work, Johnson has beenawarded a four-year, $750,000 grant from the NationalInstitute for Mental Health. He plans to study his PCPmodel further, concentrating on the mechanisms bywhich PCP kills cortical brain cells. In the end, Johnsonhopes that his model will shed light on how this PCP-induced cortical deficit affects other brain areas thatnormally depend on the cortex for proper function. Hisultimate goal is to help find new drugs that will treatschizophrenia more effectively. In the meantime, itseems that PCP is finally being put to good use.—Kasie Cole


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4

THE D ISEASE , WHICH AFFL ICTS

ABOUT 36 ,000 AMERICANS,

OCCURS WHEN THE IMMUNE

SYSTEM MISTAKENLY ATTACKS

THE MOLECULES THAT MUSCLE

CELLS USE TO RECEIVE CHEMICAL

SIGNALS FROM THE NERVES.

Muscling in on myasthenia gravisIts name means “grave muscle weakness,” and that’swhat myasthenia gravis causes—a debilitating loss ofstrength that can make even the smallest movementsdifficult.

The disease, which afflicts about 36,000 Americans, occurswhen the immune system mistakenly attacks the mol-ecules that muscle cells use to receive chemical signalsfrom the nerves. These molecules, known as acetylcholinereceptors, are quickly destroyed, leaving the musclesunable to respond to orders from the nerves.

Now, UTMB scientists have pinpointed the specific part ofthe human acetylcholine receptor that provokes the mostintense response from the immune system in myastheniagravis. The discovery could lead to a possible cure for thedisease and to important insights into other autoimmunedisorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes,lupus, and multiple sclerosis.

To identify the critical part of the receptor, PremkumarChristadoss, Huan Yang, Teh-Shan Chang, ElzbietaGoluszko, and Mathilde Poussin refined an experimentaltechnique that uses acetylcholine receptors from a seacreature called the Pacific torpedo ray to induce myasthe-nia gravis in mice genetically modified to produce humanimmune system molecules. Instead of employing torpedoray receptors, they induced the condition with humanacetylcholine receptors—the first time this had been done—to create a more accurate model of the molecularinteractions involved in human myasthenia gravis.Immune cells from the transgenic mice were thenexposed to different tiny segments of the humanacetylcholine receptor to determine which segmentswould incite the most powerful reaction.

“We looked at the proliferative response, the T-cellexpansion for different specific peptides, amino acidsequences, from the human acetylcholine receptor alphasubunit,” Christadoss says. “One peptide gave a dominantresponse.”

That peptide, known as the H-a320-337 sequence,produced similar results when tested against immunecells from groups of mice with different human genes.This “promiscuity” of the H-a320-337 peptide suggeststhat it may be involved in provoking harmful immuneresponses against acetylcholine receptors in patients witha wide variety of genetic backgrounds. It also opens upthe possibility that the peptide could be the key to a newtreatment for myasthenia gravis. In earlier experiments,UTMB researchers used high-concentration doses oftorpedo-ray acetylcholine receptor alpha subunit peptideto overstimulate the specific T-cells directing the autoim-mune attack that causes the disease, driving those cells tocommit suicide in the process known to scientists asapoptosis. Such experiments have been about 50 percent

successful in preventing myasthenia gravis in mice, andthe newly identified peptide could be more successful indoing the same job. “What we are planning to do next isgive a high dose of this peptide to see whether we canprevent the disease in transgenic mice,” Christadoss says.“If we can do that, prevent or even suppress ongoingdisease, then this peptide could be used as a vaccine tocure myasthenia gravis.”

In addition, Christadoss says that the research has implica-tions for the study of autoimmune diseases as a whole. Inmany autoimmune disorders, scientists do not yet knowthe antigen, the entity that provokes the immuneresponse. “For myasthenia, however, we know theacetylcholine receptor is the antigen, and that one singleantigen is important for the development of the disease,”Christadoss says. “Therefore, it’s a good prototype tostudy the other diseases, a very nice classical model for alot of autoimmune diseases.”—Jim Kelly


S T R A N D S

The good news is that in a vast majority of those infected (95 percent of

adults worldwide carry EBV), the virus doesn’t cause health problems.

Later in life, however, a small but significant fraction of those infected with

EBV develop lymphomas, or cancer of the lymph glands, and other cancers.

The good news is that in a vast majority of those infected (95 percent of

adults worldwide carry EBV), the virus doesn’t cause health problems.

Later in life, however, a small but significant fraction of those infected with

EBV develop lymphomas, or cancer of the lymph glands, and other cancers.

The (sometimes) kiss of deathThe Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), typically transmitted throughkissing, causes mononucleosis—the “kissing disease.” Itsflu-like symptoms may include fever, sore throat, andswollen lymph glands. These usually clear up in a few daysor weeks. Not everyone infected gets “mono.” But onceinfected, you stay infected for life.

The good news is that in a vast majority of those infected(95 percent of adults worldwide carry EBV), the virusdoesn’t cause health problems. Later in life, however, asmall but significant fraction of those infected with EBVdevelop lymphomas, or cancer of the lymph glands, andother cancers. Many of these diseases—notably Burkitt’slymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and nasopharyngealcarcinoma—are devilishly hard to treat.

B-lymphocytes, special immune system cells that fightinfection, are prime targets of EBV. The virus both infectsthem and reproduces within them. Scientists have longdebated whether the outermost layer of cells in themouth, called the oral epithelium, is also a target of EBVinfection and replication. Now a team of researchers ledby Dennis M. Walling, a UTMB assistant professor ofinfectious diseases, has shown that, at least in some cases,the oral epithelium does in fact support EBV infection. Hisgroup’s findings, which were published December 15, 2001,in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, show that, in thoseinfected with HIV—the virus that causes AIDS—the oralepithelium also sustains EBV infection and replication.

Walling’s discovery that the oral epithelium is an alterna-tive infection site—the other site being the B-lympho-cytes—allows scientists to better understand the delicaterelationship that exists between EBV and its human hosts.(Infections with oral EBV and HPV, or humanpapillomavirus—the cause of all warts and of cervicalcancer—are subjects researchers will plumb more deeplyin Galveston February 13–16, 2003, at the Second AnnualMcLaughlin Symposium in Infection and Immunity, whichWalling is organizing.)

Further insight into the host-virus relationship is impor-tant in understanding the how EBV—like HIV, a

retrovirus—causes diseases. Retroviruses lack DNA, acrucial component of the genetic apparatus needed forcell division. To reproduce, retroviruses must commandeertheir host cells’ DNA. When this happens, the interplay ofthe virus’s genetic component (RNA) with the host’s DNAcan sometimes go haywire, activating disease-causinggenes in people. To focus on the host-virus relationship,scientists first must know what cell types are infected byEBV or triggered by EBV.

Next Walling hopes to learn whether EBV replication isalso supported by the oral epithelium in “normal”subjects, or those not infected with HIV. Answering thisquestion may help medical science prevent or treat thedeadly cancers and other diseases attributed to EBVinfection. And for the unlucky minority for whom a simplekiss may become the kiss of death, answers can’t come toosoon. —Animesh Chandra


S T R A N D S

6

Space virusesWhen the International Space Station’s fifth permanentcrew left Earth in early June, they carried tiny stowawayswith them—viruses that had been latent in their bodiessince childhood. These viruses, including Epstein-Barr,herpes simplex, and varicella zoster (which causes chickenpox in children and shingles in adults), exist in almosteveryone, but they have a special significance for astro-nauts, whose immune systems are weakened by theunique stresses of spaceflight. When unchecked by thebody’s usually strong defenses, the viruses can reactivate,possibly posing serious health problems.

Researchers from UTMB and NASA’s Johnson Space Centerhave been studying the spaceflight-induced reactivationof these “stowaway viruses” for the past five years, usingdata from space shuttle astronauts to focus on Epstein-Barr, which is linked to lymphoma, chronic fatiguesyndrome, and infectious mononucleosis. Until now, suchstudies have been limited by shuttle flights’ short dura-tion. But with the three-person Expedition 5 crew’s arrivalat the station for a six-month stay, scientists are gettingtheir first chance to see how long-term spaceflightinfluences virus activity.

“Everyone on the Expedition 5, 6, 7, and 8 crews hassigned up for our research,” says UTMB researcherRaymond Stowe, who has been collaborating on theinvestigation with UTMB’s Alan Barrett and NASA’s DuanePierson. “We want to know whether astronauts enduringlonger space missions will be at greater risk for develop-ing symptoms associated with latent virus reactivation.”

Stowe’s earlier work, using data he began collecting in1997, connected significant decreases in shuttle astro-nauts’ cellular immunity and simultaneous increases inEpstein-Barr activity with rises in stress hormones. Stowecredits the increase in hormone levels to the uniquestresses induced by shuttle flights, including weightless-ness, the high G-forces of liftoff and re-entry, confine-ment, and the anxiety that goes with having to carry outa complicated mission in a dangerous environment.Longer missions, such as those to Mars, will involveincreased exposure to most of these factors, along withhigher doses of radiation and significant bone and muscleloss due to prolonged weightlessness. The space stationinvestigation will more closely match these conditions.

“The health significance comes into play when you askwhat happens on interplanetary missions where you’regone for two years,” Stowe says. “The question is, whenyou throw in the factors of stress, decreased immunefunctions, and added radiation, will this cause one ofthese lymphomas or cancers on these longer missions?”

In order to answer this question, Stowe collected bloodand urine samples from the Expedition 5 crew at variousintervals before launch, a process he will repeat afterlanding. The samples will be analyzed for Epstein-Barr

virus production and virus-specific cellular immunity.“We’ll compare the results from the space station astro-nauts with those from the shuttle missions,” Stowe says.“We want to determine if Epstein-Barr reactivation causesany complications, or if the host’s immune system iscompetent enough to control virus reactivation andproliferation.”—Jim Kelly

To showcase his project, Stowe has set up a web site(http://www.utmb.edu/epstein-barr), which will featuredata and streaming video from shuttle flights and spacestation operations.

With the three-person

Expedition 5 crew’s

arrival at the station

for a six-month stay,

scientists are getting

their first chance to

see how long-term

spaceflight influences

virus activity.

Pho

to c

ou

rtes

y o

f N

ASA


That was just a day after the nation learnedthat a Florida newspaper editor had beendiagnosed with anthrax, news quickly followedby the revelation that the deadly agent hadalso been mailed to offices and individuals inWashington, D.C., and New York.

Designed to promote diverse researchstrengths at UTMB, the new center buildson the efforts of many scientists who wereworking to combat bioterrorism long beforelast October. These included more thantwenty-five researchers in UTMB’s WorldHealth Organization (WHO) CollaboratingCenter for Tropical Diseases and SealyCenter for Structural Biology who, over theprevious four years, received about $11 millionin federal grants to develop countermeasuresagainst viruses likely to be used bybioterrorists (see “Battling GlobalBioterrorism,” UTMB Quarterly, fall 1999,http://www.utmb.edu/utmbquarterly).

The center also embraces the new SealyCenter for Vaccine Development and, ofcourse, the coming maximum containmentfacility at UTMB—the first full-sizedbiosafety level 4 (BSL4) laboratory on auniversity campus in the Americas. Thisspring, construction began on that facility,which has been designed to allowresearchers to work safely with some of themost dangerous organisms on the planet.

OF B I O D E F E N S E, B I O T E R R O R I S M, A N D T H E C O M I N G BSL4 L A B O R AT O RY

Five years in the planning, it is scheduled tobe completed in 2003.

The director of the BSL4 laboratory isDr. C.J. Peters, also director of the UTMBCenter for Biodefense. Peters’ remarkablecareer is the subject of a feature storybeginning on page eighteen. Meanwhile,Dr. David H. Walker, chair of the pathologydepartment and director of the WHOCollaborating Center for Tropical Diseases,is the hero of our adjacent cover story,“Death in the Wind.” This remarkable taleof political intrigue and scientific discoverytells how Walker and his academiccolleagues, both Russian and American,helped blow the lid off the cover-up ofhistory’s deadliest anthrax epidemic—aman-made disaster in the former SovietUnion. For reasons that will be obvious afteryou read both stories, last fall during theanthrax poisoning episodes and theiraftermath, reporters for major national,international, and local media outletsclamored to interview Drs. Peters andWalker and several of their knowledgeableUTMB colleagues, including Dr. RobertShope, associate director of the Center forBiodefense and leader of the teamresponsible for most of the countermeasuresto bioterrorism research. Some of thoseinterviews are excerpted on the followingpages as well.

Last October 5, UTMB created its new Center for Biodefense.

8 U T M B Q U A R T E R LY ■ S U M M E R 2 0 0 28 U T M B Q U A R T E R LY ■ S U M M E R 2 0 0 2

B Y J I M K E L LY

“Sector 13” in the Yekaterinburg cemetery, the final resting place for the victims of the biggest anthrax epidemic in history.

9T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S M E D I C A L B R A N C H AT G A LV E S T O N 9T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S M E D I C A L B R A N C H AT G A LV E S T O N

Something like this happened to the fivefatalities from last fall’s anthrax attacks. But thecases described above are actually drawn fromaccounts of a different, far more deadly anthrax epi-demic. It took place between April 4 and May 18,1979, in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk, and it killed atleast sixty-six people. The official story was that itwas a form of the disease known as intestinal anthrax,contracted by eating tainted meat bought on the blackmarket.

The official story was a lie. In fact, the victims ofthe Sverdlovsk outbreak had died of the same formof the disease that killed the victims of last fall’s

or the worst cases, it was already too late by the time they got to the hospital. The anthrax spores they had

unknowingly inhaled had done their job too well—blooming into active bacteria in the lymph nodes of the

chest, multiplying with terrifying speed, and pouring out to poison the rest of the body. By the time the

symptoms had advanced to the point where hospitalization was required, even the most powerful antibiot-

ics were useless. One day, a victim might think he had come down with the flu, or at worst a touch of bronchitis. A

few days later, he was dying—his lungs compressed by fluid, his gastrointestinal organs hemorrhaging, his brain

squeezed by its own swelling membranes.

bioterrorism incidents, and they had contracted it bybreathing in spores accidentally released from asecret biological weapons facility operated by theirown government.

It would be thirteen years before anyone outsidethe USSR learned the full truth about the deaths atSverdlovsk. Before that could happen, the worldwould have to change. The Cold War would have toend, and the Soviet Union itself would have to ceaseto exist. And a pathologist from UTMB would haveto join forces with the Russian doctors who had facedthe epidemic that struck Sverdlovsk, to help get theirstory out to the rest of the world.

10 U T M B Q U A R T E R LY ■ S U M M E R 2 0 0 2

“I don’t remember when I first heard about Sverdlovsk,” Dr. David Walker says. On the table in front of him, a journal article aboutthe outbreak lies open to a particularly gruesome au-topsy photo of an anthrax victim’s brain, displayingthe crimson so-called “cardinal’s cap” effect of hem-orrhagic meningitis. “I’d heard these exaggeratedspeculations several times,” he says, “but it reallywasn’t something that I was interested in.”

Before 1992, anthrax had never been a focus forWalker, who chairs both UTMB’s department of pa-thology and World Health Organization CollaboratingCenter on Tropical Diseases. Then as now, he spe-cialized in studying the organisms known as rickett-siae, responsible for such tick-borne illnesses as ty-phus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The rumorshe’d heard about Sverdlovsk—wild stories about thou-sands of deaths resulting from an explosion at a Sovietbioweapons lab—were just that: rumors passed alongby Russian exiles to Western governments, which dur-ing the Cold War had their own motives for publiciz-ing anything that made the Soviets look bad. Walkerhad no reason to doubt the official Soviet explanation;in fact, he had no reason even to think about it.

Then, in early 1992, he was contacted by a Harvardgeneticist named Matthew Meselson. A longtime cru-sader against biological weapons, Meselson had beeninterested in Sverdlovsk since the outbreak was firstreported, and in 1980 he had assisted a preliminarystudy of the incident by the U.S. government. Unlikemany other American biological warfare experts, how-ever, Meselson had found nothing implausible aboutthe Soviet claim that intestinal anthrax had caused theSverdlovsk epidemic. Now, he told Walker, the disso-lution of the Soviet Union had suddenly given him achance to travel to Sverdlovsk and find out what hadreally happened. He needed a pathologist for the teamhe was taking to Russia. Would Walker be interested?

“Meselson believed it was intestinal anthrax, andfrom the discussions we had, it sounded as if that’swhat he was expecting to find,” Walker says. “You readarticles about intestinal anthrax, but the cases basi-cally are in places where they don’t do autopsies, verypoor areas. The pathology doesn’t get done.” If hewent with Meselson, Walker thought, he would get achance to do the first real pathological studies of intesti-nal anthrax. It was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

And so on June 2, 1992, he boarded a plane forMoscow with the other four members of the team. Inaddition to Meselson and his wife, Boston Universitysociologist Jeanne Guillemin, the group also includedMartin Hugh-Jones, a Welsh-born veterinary epide-miologist and anthrax expert from Louisiana StateUniversity, and Alexis Shelokov, a vaccinologist andepidemiologist from the Government Services Divi-sion of the Salk Institute.

Of the five, only Shelokov—who had been bornin the Russian community of Harbin, in Manchuria—spoke Russian. But on the group’s arrival in the Rus-sian capital, they linked up with Dr. Olga Yampolskaya,an English-speaking Russian infectious-disease expertwho would become a de facto member of the team.Yampolskaya brought a unique perspective to the taskat hand. “In 1979, she was the protégé of this guy,Nikiforov, who was at the time the Russian expert onanthrax,” Walker says. “The two of them went toSverdlovsk and helped take care of the patients.”

Anthrax killed 18 workers from this ceramics

factory, located just downwind of Compound 19.


Vladimir Nikiforov had been one of the Soviet au-thorities most involved in developing and promotingthe theory that contaminated meat had caused an in-testinal anthrax outbreak in Sverdlovsk. In 1988, atMeselson’s invitation, Nikiforov and General PyotrBurgasov—who had been deputy minister of healthduring the epidemic, and who also maintained thatthe deaths in Sverdlovsk were caused by intestinalanthrax—had come to America to make their case.They had convinced many of those who heard themspeak, and had particularly impressed Meselson; theHarvard professor saw them as a logical starting pointfor his investigation. Nikiforov, unfortunately, had diedof a heart attack in 1990, but had left substantial ma-terials on the outbreak—photographic slides, case re-ports, and a manuscript written with Burgasov—in thehands of his son, who was also a physician.

The team members were scheduled to spend onlyone day in Moscow before departing for Sverdlovsk,and so they had decided to get together with Burgasovand the younger Nikiforov at the same time. Therewas a problem, though: the two doctors hated eachother and were squabbling over documents the olderNikiforov had left his son. Yampolskaya was afraid thatif they met, violence might even result. The solutionwas to split up the investigators, with Walker andYampolskaya meeting Nikiforov in one office, whilethe rest of the team met Burgasov in a conference roomon the other side of the same building.

Nikiforov’s son had a surprise for Walker. ThroughYampolskaya, he told the pathologist that he believedhis father had actually been forced against his will tosupport the intestinal anthrax explanation. Then hebegan projecting the slides from his father’s collec-tion—images of internal organs seriously damaged byanthrax toxins. “I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s inhalationalanthrax after all,’” Walker remembers. “I saw the le-sions, there were these huge hemorrhages in the me-diastinum [the tissue between the lungs, the first targetfor inhalational anthrax].”

The two groups went to lunch, Walker says, “andthey just kept talking about the intestinal anthrax. Isaid, ‘Wait a minute, I’ve got to tell you guys some-thing. It’s not intestinal. It’s inhalational.’ ”

But Walker could not get through to the rest ofthe group. They had just spent several hours withBurgasov, and Burgasov had won them over. “He wasa big, burly bear of a guy—magnetic, charming, over-powering,” Walker says. “Great personality, hail-fel-low-well-met and a bear hug and all that, and whenthey came out of their meeting, well, it was gas-trointestinal anthrax.”

For Walker, the situation seemed absurd. He hadcome to Russia to learn about intestinal anthrax, andnow he was certain that was not going to happen.Burgasov was either wrong or lying, and either wayhe was steering the group down a blind alley. “I didn’teven want to go to Sverdlovsk,” Walker says. “I said,‘Hey, why are we bothering to go? I’ve seen the pa-thology, it’s inhalational. What are we going to findout there? We’re going to chase around trying to findsomebody who’s got this material, and the material’sgoing to be gone.’”

As it turned out, Walker was both right and wrong.He was right about the Sverdlovsk anthrax being in-halational, and about Burgasov lying. But he was deadwrong about there being nothing left to find inSverdlovsk.

A satellite photo of Yekaterinburg, showing

the area exposed to wind-blown anthrax

spores from Compound 19.


Russian pathologists Faina Abramova and Lev

Grinberg, who did the anthrax autopsies, with

infectious-disease specialist Olga Yampolskaya,

who helped care for anthrax patients.

known as Yekaterinburg, but in 1924 the Sovietschanged the name to Sverdlovsk, after the Bolshevikhero Yakov Sverdlov. By 1992, Sverdlovsk had becomeYekaterinburg once again, as a result of the changesthat had brought about the fall of the USSR. In truth,though, not much else about it was different. Bareshelves still filled the stores, and restaurants rarelyserved more than one item from their menus. The cityitself was a drab, worn-out place, dominated by run-down factories and blocks of bleak gray apartmentbuildings. The climate didn’t help much; June 4, theday the team arrived, was gray and cold, with a tem-perature topping out just above freezing.

The reception the investigators got on their ar-rival was not quite as chilly as the weather, but it wasnot exactly warm either. The anthrax epidemic was asensitive subject in Yekaterinburg, an old wound re-cently reopened by stories in the newly freed Russianmedia. Those stories claimed that the outbreak hadbeen caused not by contaminated meat but by anthraxspores accidentally released from a secret military in-stallation known as Compound 19. The Soviet gov-ernment had allegedly engaged in a massive cover-up, concocting the intestinal anthrax theory, confis-cating autopsy reports and medical records, alteringdeath certificates, and refusing to disclose the num-ber of deaths in Compound 19 and a neighboring gar-rison. The true death toll, it was said, might even bein the hundreds.

Despite Walker’s inhalation-anthrax conclusion,Meselson gave little credence to these reports, which,to be fair, sounded both overly sensationalistic and sus-piciously close to the version of events put out byAmerican intelligence. But on the team’s first full dayof work in Yekaterinburg, the investigators heard tes-timony that made the press accounts seem far morecredible—testimony from a witness ideally placed toknow the truth about the epidemic. Dr. NikolayBabich had been the director of the provincial Sani-tary Epidemiological Service at the time of the out-break; thirteen years later he was, in Hugh-Jones’

words, “a wizened monkey of a man,” a year away fromdeath by emphysema. Sick as he was, though, hesmiled as he told his story—a story that directly con-tradicted the official version of events. The entire epi-demic, Babich said, had been inhalational. Its victimshad died on sidewalks, in streetcars, and in buildinglobbies, sometimes before ambulances could arrive totake them to the hospital. And then, according toBabich, authorities from Moscow—led by DeputyHealth Minister Burgasov—had ordered the KGB toconfiscate all documents related to the epidemic, ev-erything from maps showing the locations of cases,which clearly showed a relationship with Compound19, to individual victims’ chest X-rays. The intesti-nal-anthrax theory had been orchestrated by Burgasov.

“He just flat out said, ‘I don’t care what you guyshave been told, it was airborne, and it was those mili-tary bastards who did it, and they never took respon-sibility,’” Hugh-Jones says. The veterinary epidemi-

The city lies on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, about a thousandmiles east of Moscow. When it was founded in the eighteenth century it was


ologist had already joinedWalker in questioning the offi-cial story, and Babich’s state-ment confirmed his growing sus-picions. Eavesdropping on theuntranslated Russian interplaybetween Babich and Dr. VictorRomanenko, the current deputydirector of Babich’s old depart-ment, Shelokov felt certain that,as he put it, “a game was beingplayed.” Romanenko, Shelokovsays, was “turning to Babich,telling him in effect, ‘For God’ssake cut it out. What the hell areyou doing? Don’t talk like that.’Fundamentally, this [Babich]was an honest man who also feltlike he had nothing to lose, andhe was telling the truth.”

But no matter how true itseemed to Shelokov, Walker,and Hugh-Jones, Meselson wasquick to point out, by itselfBabich’s account didn’t proveanything. To settle the matter,they needed hard evidence, andif Babich was to be believed, itwould be difficult to come by.

That afternoon, though, theyhit pay dirt. At Yekaterinburg’sTuberculosis and PulmonaryCenter, they were introduced to Dr. Faina Abramovaand Dr. Lev Grinberg, the pathologists who had firstinvestigated the 1979 epidemic. Abramova, now aseventy-year-old grandmother, had been Grinberg’smentor at the time of the outbreak. It was she whohad first diagnosed anthrax after noticing that the brainmembranes of the first victim she autopsied had hem-orrhaged so extensively that their entire surface ap-peared bright red; she remembered this “cardinal’scap” effect from a specimen of anthrax-caused hem-orrhagic meningitis she had seen in her medical-schoolmuseum decades before. What she and Grinberg hadto say gave Walker hope that it might be possible toget definitive proof of the nature of the epidemic.

“They showed us some pictures,and it was clear from what theyshowed us that they had mate-rial, and it was inhalational an-thrax,” Walker says. “That wastheir interpretation. I figured itout, but I didn’t discover any-thing. I merely corroboratedtheir finding.”

It turned out that Abramovaand Grinberg had a treasuretrove of microscope slides, tissuesamples in paraffin blocks, andwhole organs preserved in form-aldehyde, the fruit of forty-twodifferent autopsies. Somehow,while zealously policing up thedocumentary evidence of theoutbreak, the authorities hadmissed the most important tes-timony of all: that of the victims’bodies. “The KGB didn’t get theprimary materials,” Walker says.“They took all the records—if itwas an official form or an autopsyreport it was confiscated—butthey didn’t take the microscopeslides or the organs, or Abramovaand Grinberg’s personal hand-written notes.”

For thirteen years the twohad protected their treasure, al-

ways hoping for the chance to publish what they haddiscovered. Now a group of foreigners had appeared,apparently offering them that chance. The questionwas whether they could trust Meselson’s team to treatthem as collaborators and not just an exploitable sourceof information. The job of getting that trust—and withit, their full cooperation—fell to Walker, the teammember who would be working with them for most ofthe next four days. “When they first met they werevery touchy and very suspicious of David,” Shelokovremembers. “But somehow he got them to trust himcompletely and then all of a sudden they becamefriendly toward him and friendly toward the rest ofus, and that’s when the slides came out.”

“I don’t care

what you guys

have been told, it

was airborne, and

it was those

military bastards

who did it, and

they never took

responsibility.”


on the headstones—almost all from April and earlyMay 1979, with about two dozen concentrated be-tween April 8 and April 12—gave any indication thatsomething was different about these burials. That con-centration of dates was the epidemic’s footprint. Theknowledge of what it meant gave an eerie overtone tothe scene, one accentuated by the Eastern Europeancustom of decorating grave markers with photos of thedead. From headstone after headstone they stared out,serious-looking men and women in formal clothes ormilitary uniforms—almost as though they were expect-ing visitors.

The brain of an anthrax victim, showing the

“cardinal’s cap” hemorrhage in its surface

membranes.

That rapport became critical in the following days,as Walker plowed through material from each of theforty-two autopsies, revisiting the outbreak with threeof its principal witnesses—Abramova, Grinberg, andYampolskaya—guiding him. After his first day of ex-amining Abramova and Grinberg’s collection, Walkerwas even more convinced that he had seen incontro-vertible evidence of inhalational anthrax. That night,he discovered that Hugh-Jones and Shelokov hadcome up with some evidence of their own. Workingfrom reports published in the open literature and ob-tained from Burgasov, they had plotted all of the live-stock deaths associated with the outbreak in the vil-lages surrounding Sverdlovsk. The result was startling:a straight line extending about fifty kilometers to thesoutheast from the southern part of the city. The pat-tern of animal deaths fit with that expected if a windfrom the northwest had picked up anthrax spores re-leased in southern Sverdlovsk—the location of Com-pound 19.

The next day, Walker accompanied Meselson,Hugh-Jones, and Shelokov to a local cemetery wherea special section had been set aside for victims of theoutbreak, to record information from grave markersand see for himself the final resting place of the peoplewhose bodies had provided his samples. The anthraxvictims had been buried at some distance from theother graves in the cemetery, but over time their area—designated as “Sector 13”—had become surroundedand infiltrated by other graves. Only the dates of death

days and nights that surrounded it, Walker remem-bers that “the number one feeling I had was of whatan incredible mystery this was.” From the pathologi-cal evidence, he was certain about what had killed thepeople in Sector 13, but he felt there were other ele-ments of the story—human elements—that neededclearing up. “I’d taken along a mystery novel to readin the evening, and I got through about three pages ofit. My mind was just so preoccupied—this mysterygoing on around me was a lot more intriguing than theone in the book, trying to think through what this per-

Years later, looking back at that moment in the Yekaterinburg cemetery and theson had said, and what were they trying to hint at orcover up, and what was the explanation for thatevent.”

Something larger was definitely going on, but theycouldn’t figure out exactly what. As Hugh-Jones sawit, someone seemed to be nudging them in a particu-lar direction, making sure that they met people whowould give them information that ran counter to theofficial story. Their itinerary had presumably been ap-proved in advance by the KGB; maybe, he thought,local officials were using the team as a way of getting


back at the military for what they saw as Compound19’s responsibility for the outbreak, and the KGB washelping as a way of undermining its traditional rivalsin the military.

At the same time, someone else had also gone togreat lengths to block the path of the investigation,as Shelokov and Hugh-Jones learned when they wentlooking for documents related to the people buriedin Sector 13. “We were going from office to office,and it was absolutely incredible,” Shelokov recalls.“We’d go in, and they’d just look at us like we fell offthe moon and say, ‘What is this? You want a deathcertificate for so-and-so? Why do you think he’s dead?’”

“‘Well, we have a picture of his grave, with hisname and so on. Can we see his death certificate?’”

“It turned out that all the death certificates hadbeen destroyed or altered. ‘Oh,’ they’d say, ‘he diedfrom pneumonia or the flu.’ They’d say, ‘What out-break? There was never any outbreak.’ Things likethat. Orwell could have described them very well.”

At about the same time Shelokov and Hugh-Joneswere being frustrated in their search for public records,Walker was closing in on the last of Abramova andGrinberg’s forty-two cases. He had yet to see anythingthat changed his diagnosis of inhalational anthrax. Hewas also beginning to get a little nervous. Suddenly,the other members of the team told him, people hadstopped cooperating with them. Promising leads driedup as sources stopped returning telephone calls orcanceled appointments without warning. In one case,they arrived for a meeting with a public health offi-cial and found what Shelokov describes as “giant go-rillas” in dark suits waiting in his outer office. Whenthe official appeared, he was pale and trembling, andtold them that he couldn’t talk with them. Meselsonmanaged to coax him into going ahead with the meet-ing, but it was no good; the man would only repeatthe official story, and insisted on leaving his office dooropen so the “gorillas” could hear what he was saying.

No one was sure what was going on, but it mighthave had something to do with the unexpected ar-rival of then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who hadcome to town to visit his sick mother. Yeltsin had beenthe city’s Communist Party chief—the equivalent ofthe mayor—in 1979.

“After Yeltsin came home, all these people whowere willing to talk with us quit talking,” Walker says.“We tried to make up our minds, did that have some-thing to do with Yeltsin coming back? We definitelygot a feeling something had changed. And at aboutthat point, it seemed to me that I knew somethingthat I was pretty sure some people didn’t want me toknow.”

Walker’s concern was not mere paranoia. Thecountry was still unstable—it had been less than a yearsince Yeltsin had faced down the military coup thatled to the collapse of the USSR—and Yekaterinburgwas a long way from the American embassy in Mos-cow. “Almost anything could have happened, includ-ing an accident,” is how Shelokov describes the situa-tion. And so, on the morning after he finished his au-topsy review, with sections from Abramova andGrinberg’s paraffin-block-preserved samples safelytucked away in his bags, Walker left the team and flewback to the Russian capital, the first leg of his returnto the West.

Grinberg and Abramova had managed to

preserve microscope slides, tissue samples, and

whole organs from forty-two different autopsies.


Not long after Walker leftRussia, he and the other teammembers learned of an eventthat cast an odd light on theirexperiences there. Only a fewdays before they first arrivedin Moscow, a Russian reporterinterviewing Yeltsin had askedhim about the Sverdlovsk out-break. “The official conclusionstated that it was carried bysome dog, though later the KGBadmitted that our military de-velopment was the cause,”Yeltsin said.

Yeltsin’s explanation wasconfusing—after all, the offi-cial story had centered on in-fected livestock, not a dog.Still, the Russian president’sstatement marked the begin-ning of an unprecedented se-ries of revelations about Sovietbiological weapons programs.In the decade after Walker’steam went to Russia, defec-tors, outside investigators, andeven former officials withinthe Soviet germ-warfare estab-lishment went public with al-legations that the USSR hadviolated the biological warfareconvention on a massive scale.Thousands of Soviet scientistsand technicians had manufac-tured enormous quantities ofanthrax, plague, and smallpox,while working to perfectweaponized versions of otherdeadly agents like the Ebola and Marburg viruses.

Sverdlovsk, it seemed, was only the tip of a verylarge iceberg. But the information Walker and the othermembers of the team were able to bring back providedsome of the strongest evidence that something wasdefinitely floating out there in the fog. In a series of

Thousands of

Soviet scientists and

technicians had

manufactured

enormous quantities of

anthrax, plague, and

smallpox, while

working to perfect

weaponized versions of

other deadly agents

like the Ebola and

Marburg viruses.

articles co-authored withAbramova, Grinberg, andYampolskaya, Walker and theother investigators firmly es-tablished inhalational anthraxas the cause of the Sverdlovskepidemic (Meselson waseventually convinced afterthe group returned home),examined the epidemiologyof both human and animaloutbreaks, studied the strainsof bacteria involved, andlooked at the outbreak’s im-plications for clinical care,military operations, and thesurvival of the Biological War-fare Convention. Walker’smost recent Sverdlovsk paper,co-authored with Abramova,Grinberg, Yampolskaya, andUTMB pathologist JeromeSmith, described a quantita-tive microscopic study of ad-ditional samples of anthrax-infected tissue brought toUTMB by Grinberg, whospent a year in Galveston asa visiting scientist. Printed inModern Pathology in May2001, it ended with this chill-ing sentence on the value ofthe knowledge gained fromthe autopsy materials: “Thisinformation would be par-ticularly important to attend-ing pathologists if and whenthe first cases of deliberatebioterrorist dispersal of an-

thrax come to pass.”Within six months of publishing those words,

Walker—along with everyone else in the country—got a look at “the first cases of deliberate bioterroristdispersal of anthrax.”

It looked a lot like what he’d seen in Sverdlovsk.


Are Mass Vaccinations Warranted?“It’s a possibility, but I don’t think that it’llhappen.… There were really slightly morethan twenty cases, including cutaneouscases…and I don’t believe that that in itselfwould justify that type of response.” (Dr.David H. Walker, professor and chair ofUTMB’s pathology department, on whetheranthrax vaccinations will one day be com-monplace.)—Interview aired January 29, 2002,on the Charlie Jones Show, KRLD-AM, a CBS affiliatein the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Natural Cause Called Unlikely in TwoAnthrax CasesDr. David Walker, an anthrax expert at the University ofTexas Medical Branch at Galveston, said he had a “hardtime making this into a natural exposure—that’s verysuspicious, two people whose only contact was in abuilding.” (Regarding the discovery of a second personin Florida who had inhaled anthrax bacteria.)—October 9,2001, the New York Times (circulation 1,159,954).

Natural Explanation for Anthrax Cases‘Unlikely’“Could there be a natural explanation? Yeah, therecould be. But it’s very unlikely.” (Dr. David Walker ofUTMB on how the man in Florida who died from anthraxcould have been exposed to the bacterium.)—LeighHopper, October 10, 2001, in the Houston Chronicle(circulation 553,462).

N.Y. Worker’s Anthrax Deepens Mystery“We shouldn’t assume they’re going to continue to dothis in the same way…. To focus on the mail…may notfollow the way they’re thinking.” (Dr. David Walker,regarding the diagnosis of two anthrax victims who,unlike the first anthrax victims, handled mail onlyincidentally at their jobs.)—Michael Powell and CeciConnolly, October 31, 2001, for the Washington Post(circulation 783,000).

Hardball with Chris MatthewsHost Chris Matthews was focusing on the recent anthraxcase in New York of a Mrs. Nguyen, who had diedsuddenly.Matthews: “This woman apparently showed symptoms.She’s dead as of this morning. What does that tell you? Isthis the normal life expectancy?”Dr. Walker: “That’s exactly the course that occurred in

Russia and the outbreak there. They investi-gated some years afterwards.”Matthews: “What are the symptoms?”Dr. Walker: “Up front it’s very nonspecificsymptoms. They’re not anything that reallywould tell you that a person is going todevelop later on an illness that’s severe.”Matthews: “Let’s talk about the spores. Theytravel through air. Is that correct?”

Dr. Walker: “Yes.’Matthews: “Once they’re released from say an envelope,they travel once or can they be reaerosolized?”Dr. Walker: “Secondary aerosolization is very difficult,unlikely.”—Interview aired on national MSNBC cabletelevision 7-8 p.m. on October 31, 2001 (estimatedaudience 135,261).

Laboratories on the Front Lines…the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention inAtlanta looks after public health and investigatesoutbreaks, such as the recent anthrax attacks. The U.S.Army’s medical research facility in Fort Detrick, Md.,works on protecting soldiers. That leaves one criticalarea untouched, says Dr. Walker: “Who’s doing the basicscience?” In part, Texas.—Alexandra Witze, writingDecember 3, 2001, in the Dallas Morning News (circula-tion 511,159).

FBI Subpoenas Labs, Schools in Anthrax ProbeWalker noted that many postdoctoral students at hisinstitution and others are foreign-born. He expressedsome concern that the scrutiny of university-trainedmicrobiologists not hinder the flow of scientific talent tothis country. “The great strength of America has beentaking the brains of the rest of the world and fosteringtheir development,” Walker said.—Earl Lane, writingOctober 31, 2001, in Newsday (circulation 571, 283).

AnthraxDr. David Walker, chairman of the department ofpathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch atGalveston, was part of a U.S. team that visited Russia in1992, just before Boris Yeltsin finally acknowledged theescape of anthrax from a bioweapons plant. Confrontedwith the evidence of an unprecedented seventy-seveninfections and sixty-four deaths, Walker and the othersbegan thinking hard about the biology of anthrax andhow doctors might deal with an outbreak.—Michael D.Lemonick, writing October 22, 2001, in Time(circulation 4, 124, 451).

Quotations from Chairman David H. Walker



B Y A B I G A I L Z U G E R

was high noon on a midsummer

day, temperature ninety-four and

rising, the sky a hot white bowl, the

gulf breeze a hot wet breath. In a tiny

fan-cooled taqueria down the street

from his laboratory, Dr. C.J. Peters,

known to many as one of the scientists

who battled a deadly Ebola virus out-

break in the 1994 best seller The Hot

Zone, sprinkled a little extra Tabasco

sauce over his steaming fajitas.

“Oh, I don’t mind the heat that

much,” he said. “I guess I sweat just

about the same as anyone else.”



Actually, between hot climates and anxious mo-ments, Peters, sixty-one, has probably sweated just a bitmore than average in the course of a distinguished ca-reer pursuing deadly new viral diseases around the world.

He has seen a colleague sicken and die during anoutbreak, and worried that others would also succumb;he has eaten guinea pig in Ecuador and termites in Af-rica; he has even been immortalized in highly fictional-ized form in the 1995 movie thriller “Outbreak” (eitherby Dustin Hoffman or Rene Russo; he said he was notsure which one).

Now, after a career primarily in government service,first in the Army’s Medical Research Institute for Infec-tious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, then at theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) inAtlanta, the Texas native has come home to this hot zoneas a civilian again, as professor of pathology, microbiol-ogy, and immunology at the University of Texas Medi-cal Branch at Galveston.

His preferred footwear of socks and sandals is nolonger a violation of uniform; his Texas vowels blendsmoothly with the native drawl; and he says that at leastfor now, he is happy to be away from the frontlines, nolonger at the beck and call of microbes tugging his at-tention to distant parts of the world.

As chief of the special pathogens branch at the CDCfor eight years, Peters was responsible for musteringequipment and personnel when the agency was calledfor help in outbreaks and for running the laboratory in-vestigation that made sense of the data afterward.

“He made critically important contributions toCDC’s efforts to respond to many of the challenges posedby emerging infections,” said Dr. James M. Hughes, di-rector of the National Center for Infectious Diseases atthe agency. “When he called me at home at night or overthe weekend, it meant that we were about to embark onanother interesting and challenging response to a majorpublic health emergency.”

Now Peters is hoping to look at even biggerpuzzles—the innumerable unanswered biological ques-tions of how and why viruses suddenly attack humanswith diseases that have never been seen before.

The big lure of the Galveston job, he said, was theplanned biosafety level 4 laboratory here, which he willdirect. It is one of a handful in North America (five atlast count) that enable space-suited scientists to probeviruses, like Ebola, that are so contagious and difficult to

treat that they must be studied under the most protectedlaboratory conditions.

Peters’s arrival in this faded city, where the medicalschool and its affiliates are by far the biggest game intown, has an appealing historical resonance. In the nine-teenth century, Galveston itself, then a thriving commer-cial center, was regularly overwhelmed by outbreaks ofyellow fever—one of the viral diseases that brings a cer-tain sparkle to Peters’s eyes.

In a symmetric turn of events, Galveston is now fill-ing up with world-class scientists who specialize in thehundreds of obscure viruses that suddenly leap out frominsects and animals to people.

Some of these viruses ride in the innards of mosqui-toes, ticks, and other insects, which can then transmitthem with a bite. Others are carried by rodents—fieldmice, house mice and even, occasionally, pet hamsters.Still others, like the Ebola virus and its relatives, seemto appear out of nowhere, blasting through a village (or aherd of livestock or a shipment of laboratory animals)and killing half or more of their victims before disap-pearing again.

Most infect humans only in developing countries—yellow fever, for example, has not been contracted in theUnited States since the early twentieth century. But be-cause the diseases have such an intimate connection tothe weather, agriculture, and economy of a region, theexperts are never all that surprised when a virus showsup in a new species of victim or a new place.

“Evolution is still progressing,” Peters said. “Theviruses are evolving, and the hosts are evolving, too. I don’tthink anyone appreciates how complicated the biology is.”

He is still unpacking boxes, dealing with forms forenrolling in a health plan, and trying to coax the Japa-nese maple he and his wife, Susan, brought from Atlantaout of a bad slump. But his conversation is a whirl ofwide-ranging questions and research plans that flash fromone obscure virus to another at a dizzying clip.

In 1993 Peters led the CDC team that figured outwhy young healthy people in the nation’s Southwest weresuddenly dying from a devastating pneumonia. The dis-ease was caused by a new member of the specieshantavirus, carried by deer mice. The virus causes toofew human cases—only about twenty a year in the UnitedStates—to enable scientists to study it properly. Petersplans to study its habits and disease-causing abilities inanimal models instead.


Which one of the hundreds of frightening viruses ofhis acquaintance really makes him sweat? It is not theEbola virus, prime nightmare material for the readers ofRichard Preston’s The Hot Zone, with its graphic descrip-tions of the bloody death throes of its monkey and hu-man victims. Instead, it is the Nipah virus that hauntsPeters. This recently discovered distant relative of themeasles virus exploded through pig farms in Malaysiaand Singapore three years ago, killing hundreds of farm-ers and their animals with a brain infection. There isneither a vaccine nor a treatment to protect against Nipahinfection when (not if, Peters said) it returns.

Many of his research plans await the construction of themedical school’s $18.6 million ultrasafe biosafety level 4laboratory, which is expected to be completed in 2003.

He wants to do more work on the Rift Valley fevervirus, which he has been investigating for years. Thisvirus explodes periodically in a band across Africa, espe-cially during wet seasons. Mosquitoes infect livestockand people; people butchering sick animals can be in-fected, too.

Of one hundred people who come down with RiftValley fever, ninety-eight will have a mild flu for a fewdays, but two will develop a desperate, progressive ill-ness, with bleeding into the eyes, the stomach, and theintestines, and they will have a high likelihood of dying.

There is one clue to the outcome of infection: thecells of monkeys who survive the disease manufacture aprotective molecule called interferon far more promptlythan those who die. But no one knows why survivors arelucky enough to have cells that do this.

“I want to get back into that area—the genetics ofhost resistance,” Peters said. He is also planning to col-laborate with a Galveston colleague on the creation of ananimal vaccine against Rift Valley fever.

And then there is West Nile virus, which Peters knewwell long before it arrived in the Western Hemispherein 1999 (possibly in the belly of an infected Middle East-ern mosquito that hopped a flight to New York).

The West Nile virus is a cousin of the yellow fevervirus, but it is spread by a different kind of mosquito andaffects the brain rather than the liver and the intestines.There is no treatment for either. With colleagues inGalveston’s structural biology department, Peters is plan-ning to look for molecules that can fit neatly into slots inthese viruses and stop them from attacking human cells.

After completing medical school at Johns Hopkinsand a residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dal-las, Peters joined the National Health Service as an al-ternative to military service. He arrived at his first post-ing in Panama in unforgettable style, said Dr. Karl M.Johnson, a renowned virologist who was Peters’s super-visor then. He was at the wheel of a silver Pontiac con-vertible he had driven straight down through Mexico.He was also so late that he was almost AWOL, and hehad a brewing case of hepatitis from the food along the way.

“He was marvelously wild,” Johnson said. “But fromthe start it was clear that, when he wanted to, he had afine mind. His science is very solid, and the breadth ofhis interests is unique.”

After working in Panama with an assortment of obscureand dangerous viruses, Peters was hooked on the field.


Government regulations require this kind of labo-ratory for research on deadly airborne germs for whichno vaccines are available to protect workers. The labsare encased in protective machinery: pumps suck air outthrough filters that trap viral particles, and ovens steril-ize all discarded waste.

Researchers suit up in anterooms with one-piecepolyvinyl suits, helmets, and two sets of gloves; in thelaboratory they breathe air piped directly into their suitsthrough a hose, and most lab benches are encased intransparent hoods for additional air filtration.

The administrators of the Galveston medical cam-pus have had their own set of nightmares over the newlaboratory—specifically, about the wisdom of building iton a skinny barrier island with “the potential for experi-encing violent weather,” in the cautious words of Dr.Adrian A. Perachio, the medical school’s vice presidentfor research.

A giant hurricane demolished Galveston in 1900,prompting the city to erect a giant sea wall and shore upthe island against it for protection against future blasts.Hurricanes regularly revisit the city (the last to makelandfall on Galveston Island occurred in 1983), prompt-ing evacuations and damaging property.

The new laboratory will be nestled in a niche in amedical school building that has been standing since1926. “I’m not worried,” Peters said. “It’s thirty feetabove the surge, and the walls can stand 140-mile-per-hour winds.” An evacuation protocol will begin the mo-ment a hurricane warning is declared, he said. The labo-ratory will be shut down in ninety minutes. All infec-tious agents will be burned, and infected laboratory ani-mals will be sacrificed to prevent any virus from escap-ing.

Peters is unfazed at the prospect of his lab periodi-cally vaporizing itself at the behest of the weather. “It’sone of the prices you pay,” he said, for establishing ahome base in this somewhat unlikely new center forominous infectious diseases.

Virus experts have been heading to Galveston for adecade now, lured by unusually generous financial sup-port from the medical school, the prospect of collaborat-ing with renowned colleagues, and the proximity to Cen-tral and South America, where much of their field workis done.

“The infectious disease environment here isunique,” said Dr. Stanley M. Lemon, the dean of medi-cine. Grants from the National Institute of Allergy and

Infectious Diseases to Galveston researchers in 2001 havesoared from $4.3 million in 1995 to more than $10 millionthis year.

“It is easily the best place of its kind in the country,if not the world,” Johnson, the virologist, said.

Workdays for these scientists lack the continuoushigh drama implied by books like The Hot Zone. In fact,Peters wrote his own far more tempered memoir, VirusHunter, published in 1997 to set the record straight. (Saleshave been respectable, but the book has been far from abest seller.)

“People have to know more about these viruses,”Peters said. They should be aware, he said, that whilethe Hollywood take on killer viruses is fiction, the basicpremise is true. New patterns of weather, tourism, com-merce, and politics will continue to lead disease-causingmicrobes directly to vulnerable hosts, exploding into out-breaks of new infections.

In South America, for instance, yellow fever is in thejungles, he said, and the species of mosquito that trans-mits the virus in cities, once eradicated from SouthAmerica with DDT after World War II, has returned sincewidespread spraying stopped. When will trade, tourismor subtle climatic shifts bring yellow fever back toGalveston, not safely encased in a lab vial but in a mos-quito out roaming the city?

“We’re all waiting,” Peters said.

Abigal Zuger is a New York-based physician specializing ininfectious diseases. This article previously appeared in TheNew York Times and is Copyright 2001 by The New YorkTimes Company.

The new biosafety level 4 laboratory will enable UTMB

researchers to safely tackle some of the most dangerous

pathogens in existence.


Secret Agents: The Menace of EmergingInfectionsCould this virus [Rift Valley fever virus] or somesimilarly undesirable relative come to the UnitedStates? “I can’t tell you when, but it will,” says legend-ary virus hunter C.J. Peters, now at the University ofTexas Medical Branch at Galveston. Citing the propen-sity of animal pathogens to seek new niches, he says,“If we can have BSE [bovine spongiform encephalopathy,or mad cow disease] and foot and mouth disease inBritain, and we can have Nipah in Malaysia, and wecan have Rift Valley fever in Egypt and in Arabia,what’s different about the U.S.?” An interveningocean, as well as strong animal quarantine laws, havekept this country safe so far. “But I don’t think we cancount on blind luck always.”—Madeline Drexler, SecretAgents: The Menace of Emerging Infections, publishedby Joseph Henry Press, 2002

Missing Army Microbes Called Non-Infectious—Scientist Says Samples Had NoRole in Anthrax Attacks“There’s no 100 percent guarantee, short of puttingthe scientists under guard 24 hours a day.”(Peters onthe possibility of terrorists or criminals stealing anthraxand other potentially lethal agents from laborato-ries.)—Joby Warrick, January 22, 2002, writing for theWashington Post (circulation 783,000).

Killer’s Trail—Why Anthrax Probe IsIncreasingly Hunting Domestic ‘Lone Wolf’The so-called Ames strain is known to be possessed byonly a small number of laboratories, but graduatestudents “swap strains around quite readily, and theprofessor may not even know,” Dr. Peters says. Indeed,the FBI now says that it has found 22,000 individuals orlabs with access to anthrax, though it doesn’t say howmany had access to the Ames strain. Dr. Peters says theharder task is figuring out how to make anthrax floatin the air so that it can be inhaled.—Mark Schoofs, GaryFields, and Jerry Markon, writing November 12, 2001, inthe Wall Street Journal (circulation 1,780,605).

Making Anthrax a Weapon is Hard“You can take out 200,000 people in a heartbeat—maybe millions…I’m not worried about anthrax in aletter. I’m worried about weapons of mass destruc-tion.” (Peters on weaponized anthrax, a form of thebacterium that is designed to be widely dispersed andextremely lethal.)—Steve Sternberg, October 31, 2001,in USA Today (circulation 2,241,677).

Evaluating the Need for SmallpoxVaccinations“The smallpox vaccine is much better and much furtherdeveloped and we understand it better than theanthrax vaccine. We used it in millions and millions ofpeople. But any vaccine is going to have side effects—

all of them have some side effects—so you have tolook at the risk and benefit. There are different figuresfor the minor reactions of one in a thousand, one inten thousand, but certainly, a minimum figure of onein a million will be severely damaged by the vaccine.And we don’t want four hundred people in thiscountry to be hurt by smallpox vaccine.” (Peters on thesmallpox vaccine and the possibility of recommencingvaccinations of the general public.)—Interviewed liveby Katie Couric on Friday, October 26, 2001, onNBC News Today, NBC.

As Investigation Churns, More Attacks AreExpected“The inevitable suggestion is going to be, ‘If we lockup all the anthrax, we won’t have a problem’…But ifwe lock up all the problems, we won’t have anysolutions.” (Peters on concerns over laboratorysafety.)—David Johnston and David Kocieniewski,writing October 25, 2001, in the New York Times(circulation 1,159,954).

Bioterrorism—Rx for Anthrax: Knowledge,Calm and Common Drugs“There are veterinary labs in every state that havesamples of the anthrax bacterium for research. Some-one could just steal some. Smallpox, which is anotherserious threat, is kept under lock and key in Russia andin the United States—as far as we know. But secretstashes are thought to exist elsewhere in the formerSoviet Union and perhaps in other countries as well.The danger would be if they put those supplies to useor sold them to terrorists.” (Peters on how terroristsmight obtain anthrax or other deadly agents.)—JamesMcGoon, writing October 18, 2001, in People Maga-zine (circulation 3,703,922).

Experts: Surge in Incidents SuggestsBioterrorism“Common things happen commonly. Uncommon thingsdon’t. Therefore, when you hear hoofbeats, you com-monly think horses, not zebras. Right now, I’m thinkingzebras.” (Peters on whether the increasing incidents ofanthrax cases were isolated cases or part of a largerplot.)—Alfonso Chardy, writing October 16, 2001, in theMiami Herald (circulation 357,005).

Anthrax: Who is Behind the Attacks?“Hoarding antibiotics is a bad idea because you won’tknow you have anthrax when the time comes…Our bigguns have to be on hand and ready to use when weneed them. We don’t need people who are alreadyallergic to them because they misused them or resis-tant bacteria that have already seen these antibiotics.”(Peters on the public’s rush to hoard antibiotics.)—Interview aired nationally on October 15, 2001, on CNNTalkback Live.

The Quotable Dr. Peters



B Y P A T R I C K L . B A R R Y

Nanoparticles could fix cellsfrom the inside out, benefiting

space travelers and theEarth-bound, too



Only this isn’t Hollywood. This is real science.Researchers funded by a grant from NASA recently

began a project to make this futuristic scenario a reality.If successful, the “vessels” developed by these scien-tists—called nanoparticles or nanocapsules—could helpmake another science fiction story come true: humanexploration of Mars and other long-term habitation ofspace.

While space applications will be the researchers’ pri-mary focus, nanoparticles also hold great potential formany fields of medicine, particularly cancer treatment.The tantalizing promise of delivering tumor-killing poi-sons directly to cancerous cells, thus averting the ravag-ing side-effects of chemotherapy, has generated a lot ofinterest in nanoparticles among the medical community.

“The purpose of these nanoparticles is to introducea new type of therapy—to actually go inside individualcells…and repair them, or, if there’s a lot of damage, toget rid of those cells,” explains Professor James F. Leary,assistant vice president for advanced technology and di-rector of the molecular cytometry unit at UTMB. Learyis leading the research along with UTMB professorsStephen Lloyd, director of the Sealy Center for Envi-ronmental Health and Medicine, and MassoudMotamedi, director of the Biomedical Engineering Cen-ter; Nicholas Kotov of Oklahoma State University; andYuri Lvov of Louisiana Tech University.

Their project will focus on a problem related to can-cer—the high radiation doses experienced by astronautsin space, especially on journeys to the Moon or to Mars,which require leaving the protective umbrella of thegiant magnetic field surrounding the Earth.

Even the advanced materials used for radiationshielding on spacecraft can’t fully insulate astronauts fromthe high-energy radiation of space. These photons andparticles pierce the astronauts’ bodies like infinitesimalbullets, blasting apart molecules in their path. WhenDNA is damaged by this radiation, cells can behave er-ratically, sometimes leading to cancers.

“This is an important problem,” Leary says. “If hu-mans are going to live in space, we have to figure outhow to better protect them from radiation.”

Because shielding alone probably won’t solve theproblem, scientists must find some way to make the as-tronauts themselves more resistant to radiation damage.

Nanoparticles offer an elegant solution. These drug-delivery capsules are tiny—only a few hundred nanom-eters, which is smaller than a bacterium and smaller eventhan the wavelengths of visible light. (A nanometer isone-millionth of a millimeter.)

A simple injection with a hypodermic needle canrelease thousands or millions of these capsules into aperson’s bloodstream. Once there, nanoparticles will takeadvantage of the body’s natural cellular signaling systemto find radiation-damaged cells.

The trillions of cells in a human body identify them-selves and communicate with each other via complexmolecules embedded in their outer membranes. Thesemolecules act as chemical “flags” for communicating toother cells or as chemical “gates” that control entranceto the cell for molecules in the bloodstream (such as hor-mones).

When cells become damaged by radiation, they pro-duce markers in a particular class of proteins called CD-95

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

27T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S M E D I C A L B R A N C H AT G A LV E S T O N 27T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S M E D I C A L B R A N C H AT G A LV E S T O N

and place these on their outer surfaces.“It’s how the cell speaks to other cells and says, ‘Hey,

I’m injured,’” Leary says.By implanting molecules in the outer surface of the

nanoparticles that bind to these CD-95 markers, scien-tists can “program” the nanoparticles to seek out theseradiation-damaged cells.

If the radiation damage is very bad, nanoparticlescan enter the damaged cells and release enzymes thatinitiate the cell’s “auto-destruct sequence,” known asapoptosis. Otherwise, they can release DNA-repair en-zymes to try to fix the cell and return it to normal func-tioning.

Human beings and other organisms have naturalenzymes that attend to DNA and also repair mistakes,but some do a better job than others. “There are organ-isms that can [absorb high] radiation doses and do justfine,” Leary says. By studying such species, scientistshave already fashioned DNA-repairing enzymes thatcould be delivered by nanoparticles.

Leary’s team is also studying ways to attach fluores-cent molecules to the nanoparticles. These could be de-signed to light up at certain stages of the process, evenemploying different colors for different stages. Thesefluorescent tags would provide a way to monitor thenanoparticles within the body.

“To assess the degree of radiation damage, an astro-naut would put on something like a pair of glasses, butthose glasses peer inward onto the retina,” Leary ex-plains. “And you use the flowing of [fluorescent]

nanoparticles on cells through the retina as sort of an invivo assessment instrument.” (“In vivo” means “withinthe organism.”)

Related technology already exists—it’s used to mea-sure blood flow changes in the retina due to various dis-eases. NASA is interested in such noninvasive ways tomonitor health because astronauts might need to act astheir own doctors on extended missions.

“Eventually, astronauts might wear these glasses tosample what’s going on in their bloodstream. And then ifthey need treatment, they have a hypodermic needle withthe appropriate nanoparticles for the job,” he says.

Nanoparticles are a radically new approach tobiosensing and medicine delivery, and as such the tech-nology will require many more years to become matureand dependable. But it’s not a pie-in-the-sky fantasy. Allthe elements of this idea have already been demonstratedseparately—the DNA-repair enzymes, the nanoparticles,the fluorescent tags. The trick is getting them all to worktogether reliably.

“This is a very difficult problem, and we’re not go-ing to be able to do it all in three years,” which is theduration of the grant. “We’re trying to do some prettyinnovative science here—it’s a bit of a jump,” says Leary.“But that’s why it’s a lot of fun to work on.”

Patrick L. Berry is a freelance writer. This story originally ap-peared in slightly different form in the Science@NASA website and is reprinted with permission.

Professor James F. Leary:

“The purpose of these

nanoparticles is to

introduce a new type of

therapy—to actually go

inside individual

cells…and repair them,

or, if there’s a lot of

damage, to get rid of

those cells.”

28

NEWS Briefs


Here for the healthof womenThe School of Medicine an-nounced creation of the Center forInterdisciplinary Research inWomen’s Health. Professor AbbeyBerenson has been named directorof the new center, with ProfessorsCheryl Watson and SusanRosenthal acting as associatedirectors of basic research andclinical research, respectively. Themission of the center is to promotemultidisciplinary research related

to the health of women. Thecenter plans a weeklyseminar series starting inSeptember featuringUTMB faculty whose

research holds implicationsfor women’s health.

Winning combinationFour UTMB residents combinedmedical knowledge, knowledge oftrivia, and teamwork to triumph inthe Doctor’s Dilemma competi-tion—also known as “MedicalJeopardy”—at a national AmericanCollege of Physicians–AmericanSociety of Internal Medicine (ACP–ASIM) meeting in Philadelphia inApril.

Thirteen teams of medical resi-dents representing regions fromacross the United States competedin the game that models itself afterthe television show “Jeopardy.”UTMB residents Ann Buchanan,Rajiv Gupta, Jennifer Cox James,and Sreedhar Mandayam repre-sented the Southern Texas Re-gional Chapter of the ACP–ASIMat the national competition. Inspring 2001, the four-member teamwon a regional competition and astate competition last fall.

Earning whilelearningUTMB received the Gulf CoastWorkforce Development Area 2001Employer Award of Excellence forits innovative Work School Pro-gram. The Work School Programhas enabled nearly six hundredemployees to return to school andearn degrees in nursing. In turn,these employees agree to work asnurses at UTMB. The programprovides much-needed nurses atUTMB. Other institutions acrossthe state are looking at the WorkSchool Program as a model for theirorganizations.

Shots across Texas—and beyondLast December, UTMB inaugu-rated the Sealy Center for VaccineDevelopment, a new interdiscipli-nary center aiming to create,perfect and promote vaccines. Thecenter will focus on emergingtropical diseases and deadly anddisabling viruses that could be usedas bioterrorist weapons, as well asvaccines for age-old scourges suchas influenza, malaria, and hepatitis.The new center has fifty-fivefaculty members including clinicalinvestigators, laboratory-basedresearchers, epidemiolo-gists, economists,and healtheducators.

Killing with kindnessThe health of intact, elderlyresidents in nursing homes is beingundermined by the kindness oftheir caretakers, according to Dr.Charles E. Blair, associate professorin UTMB’s School of Nursing. Toaddress this problem, the NationalInstitute for Nursing Research hasawarded Blair a $1 million-plusgrant to conduct a behavior inter-vention study in twelve nursinghomes in the Galveston-Houstonarea over four years. The study,“Decreasing Dependent Self-CareBehavior in Intact Elders,” willcompare four levels of educationdesigned to help nursing homeaides facilitate their clients’continued self-care.

“Aides do not come in tonursing homes with theintention of making theresidentsdependent,”Blair explains.“But becausethey are noteducated tounderstand the theoreticalbasis of this dependency and whythe residents need to be encour-aged to do for themselves, theythink that they are helping bydoing.”

Thanks a million—twiceUTMB received two significantcontributions from George andCynthia Mitchell, the first to createan Alzheimer’s disease researchprogram and the second to estab-lish an endowed distinguishedchair in geriatric medicine.

The Mitchells committed $1 millionto fund research for Alzheimer’s

T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S M E D I C A L B R A N C H AT G A LV E S T O N

NEWS Briefs

29

disease (AD) andother age-relatedneurodegenerativeconditions. Calledthe George andCynthia MitchellResearch Programin Alzheimer’sDisease, theprogram’s focus

will be to study emerging researchand treatment related to AD with agoal of preventing the disease atthe molecular level.

The Mitchells also established a$1 million distinguished chair tosupport the university’s agingprogram. This endowment, whichthe university will name theGeorge and Cynthia MitchellDistinguished Chair in GeriatricMedicine, will support ongoingresearch and education at theUTMB Sealy Center on Aging.Dr. James S. Goodwin has beenappointed to the distinguishedchair.

Green report cardUTMB has achieved nationalrecognition for its efforts to developan environmentally sustainablecampus. According to the firstnational survey of college anduniversity environmental practices,“The State of the Campus Environ-ment: A National Report Card onEnvironmental Performance and

Sustainabilityin HigherEducation,”UTMB is aleading schoolin thesecategories:doing morewith energy

efficiency and conservation, doingmore with recycling, solid wasteand materials flow, and transporta-tion programs. The report, spon-sored by the National WildlifeFederation (NWF) and publishedin May of 2002, compiles findingsfrom 891 colleges and universities,and provides green grades for over20 categories.

Hot flashIn its July 22, 2002, issue, U.S. News& World Report ranked UTMBamong the country’s fifty besthospitals both for hormonal disor-ders and kidney disease. It was oneof two Texas hospitals in the formercategory and one of five in thelatter.

participant through clinical dataand ethical concerns faced bymedical staff and a family caring foran elderly woman.

Sigma Theta Tau International, theHonor Society ofNursing, selectedthe CD-ROM forits annual Com-puter-BasedProfessionalEducation Award,which honorsoutstandinginstructional useof a computer for

nursing students or professionalnursing continuing education.

Healthy surroundingsThanks to a recent grant of$1.25 million from the NationalInstitute for Environmental HealthSciences, the EnvironmentalToxicology Training Program willexpand its research and increase itsenrollment. The program is offeredthrough UTMB’s Graduate Schoolof Biomedical Sciences. It allowspredoctoral and postdoctoralstudents the opportunity to workalongside faculty from manydisciplines, including pathology,pharmacology, biochemistry,preventive medicine,and commu-nity health.Since itsinception,ninepostdoctoraland thirty-onepredoctoralstudents havegraduated from theprogram.

Facing the endOne of the most difficult decisionsto make while caring for a very illfamily member is when to let goand accept the end of life. Teach-ing health care providers to ethi-cally and professionally handle thedifficulties that arise when makingthese decisions is the subject ofUTMB’s award-winning CD-ROM,“Ethics and End-of-Life Care.”This interactive teaching aid is thelatest development from the Schoolof Nursing Multimedia Lab. TheCD-ROM combines video, graph-ics, text, and sound to guide the


G R A D U AT E S C H O O L O F B I O M E D I C A L S C I E N C E S

How undergraduates learn to stop worrying

about their future careers and love research

B Y H E I D I L U T Z

Researching Options

Texas A&M University student Katie Treadwell hasn’thad a chance to work in a medical research laboratory ather College Station campus. Uncertain whether to pur-sue a Ph.D., a medical degree, or both, Treadwell thoughtexperience in a lab might help her decide.

So during the summer of 2000, while living at homein Texas City, Treadwell applied for a summer job in theUTMB orthopaedics lab. She got it and so enjoyed it shereturned between her sophomore and junior years dur-ing the summer of 2001 as part of the Summer Under-graduate Research Program (SURP) in the Graduate Schoolof Biomedical Sciences. There she studied how lasersinteract with cardiac tissue, determining the optimal wave-length of lasers to fix heart abnormalities in humans.

In addition to the research, Treadwell learned howlabs really operate. She saw the time that must be spentand learned about funding opportunities for researchers.

For over a decade, the Summer Undergraduate Re-search Program has helped dozens of undecided under-graduate students plan their future and decide whetherthey want a career in research.

Expanding the field of research

Through the program, typically thirty-five to fortyundergraduate students majoring in biological sciencesspend a summer working in a research laboratory, con-tributing to and often completing a project and workingalongside faculty researchers who are experts in biomedi-cine. Recently, the coordinators of the program receiveda federal grant to recruit an additional seven to eight un-dergraduates majoring in physics, math, and other com-putational sciences. Now, future engineers, chemists, andphysicists are learning how to apply their analytical knowl-edge to the world of biomedical research.

Vince Hilser, an assistant professor of human biologi-cal chemistry and genetics, and one of the faculty mem-bers leading the program, said UTMB’s structural biol-ogy program has a special need for computational andother non-biological science majors who might considera medical career and want research experience. But until

now, biomedical labs attracted biology majors, not physi-cists, chemists, and engineers, Hilser said.

In practice, however, students with backgrounds inanalytical sciences have many of the skills needed fortoday’s complex biomedical studies, because so muchresearch involves computers and detailed knowledgeabout chemical structure and function. For example,genetic modeling is done largely on a computational level,and research into the benefits and effects of laser treat-ments requires an extensive background in physics andmath.

Bringing research to students

Tim Denning, now pursuing a doctorate in immu-nology, completed the Summer Undergraduate ResearchProgram and then entered the graduate school at UTMBin 1997. He is a self-proclaimed poster-child for the sum-mer program. “I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted todo—medical or graduate school,” Denning said. “Ithought this would be a good chance to get full-time, in-depth experience doing biomedical research.” Hestresses that the program is good for all students, whetherthey are looking at a career as a researcher or a physician.

While Denning was an undergraduate, few of hisinstructors promoted biomedicine as a career. “I reallybelieve if I didn’t do the SURP program I’d have goneto medical school,” Denning said. “I would have nevertried something else.”

Like Denning, Tracy Snell came to the summer pro-gram uncertain of what she wanted to do after her un-dergraduate career. Then a student at Prairie View A&M,Snell thought she wanted to do research, but wasn’t surewhich area she wanted to pursue. Her mentor suggestedthat she try her hand at research before making a finaldecision.

Snell spent two summers at UTMB and later wasaccepted as a graduate student, also in immunology. Inaddition to experiencing the sometimes-harsh realitiesassociated with research—the long hours, repetitive ex-periments, and occasional frustration—Snell also learned


what background she needed to pursue a successful ca-reer in biomedicine. After her first summer in Galveston,she returned to Prairie View knowing she needed to learnmore chemistry and cell biology.

She did. And now, like Denning, Snell is a strongadvocate for the summer program.

Making the most of summer

The hands-on training and chance to contribute sub-stantially to an ongoing project is enough to make thesummer program worthwhile, participants say. Until com-ing to UTMB, few of the students have had the opportu-nity to conduct research and be responsible for their ownprojects. But the program offers much more to studentsthan practical experience. For many of the undergradu-ates, the summer program is their first exposure to truefaculty mentoring.

The availability and willingness of UTMB’s facultyhelps undergraduate students develop the love of re-search that attracted Denning and Snell to the graduateprogram here. “They really give you a sense they’re outthere for your success,” Snell said.

Denning agreed, saying the environment at UTMBfosters faculty-to-student as well as faculty-to-faculty in-

teraction. “Everybody wants people to have a good ex-perience here,” he said.

This was among the reasons he chose UTMB overUT Southwestern in Dallas, which also admitted him andwhich is known for its excellent graduate program.

Sharing ideas

Beyond the laboratory education, students in the pro-gram learn from each other. At the end of the day, whenthey return to the same apartment complex, the studentsexchange ideas. It is this casual camaraderie that helpsmake the program a success.

By sharing ideas, each student learns a different wayof thinking about or approaching a project. They learnabout the range of research being conducted at UTMBand elsewhere. And they learn about what the future mayhold for them if they want to try a career in research.

“I get to branch out from just this one lab and talkwith other students,” said Katie Treadwell, the TexasA&M junior. “I get exposed to a whole wealth of infor-mation. It’s helping me to decide on a career path—that’simmeasurably important.”

Heidi Lutz is editor of UTMB’s employee newsletter, Impact.

Associate professor Richard B. Pyles of the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development works with Summer Undergraduate

Research Program student Kristin Killoran, a senior biology major at the University of Houston.


S C H O O L O F A L L I E D H E A LT H S C I E N C E S

As UTMB occupational therapy student MelissaDickens, twenty-one, watches her computer screen,Dr. Awatef Al Shammari—via video e-mail from a Kuwaitihospital—describes the troubles she’s having with a patient.

The patient, Sunita Sen, has ignored recommenda-tions for treatment, says Shammari. Despite her worsen-ing rheumatoid arthritis, Sen hesitates to follow herdoctor’s advice. A Hindu, Sen has decided against West-ern medicine and opted instead for ayurvedic medicine,a traditional Indian practice that involves fasting, medi-tation, and herbal remedies. Looking over Sen’s medicalrecord, Dickens wonders whether the herbs are contrib-uting to her borderline hypertension. Dickens e-mailsthe doctor recommending that Sen visit a rheumatolo-gist and consult with a rehabilitation specialist. Con-vinced the ayurvedic methods in general are a goodcomplement to her care plan, Dickens advises Dr.Shammari that Sen should see the specialist andcontinue with theayurvedic regimen,but perhaps changethe herbs used.

Why is a Kuwaitiphysician seekingmedical advice from aUTMB student? Intruth, neither thedoctor nor the patientexists. Both wereinvented, as were nu-merous other patientsand health care pro-viders from around theglobe, to give stu-dents a simulated ex-perience of the com-plexity different cul-

tures and religious beliefs can bring to the care of pa-tients.

Thanks to a three-year grant from the federal Bu-reau of Health Professions, Rodger Marion, assistant deanfor research and educational technology in the School ofAllied Health Sciences (SAHS), his colleague, Bruce R.Niebuhr, associate professor in SAHS, and a worldwideteam of collaborators are creating a training system thatstudents anywhere in the world can use and that theirinstructors can easily customize.

The web site for the Worldwide Health InformationSystem Simulation Linkage (WHISSL, pronouncedwhistle) is designed to let faculty incorporate sophisticatedcase-based learning into their courses. Each case has a“telemedicine consultation scenario” that sets out a prob-lem. It then lists web-based resources that students canuse to research the cultural, community, and health careaspects of the case. It also provides a complete online

electronic patientrecord. The WHISSLproject includes sixadvisors on culturalcontent, as well asfive advisors onmedical content.“We have peoplefrom many differentlocations and spe-cialties involved inthis,” Marion said.“It is truly an inter-national collabora-tion.”

To pursue thisproject, Marion hastraveled to severalcountries to video-

B Y J O H N C . T Y L E R

Worldwide Health Information System Simulation Linkageprovides faculty and students with global case studies

Assistant dean for research and educational technology Rodger Marion,

left, and associate professor Bruce R. Niebuhr fine-tune the Worldwide

Health Information System Simulation Linkage.


tape simulated patient interviews,faux scenes of providers asking forconsultations, and representative-looking “international communityprofiles” for students to explorevia the web.

His team has taped video seg-ments in Kuwait, Puerto Rico, Ar-gentina, and along the Rio GrandeRiver in Texas. Marion spent a fullweek working with faculty at theUniversity of Puerto Rico to de-vise a persona and medical historyfor a fictional, elderly patient liv-ing in the rural highlands west ofSan Juan. Marion and his crew in-terviewed the “patient”—actuallyan actor—and documented his im-mediate environment as well. Stu-dents will use the interview andcommunity-profile video to learnhow to create a care plan for pa-tients living in such circum-stances.

During four trips to the Uni-versity of Kuwait, Marion workedwith Kuwaiti educators to createother fictional “cases” that helpbring the experience and world-view of people from the MiddleEast and from Pakistan, India, andBangladesh to students of health care. Video interviewsof these simulated patients, including the one of SunitaSen, are designed to make the experience more tangible.

Because several WHISSL patients live along theUnited States/Mexico border, another “community pro-file” has been videotaped and photographed in commu-nities along the Rio Grande River from Brownsville toRio Grande City.

The community profiles, which are both video andphotographs accessible from web pages, aim to give thestudents a sense of where the patient is living. Often,where the patient lives is not where he or she was reared,so the students must learn not only about the patient’shome culture but about the adopted culture as well. Forexample, one of the fictional patients is from Bangladeshand lives in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

Some such patients are from Asia. “Hoa ThiNguyen” is an elderly grandmother and Vietnamese refu-gee. She now lives amid racial and ethnic strife in an

American community.“There is a great need for

students to be familiar with thecultural and religious expecta-tions of patients,” Marion said.“WHISSL is designed to givestudents an initial exposure topatients from other cultures andcountries, and to teach them touse the web-based tools to re-search any country and culture.”

In July 1999, UTMB re-ceived the grant allowing Marionand Niebuhr to bring the previ-ously developed Health Informa-tion System Simulation (HISS)program to the World Wide Web.This fall, the sixty-five universi-ties across the country licensed touse the original HISS softwarewill receive an upgrade to the ex-panded, web-based version.

Even though the originalHISS cases proved to be an ex-tremely valuable tool, Marionand Niebuhr felt something wasmissing. “Our cases in the HISSprogram focused simply on figur-ing out the patient’s medicalproblem, then coming up withways to solve it,” Niebuhr said.

“The new WHISSL web site helps us focus on devel-oping a new set of patients who bring rich cultural tradi-tions to the health care encounter, and it lets us trainstudents to be sensitive to providing integrated and ap-propriate care.”

Occupational therapy students have recently startedusing the system at UTMB as part of their classroominstruction. “The system also gives us a list of links toweb sites we can use to learn about the environmentthe patients live in,” said Melissa Dickens, the occupa-tional therapy student who “consulted” on Sen’s case.“I think we’re learning that in the medical professionyou can’t look at the patient only through your own be-lief system,” she said. “This gives us great insight intobackgrounds of people we may be working with every day.”

John C. Tyler, formerly a communications specialist at UTMB,is now senior communications specialist at Baylor College ofMedicine in Houston.

“WHISSL IS DESIGNED TO

GIVE STUDENTS AN

INIT IAL EXPOSURE TO

PATIENTS FROM OTHER

CULTURES AND

COUNTRIES , AND TO

TEACH THEM TO USE THE

WEB-BASED TOOLS TO

RESEARCH ANY COUNTRY

AND CULTURE .”


S C H O O L O F M E D I C I N E

Professor Tung V. Dinh has done well—for his family, colleagues, students, andpatients—by doing good

B Y K A T E M U R P H Y

‘Bonne Action’

A slight man, Tung V. Dinh is easy to miss among thepiles of books and papers that crowd his windowless of-fice in UTMB’s division of gynecologic oncology. Easyto miss, that is, if he is not looking directly at you. Hisblack eyes glisten with an intensity that makes polishedonyx seem dull.

Tung’s arresting eyes saw unspeakable horror dur-ing the last war in his native Vietnam. Yet there is noth-ing harsh about his gaze—nor his outlook. Despite a per-sonal reversal of fortune almost thirty years ago that wouldhave embittered many people, Tung shows no anger.“What good would it do?” he said. Doing good—or “bonneaction” as he was taught in the French Vietnameseequivalent of the Boy Scouts—has been the touchstoneof the medical career he started in Vietnam and resur-rected at UTMB. Board certified in both obstetrics andgynecology and pathology, widely published, respectedby his peers, and adored by his students and patients,Tung has done a lot of good since he, his wife, and fourchildren arrived, penniless, in Galveston in 1975.

Long before that, Tung (it’s Vietnamese custom touse the first name in formal address) trained at SaigonMedical University as an obstetrician/gynecologist andbecame director of the only modern hospital in Da Nang,the second largest city in Vietnam. During the war, thehospital treated some two hundred injured civilians perday. “Tung and I’d be in the operating room with ourshirts off because of the heat, working on one patientafter another,” said Edgar Archer Dillard, who led anAmerican surgical team to assist the struggling SouthVietnamese in 1963 and who retired eleven years ago aschief of UTMB’s division of gynecologic oncology. “Hewas just so smart and eager to learn,” Dillard said. Tungalso impressed him with his courage. “One day the VietCong came to the hospital, and they were throwing pa-tients out the window. Here comes Tung—little bare-chested Tung, so thin you could put your hands togetheraround his waist—yelling at them to leave his hospital,”said Dillard. “You know, they actually did. They left.”

Equally amazing to Dillard who, after a fourteen-hour day at the hospital, went home and fell exhaustedinto bed, was that Tung went home to treat women in agynecology clinic he had set up on the ground floor ofhis house. “We had this huge house, with a sort of com-pound, that was always crowded at night with patients

waiting to see my father,” remembers Tung’s son, TriDinh, who was in grade school at the time. Tung’s wife,Gia Duy To “Tonia” Dinh, also worked in the clinic. Thetwo met in Saigon while he was completing his residencyand she was earning her nursing degree.

Tung was well known in Vietnam and internation-ally. Through his diplomacy, he was able to convince for-eign governments and medical societies like the SwissRed Cross, Maltheser of Germany, and the U.S. PublicHealth Service to contribute funds to the Da Nang hos-pital. Even in the midst of war, Tung was able to raisemoney to build a surgical ward, two general medical units,a pediatrics unit, and helipad—all the components of hisdream for a post-war international hospital. “Da Nangwas a very crowded city and very poor,” said Tung. “Itwas my dream to give people there access to good medi-cal care.” He also employed the poor in the hospital,paying them in precious rice to wash linen and providejanitorial services. Dillard recounts how one of the indi-gent workers stole money out of his wallet, which he hadleft unattended. When the thief was caught, Dillard de-manded Tung fire him. Tung refused. The man had fivehungry children at home. “Tung taught me a lot aboutcompassion,” said Dillard.

With the Viet Cong rapidly advancing on Da Nangin March of 1975, Tung sent his family to Saigon, but hestayed behind. “I couldn’t leave,” said Tung. “I was at-tached to my hospital. It was my dream. I had to staywith my patients.” The North Vietnamese forces in-vaded, and Tung went into hiding for two weeks. “Iwould listen to the radio and there would be reports thathe had been killed or had converted to the communistside,” Tonia Dinh said. Through the help of a devotedformer patient, Tung managed to gain access to a ricketybarge. He and three other fugitives slipped offshore atmidnight. “Bombs were landing all around us,” he said,blowing nearby rafts out of the water. “All you could dowas lie down and pray.” Rescued by an American mili-tary patrol and reunited with his family in Saigon, Tungwas able to secure passage to the United States thanksto sponsorship by Dillard, who by then had assumed hisposition at UTMB.

“Here’s a man who was one of the most highly re-spected physicians in Vietnam who had to leave every-thing behind and start over,” said Garland D. Anderson,


professor and chair of UTMB’s department of obstetricsand gynecology. Dillard said, “Tung arrived wearing thisSalvation Army coat with sleeves that hung over his handsand his kids looked so raggedy.” Tung clutched two, smallplastic bags containing all their belongings. Tonia Dinhworked as a waitress at a waffle house, and their eldestson, Tuan, got a job washing dishes at Gaido’s seafoodrestaurant. Tung meanwhile studied for and passed thebattery of tests required to practice medicine in theUnited States by the Exam Commission for ForeignMedical Graduates. “He scored better than everybody,of course,” said Dillard.

But Tung wasn’t satisfied with certification to prac-tice. He wanted board certification in obstetrics and gy-necology. So in 1976, at age forty-five, Tung was acceptedas a resident at UTMB by William McGanity, chair ofOb/Gyn at the time. Tung still feels gratitude to him foraccepting “an old resident, some twenty years older thanthe others.” Back then a head nurse asked Tung if heknew how to measure the height of a uterus. “I told herI thought I could do it,” said Tung. Edward V. Hannigan,who was a new assistant professor in the division of gy-necologic oncology at the time, said Tung always nod-ded appreciatively at everything he said. “But I was al-ways aware he knew much more than I did,” saidHannigan, who now heads the division.

Saying he wanted to have something “extra” to of-fer since he was a foreigner, Tung completed a secondresidency in pathology. “It’s rare to find someone boardcertified in both areas,” Dillard said. But a longtime Viet-namese friend, Thieu Truong, who now lives in El Cajon,California, said Tung always had an insatiable hunger forknowledge. Following their father’s example, Tung’sthree sons also became physicians, and his daughterearned a Ph.D. in public health. “My father alwaysstressed education and took such joy in learning that noneof us would have dreamed of not taking education to thenth level,” said Tri, who received his medical training atUTMB and is now a fellow in gynecologic oncology atthe Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Tung’s current research interest is the developmentof blood vessels in tumors of the female genital tract, a

process known as angiogenesis. He has published scoresof journal articles over the years and authored eight text-books. In addition to his research and scholarly work, hehas also mentored countless medical students. “Tungwould always take on the students who weren’t doingwell,” said Hannigan. “I call it sending them to CampTung.” Most have gone on to successful medical careers.“How do you tell someone like Dr. Tung, who has gonethrough all that he has, that you can’t do something?”asked resident Sara Crowder. Sonia Carolina Robazetti—a Venezuelan doctor, a research assistant in Tung’s de-partment, and single mother of two small children—saidhe has helped her study for her licensing exams for for-eign medical graduates. “He always makes sure I havethe books I need and is always checking up on me,” sheadded. “I love him. It’s not just me. He’s touched so manylives.” One local recognition of his efforts is that he wasnamed a William Osler scholar at UTMB last October,making him one of a select group of just six UTMB fac-ulty members recognized for providing compassionatecare, teaching medical students to do the same, and serv-ing as role models for their peers. The scholars use theincome from the program’s $5 million endowment to fundgroup and individual projects related to medical educa-tion. Tung is using his share to bring Vietnamese physi-cians to study at UTMB, hoping that they not only willbe able to better treat their patients but also teach fel-low Da Nang physicians.

“My father has always looked for solutions and waysto help,” said Tri Dinh. Just as Tung worked overtime tocare for poor women at the clinic in his house in Viet-nam, he, along with Hannigan, has traveled monthly tothe Rio Grande Valley for the last fifteen years to treatuninsured Hispanic women. “Tung learned Spanish, Ididn’t,” said Hannigan. “When the people down therepoint this out, I have to tell them that Tung is just a lotsmarter than I am.” Though he speaks four languages,Tung is a man of few words. Many in his department donot know his history. He does not boast about his famein Vietnam nor his current achievements. “Unlike a lotof people in his position, he never acts intimidating orlike he’s a know-it-all,” said Crowder. Instead, he qui-etly observes his surroundings with his deep, black eyesand decides on a course of bonne action.

Kate Murphy is a Houston-based freelance writer.

The Dinh family at home in Da Nang, Vietnam, 1972: Left

to right, Tue Dinh, age eleven; Dr. Tung Dinh; Tri Dinh, age

six; Tuan Dinh, age fourteen; Tonia Dinh; and Bella Dinh,

age one.


S C H O O L O F N U R S I N G

The lights along the causeway were reflected on theglimmering water as Pamela Watson caught her firstglimpse of Galveston Island. UTMB’s new dean of nurs-ing, a New York native and life-long Northeasterner, wasimmediately “enchanted.”

But it is the challenge of leading an increasingly di-verse nursing school that really has captured deanWatson’s professional imagination. Her ambitions for theSchool of Nursing include expanding minority enrollment,making UTMB a center for first-class nursing research, andincreasing educational opportunities for nurses via theInternet.

In addition, Watson wants to boost the nursingschool’s involvement in UTMB’s Center for Biodefenseand its efforts in women’s health. She also aims to pro-mote the Center for Health Promotion and Healing Prac-

tices, which offers programs in health promotion and edu-cation and provides practical services for patients regard-ing diet and exercise, including individual and familysupport groups.

Watson brings a national reputation as a researcherand scholar to the School of Nursing. As she was beingconsidered for the position at UTMB, Watson was prin-cipal investigator for a National Institutes of Health studyinto the prevention of type 2 diabetes. The $3.4 millionstudy ended early because of successful results showingthat patients could prevent and manage type 2 diabetesby exercising and controlling their diet.

“We found that we either prevented or delayed dia-betes through a program of lifestyle change,’’ Watson said.“Taking medication is not as significant as reducing calo-ries and walking a half hour a day. It was really importantbecause it shows you really can control your destiny.”

Nursing school’s new dean loves research and has a talent for administration

B Y A N N E M A R I E K I L D AY

An Ambitious Agenda

“When push comes to

shove, it is physicians who

are calling the shots,”

Watson said. “Yet, we

always hear the patients

say ‘My surgeon did a

great job, but the nurses

pulled me through.’”School of Nursing dean Pamela Watson.


Before coming to UTMB, Watson chaired the De-partment of Nursing at Thomas Jefferson University inPhiladelphia. Peggy Griffiths, senior faculty memberthere, touts Watson’s “energy, responsiveness, and vision”and says Watson made special efforts to reach out to stu-dents. “Her relationship with nursing students grew intoone of mutual warmth and respect,’’ Griffiths said. “Theirprofessional growth and their ability to move into the prac-tice environment were her main concerns.”

Watson, who earned her B.S., M.S., and Sc.D. de-grees from Boston University, has always been torn be-tween research and administration.

“When they hire a dean these days, they aren’t look-ing so much for an administrator as they are research back-ground,” Watson said. “That’s really my love. I have al-ways been pushed into administrative roles, because Iguess I’m a good leader. But I am somewhat conflictedbecause I’d also like to be just a researcher. It’s a muchmore civilized way of life.”

Serving as dean of nursing at UTMB will be “verychallenging” because all institutions of higher educationin Texas have to tighten their belts, Watson said.

“As a leader I have to do what’s best in terms of ad-vancing the school, and at the same time doing the best Ican to cut costs,” Watson said.

Griffiths said that Watson, who is “very cool underpressure,’’ faced a similar challenge in Philadelphia.

Watson’s research and writing interests include healthpromotion, disease prevention, and rehabilitation. She iscurrently an editorial board member of Cancer Nursing,and has previously served as an editorial board memberand associate editor of Rehabilitation Nursing, and associ-ate editor of the Journal of Enterostomal Therapy.

Since the mid-1970s, Watson has served as principalinvestigator for research studies funded by the NationalCancer Institute, the U.S. Department of Education’s Re-habilitation Services Administration, and the National In-stitutes of Health.

Watson said she wants to see UTMB’s School of Nurs-ing more involved in clinical research. She said thatschools like the University of Texas at Austin, Universityof Michigan, and University of Pennsylvania consistentlydraw research funds from the National Institutes ofHealth.

Noting UTMB’s Center for Biodefense, Watson saidnurses need more education in the latest advances in bio-defensive medicine. Because it has been such a long timesince some vaccines, like that for smallpox, have beenused, Watson said nursing schools need to re-educatenurses about some patient’s adverse reactions to vaccina-tions and immunizations.

Watson supports the School of Nursing’s continuingefforts to attract underrepresented communities to nurs-ing, to increase diversity in the profession and to makelearning more accessible.

The Having Opportunities, Producing Excellence(HOPE) Program, funded under a $219,000 grant fromthe Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, will al-low the nursing school to provide recruitment and re-tention programs for students from underrepresentedcommunities. Beginning next fall, the program will in-clude compensatory education for students whose gradesfall below the school’s admission requirements.

Associate Deans Ruth Marcot and Poldi Tschirch ap-plied for the funds, which were set aside by the Legisla-ture from the state’s settlement of a lawsuit against thetobacco industry.

One already-existing program related to that goal is theschool’s web-based Nursing Distance Education Program,which enables nurses to earn bachelor’s and master’s de-grees on the Internet. Watson said the program is designedto help nurses who can’t attend college —such as militarynurses on assignment—to earn advanced degrees.

UTMB began offering the Doctoral Program inNursing in 1997 and awarded its first four degrees in May2002. Watson believes that the Web-based Nursing Dis-tance Education Program may enhance the ability ofnurses with advanced degrees to earn doctorates.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics recently re-ported that jobs for nurses would increase by 23 percentby the year 2008. But one-third of the nursing workforcewill be nearing age fifty by that year. And nationally, in2001 nursing schools’ enrollment dropped by 2.1 percent,the sixth straight year for declining admissions.

With the serious nursing shortage facing hospitals,Watson believes that schools of nursing need to address“workplace environment” issues that may cause manynurses to leave the profession. These include the some-times-strained relationship between physicians andnurses. “When push comes to shove, it is physicians whoare calling the shots,” Watson said. “Yet, we always hearthe patients say ‘My surgeon did a great job, but thenurses pulled me through.’”

Watson herself seems to have figured out how to betaken seriously by physicians. She not only chaired theDepartment of Nursing at Thomas Jefferson University,she was a full professor on the Medical School’s facultyand served with physicians on the curriculum committee.

“That attests to the fact that physicians respect her,’’Griffiths said.

Anne Marie Kilday is a Houston-based freelance writer.


P O RT R A I T O F G I V I N G

When Galveston entrepreneur and philanthropistJohn Sealy died in 1884, his will stipulated that $50,000go to “a charitable purpose” to be determined by hisbrother, George, and his widow, Rebecca. Galveston hadno hospital at the time, so they allocated the bequest tobuild one. The original John Sealy Hospital opened in1890.

The Sealys initially gave the hospital to the City ofGalveston, although the agreement authorized the cityto transfer ownership to the University of Texas MedicalDepartment (later renamed the University of TexasMedical Branch) once that institution was established inGalveston. Three years before Sealy’s death, Texans hadvoted to locate the newly founded University of Texasin Austin and to put the state’s first medical school inGalveston. But it was the Sealy family’s agreement toconvey the hospital to the UT Medical Department thatprompted the Texas Legislature to implement the vot-ers’ decision. One year after John Sealy Hospital opened,the first students began attending classes. For the nextthirty-two years, John Sealy II and his sister Jennie gen-erously supported both the medical school and the hos-pital. Initially, John covered its deficit monthly and pro-vided $40,000 to remodel and improve it, later contrib-uting $60,000 for repairs after the devastating 1900 Storm.Jennie and John also funded construction of the Women’sHospital, completed in 1916 at a cost of $115,000. Thatsame year John spent another $270,000 to remodel andrefurbish the main hospital.

Then in 1922, to perpetuate their and their father’saltruistic legacies, John Sealy II and Jennie Sealy Smithformed The Sealy & Smith Foundation for the John SealyHospital. The foundation is dedicated solely to support-ing patient care and related activities at UTMB. Over itseighty years, it has contributed nearly $500 million in

grants to help UTMB provide health care, biomedicalresearch, and education for the people of Galveston andTexas. George Sealy III, grandson of George Sealy andvice president of the foundation, said John Sealy II andJennie Sealy Smith modeled it after the RockefellerFoundation. “But I’m sure they never dreamed it wouldbecome this large,” said Sealy, the first member of hisfamily to be elected to the board since 1932.

With a book value of about $475 million—up fromjust $45 million in the late 1970s—the foundation hasinvested its assets in everything from oil and gas to realestate. The foundation’s grants have transformed UTMBover the decades. To provide more hospital beds for thestate’s burgeoning population after World War II, foun-dation directors provided about $9.5 million of the morethan $11 million required to build the second-genera-tion John Sealy Hospital. Twenty-five years later, thehospital received a major addition with the completionof the twelve-story John Sealy Hospital tower. Towerconstruction and renovations to the older John SealyHospital, which totaled $42.5 million, were paid for byThe Sealy & Smith Foundation.

Dedicated in 1991 and largely funded by the foun-dation, the eleven-story Medical Research Building fea-tures more than 270,000 square feet of research space,offices, and conference rooms. The $58.6 million build-ing was redesignated the Truman Graves Blocker Jr.Medical Research Building in 2000 in honor of UTMB’sfirst president. It houses various research centers, includ-ing the Sealy Centers for Molecular Science and CancerCell Biology—two of the six UTMB research centers de-signed to help advance interdisciplinary education andresearch by providing shared resources for faculty. Thosecenters were funded by a research endowment that grewfrom a fifty-fifty partnership initiated fifteen years ago

How a $50,000 bequest led to creation of The Sealy & Smith Foundation,a Galveston philanthropy that’s given nearly $500 million to UTMB.

B Y C H R I S T I A N M E S S A

��


between the foundation and the university. Today theJohn Sealy Memorial Endowment Fund for BiomedicalResearch has grown to more than $100 million.

In another significant gift, approximately $3.8 mil-lion from the foundation paid for construction of thetwenty-bed Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit, whichopened in late 2000 and features a more relaxed, home-like environment to accommodate acutely ill older peopleand their families.

Thanks to the foundation directors’ vision, UTMBwill enhance its leadership in infectious disease research.UTMB broke ground earlier this year for an $18.6 mil-lion biosafety level 4 (BSL4) laboratory. The state-of-the-art facility, which includes the first full-sized BSL4 labo-ratory on a university campus in the Americas and thefifth in North America, will allow scientists to safely studymany potentially lethal emerging viruses and bacteria.Financed with the help of a lead gift of $7.5 million fromThe Sealy & Smith Foundation and with further fund-ing from the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere,the 12,000-square-foot addition to the Keiller Building,including support facilities, is slated for completion in2003.

Other buildings that exist thanks to the Sealy &Smith Foundation include the R. Waverley Smith Pavil-ion, the John W. McCullough Outpatient Clinic and thesix-story Jennie Sealy Hospital, as well as the ClinicalSciences, Administration and University Hospital Clin-ics buildings. A foundation grant also paid for UTMB’sEmergency Room and Trauma Center, one of the mosttechnologically advanced such centers in the world. Thefoundation additionally was a major contributor towardbuilding the Ronald McDonald House, a two-story, Vic-torian-style temporary residence for the families of chil-dren who are undergoing treatment at UTMB andShriners Burns Hospital.

The foundation also has significantly aided manyother areas at UTMB. For example, the foundation hascreated fourteen faculty endowments and subsidizedpurchases of some of the most advanced medical equip-ment and technologies, notably almost $28 million forrenovations and new equipment in the Department ofRadiology—most recently including a new magnetic reso-nance imaging unit, a neuro-diagnostic suite, and newultrasound machines. Another grant from the foundationalso made it possible for UTMB to purchase two com-puter-aided robotic surgical systems that allow surgeonsto make smaller incisions during operations, leading tofaster healing and quicker patient recovery.

To help advance medical education, The Sealy &Smith Foundation has pledged $1.25 million to an initia-tive that will fortify the educational infrastructure at

UTMB. The Program for Innovation in Education willfinance campus facility renovations intended to fosterinteractive learning not only in the medical sciences butalso in compassionate care.

“We never would have become the innovative aca-demic health science center we are today without TheSealy & Smith Foundation,” said UTMB President JohnD. Stobo. Foundation President Charles A. Worthen saidthe success of the organization is linked to the strengthsof each director on the seven-member board. “We havea good cross section of people who bring expertise fromdifferent areas to the board … it’s just a really close-knitgroup all pulling the same wagon, so to speak,” Worthensaid. John W. Kelso’s professional background is in theconstruction business, while John E. Eckel is an attor-ney. Michael C. Doherty was a banker, and bothJ. Fellman Seinsheimer III and Joe C. Blackshear canexplain the nuances of insurance and business. GeorgeSealy III is a geologist who worked many years withExxon. Worthen himself was a bank president and bankboard chairman.

“Our mission will continue to be to do the best jobwe can to fund activities that provide the best possiblehealth care for the people in this area,” Worthen said.

Christian Messa is a writer in the UTMB Development Office.

Charles A. Worthen, chairman of The Sealy & Smith

Foundation: Funding activities that “provide the best possible

health care for the people in this area.”


F A C U LT Y Notes

Michael A. Ainsworth (Internal Medicine) wasappointed associate dean for regional medicaleducation and director of clinical assessment andprofessional development.

Tetsuo Ashizawa joined UTMB as chair of theDepartment of Neurology. He was previouslyprofessor of neurology at the Baylor College ofMedicine in Houston and serves as deputy execu-tive of the Neurology Care Line at the VeteransAdministration Medical Center in Houston.

Robert E. Beach (Internal Medicine) was ap-pointed assistant dean for educational affairsand director of the Office of Educational Devel-opment.

Kleanthe “Anthe” Caruso (director of nursingservices, Correctional Managed Care, TexasDepartment of Criminal Justice Hospital) waselected for a two-year term as chair of theAcademy of Correctional Health Professionals.

Jeff Davis (director, Preventive, Occupational &Environmental Medicine) was elected for a three-year term to the Executive Committee of theAmerican Board of Medical Specialties.

B. Mark Evers (Surgery) was elected to theAmerican Society of Clinical Investigation andwas awarded the National Institutes of HealthMethod to Extend Research in Time (MERIT)Award for his outstanding record of scientificachievements as a principal investigator onNational Institute on Aging research projects.

Mary V. Fenton and Alice Spencer Hill (bothSchool of Nursing) were inducted into the Ameri-can Academy of Nursing for their extraordinarycommitment and contributions.

David G. Gorenstein (Human Biological Chemistryand Genetics) and Don W. Powell (professor andformer chair, Internal Medicine) have beenappointed associate deans for research.Gorenstein is well known for his work on thesolution structures of DNA and DNA-proteinadducts. Powell is recognized internationally forhis research in the field of gastroenterology.

Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed MarthaHargraves (director of health policy and healthservices research, Obstetrics and Gynecology) to atask force on eliminating Texas health care accessdisparities and reorganizing Texas Department ofHealth programs to improve health care access.

John P. Heggers (director, Clinical Microbiology atShriners Burns Hospital and professor, Surgery,Microbiology and Immunology) was elected tothe Board of Trustees of the American BurnAssociation.

David N. Herndon (Surgery) was elected to theboard of directors of the American Board ofSurgery.

Alvin LeBlanc (associate dean emeritus forgraduate medical education) was presented theJohn C. Gienapp Award by the AccreditationCouncil for Graduate Medical Education fordedication to graduate medical education andoutstanding contributions to the enhancementof residency education and accreditation activities.

Marilyn Marx has been appointed senior associ-ate dean for faculty practice and chief physicianexecutive of the faculty practice.

William E. Mitch joined UTMB as chair of theDepartment of Internal Medicine and holder ofthe Edward Randall and Edward Randall Jr.Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine. Mitchwas professor of medicine and director of theRenal Division at Emory University School ofMedicine and is recognized internationally for hisresearch in chronic renal failure and nutrition inrenal disease.

James C. Thompson (professor and former chair,Surgery) was awarded the 2001 Dr. Rodman E.Sheen and Thomas G. Sheen Award. The awardhonors doctors recommended by the AmericanCollege of Surgeons who in their lifetimes havecontributed materially to furthering medicineand medical research.

John D. Stobo (president of UTMB) was honoredby the Society for Executive Leadership in Aca-demic Medicine (SELAM) for his commitment toadvancing the careers of women in academicmedicine.

Leonard E. Swischuk (Radiology) was namedchairman of the Department of Radiology.

William D. Willis, Jr. (Cecil H. and Ida M. GreenDistinguished Chair, director of the MarineBiomedical Institute and chairman, Departmentof Anatomy and Neurosciences) became the first-ever recipient of the $50,000 Purdue PharmaPrize for Pain Research.


Quote

“ ”UNQUOTE

Doctors and Domestic ViolenceUTMB President John D. Stobo discussed “ConfrontingChronic Neglect: The Education and Training of HealthProfessionals on Family Violence,” a report issued by theInstitute of Medicine in September of 2001, on NationalPublic Radio. Stobo co-chaired the committee thatproduced the report, which evaluates existing programsand finds most medical schools’ curricula on domesticviolence to be incomplete—sometimes as minimal as asingle lecture or film. There has also been a dearth ofinvestigation into whether or not the current trainingavailable is effective. “It’s a staccato type of approach,”said Stobo, “…with very little evaluation as to whetherit’s having a beneficial impact.”—Reporter Rachel Jones,September 10, 2001, All Things Considered, National PublicRadio.

Encephalitis Vaccine May Fight West Nile VirusA vaccine approved for Japanese encephalitis may helpprotect people from the most severe complications ofWest Nile virus infections. Researchers from UTMBreported the possibility at an Atlanta meeting of theAmerican Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.The virus that produces Japanese encephalitis is aflavivirus, a member of the same family as the West Nilevirus. Tests in hamsters showed that the vaccine did notprevent infection by the West Nile virus but that it didprevent death and the severe encephalitis (inflammationof the brain) normally associated with infections. Theresearchers believe it will have the same effect in humans.—Thomas H. Maugh, writing November 19, 2001, in theLos Angeles Times (circulation 972,957).

Film Seeks to Reveal Human Element to AnatomyClass Medical StudentsThomas Cole, professor of the UTMB Institute for theMedical Humanities, acted as creator and executiveproducer of Still Life: The Humanity of Anatomy, a new filmaimed at helping students cope with first-year anatomyclass. “The objective of Still Life,” says Cole, “is to helpstudents learn that they can move between states ofmind. They’re going to have to do this with patients alltheir lives. You have a personal relationship with theperson who gave that body. At other times you have to bein the state of mind that requires that you not think aboutthat at all, that you just think about the body as an object,so you can learn the structure.” Still Life was selected forthe 2002 DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival andhas been requested by anatomy programs around thecountry.—Louis B. Parks, writing February 28, 2002, inthe Houston Chronicle (circulation 553,462).

Popular Hormone Contraceptive May Lead toBone Problems Down the Road, Says New StudyResearch conducted at UTMB on the injectable contra-ceptive, Depo-Provera, confirms that the shot’s mainingredient, depo medroxyprogesterone acetate, or DMPA,can cause significant bone loss when used long term.And, the younger you are when you begin using thiscontraceptive, the greater your risk of bone-relatedproblems later in life. “This is not the first study toobserve that use of DMPA may result in bone densityloss, but our study confirms the results of others,” saysstudy author Dr. Abbey Berenson, professor of obstetricsand gynecology at UTMB. What makes this study standout, adds Berenson, is the design, which was able todetect even subtle differences between the groups ofpatients who were studied.—Colette Bouchez, writingOctober 4, 2001, for HealthScoutNews,www.healthscoutnews.com.

FDA Panel Recommends Approval forPsoriasis DrugA federal advisory panel recommended approval ofBiogen’s psoriasis drug, potentially clearing the way forthe marketing of the first new type of treatment in yearsfor this skin condition and lifting beleaguered biotechnol-ogy stocks. They said there was a pressing need for newdrugs because, for many patients, other treatments eitherhave intolerable side effects or are ineffective. “Obvi-ously, all of us have patients who are out of options,” saidDr. Sharon S. Raimer, a panel member who is a derma-tologist at [UTMB], before voting in favor of the drug.FDA approval must be won before the drug can be sold,but the agency usually follows the advice of its advisorypanels within a few months.—Andrew Pollack, writingMay 24, 2002, for the New York Times (circulation1,194,491).

Anthrax Antibody CreatedResearchers at the University of Texas at Austin whostudy anthrax have developed a potential life-savingcountermeasure: a genetically engineered antibody thatbinds to one of the anthrax toxins, preventing it frominvading the body’s immune cells. “It’s a smart strategy,”said Johnny Peterson, a microbiologist at UT MedicalBranch at Galveston who is conducting similar research.“As biologists, if we want to do something to interrupt the(disease-causing) mechanism, we find a target.”—LeighHopper, writing June 4, 2002, in the Houston Chronicle(circulation 553,462).


C L A S S Notes

Graduate School ofBiomedical Sciences1950sRobert Binhammer, Ph.D. (’55), is aprofessor at the University ofNebraska College of Medicine, wherehe directs the ten-week grossanatomy and embryology course, andco-directs the six-week neurosciencecourse each spring. He recentlypublished a paper about a newligament found in the vertebralcanal. In June, Robert and his wife,Anne, celebrated their fiftiethwedding anniversary by sponsoring aBach concert at their church with astring orchestra and receptionafterward.

Earl Carter, M.D., Ph.D. (’55 Physiol-ogy), and his wife, Barbara, areenjoying retirement and dividingtheir time between their condo onthe golf course in Sun City West,Arizona, and their condo on the golfcourse in Rochester, Minnesota. Earljoined the faculty of Ohio StateUniversity Medical School in 1955with appointments in the Depart-ment of Physiology and the Depart-ment of Preventive Medicine. Fiveyears later, the Carters moved toRochester. At Mayo, Earl was prima-rily involved in clinical medicine butalso set up a residency program inPreventive Medicine and continued aprogram in clinical aviation medicine.He served as medical director forNorthwest Airlines as well. Thecouple enjoys entertaining their fourchildren and eight grandchildren,playing golf, keeping active at thegym, and attending church.

Sid Cassin, Ph.D. (’57 Physiology),accepted his first job as an instructorin physiology at the University ofFlorida College of Medicine immedi-ately following his graduation in1957. He and his wife, Barbara, haveenjoyed living there ever since. In1962, the Cassins traveled to OxfordUniversity for a sabbatical with Dr.Geoffrey Dawes and in 1979, Sid wasvisiting professor at UniversityCollege London. His teachinginterests at the University of Florida

are in the area of body fluids andrenal function, which began when hewas a student at UTMB with Drs. Halland Swann.

Sid’s research interests have been inthe area of fetal and perinatalphysiology with a special interest inthe regulation of fetal pulmonarycirculation and lung liquid produc-tion. His research has been supportedby the National Institutes of Health,the American Lung Association andAmerican Heart Association. He alsoserved on study sections and editorialboards.

Sid and Barbara have four daughtersand are the proud grandparents offive boys and two girls ranging in agefrom 3–20. Since retirement in 1998,the Cassins have enjoyed time withtheir children and grandchildren, andtraveling around the world. Barbara’sinterest in genealogy has taken themto Russia, Poland ,and the CzeckRepublic and Slovakia in search ofancestors. Their most recent trip tookthem to Oxford, England, to take acourse in Yiddish at Christ College.

William P. Callahan III, Ph.D. (’58),retired from the University of SouthAlabama Medical School in Mobilefollowing a most distinguishedcareer. After receiving his Ph.D. in1958, William accepted an appoint-ment at the Hahneman MedicalSchool in Philadelphia. In 1961, hejoined the faculty of the University ofFlorida, and in 1967, accepted aninvitation by the Rockefeller Founda-tion to join its staff in Bangkok to setup the first medical school there usingAmerican standards, including the onlyPh.D. program in medical science. TheCallahans and their two children hadthe experience of living abroad andtraveling around the world during hisfive-year post. He returned to thestates in 1972 and accepted a facultyappointment with the University ofSouth Alabama College of Medicine.When he retired in 1992, his wife,Nadine, also stepped down as organistat the Episcopal Church. They now liveon Dog River, Alabama, and enjoy birdwatching.

John Cross, Ph.D. (’58 PreventiveMedicine and Community Health), isprofessor of tropical public health,Department of Preventive Medicineand Biometrics, Uniformed ServicesUniversity of the Health Services inBethesda, Maryland. He teachesparasitology to medical and graduatestudents. He also heads a program tobrief State Department physicians onparasitic diseases they might encoun-ter in their assigned countries. Inaddition, John offers a comprehen-sive, two-week course in diagnosticparasitology. Money from this classhelps support graduate studentactivities. He says work is still fun andthat he intends to continue hiscollaborations with colleaguesaround the world. He currently isworking with a colleague in Thailandand another in Nepal studying aparasite that was found to be a causeof diarrhea in the United States.

John and Evelyn Cross celebratedtheir fiftieth wedding anniversary inFebruary 2002. They have onedaughter, Kelley, who is married andworking with Bank of America. Theyhave one grandson.

1960sGilbert Castro, Ph.D. (’66 Microbiol-ogy and Immunology), has beennamed interim executive vicepresident for academic affairs at theUniversity of Texas Health ScienceCenter at Houston. He also is profes-sor of integrative biology andpharmacology and professor ofbiological sciences. In 1970, Gil wasnamed a GSBS Distinguished Alum-nus. In May 2002, he received theLamar University Alumni Association’sDistinguished Alumnus Award, theassociation’s most prestigious honor,recognizing his contributions toscience and education. During thepast thirty-three years, he hassponsored eighteen graduate degreecandidates, numerous postdoctoralfellows, and visiting scientists. He hasauthored, coauthored, or reviewedmore than 130 journal articles andbook chapters.


C L A S S Notes

1970sJ. Arly Nelson, Ph.D. (’70 Pharmacol-ogy and Toxicology), has been namedspecial assistant to the Vice Presidentfor Educational Programs at theUniversity of Texas M.D. AndersonCancer Center. He also is a professorat M.D. Anderson Cancer Center andat the University of Texas HealthScience Center at Houston. Arly isassisting with the application forM.D. Anderson’s accreditation for itsnew degree-granting programs,including the Master of Science andDoctor of Philosophy degreesawarded jointly with the HealthScience Center through the GraduateSchool of Biomedical Sciences. M.D.Anderson faculty have played a majorrole in the training of students withinthe graduate school since the schoolwas founded (1963); however, thefirst jointly conferred Master ofScience and Doctor of Philosophydegrees were awarded at the school’scommencement ceremonies heldMay 11, 2002.

In addition to his new responsibilities,Arly and his wife, Sharon, are busybuilding their retirement home nearNew Braunfels, Texas.

Martin Wasserman, Ph.D. (’72Pharmacology and Toxicology), hasbeen named vice president fordiscovery research and chief scientificofficer of AtheroGenics (8995Westside Parkway, Alpharetta, GA30004). AtheroGenics is an emergingpharmaceutical company focused onthe discovery, development, andcommercialization of therapies forchronic inflammatory diseases such asatherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis,and asthma.

David Chi, Ph.D. (’74 MA HumanGenetics and ’77 Cell Biology), wentto New York University in 1977 tocontinue his postdoctoral training. InAugust 1980, he joined the faculty ofJames H. Quillen College of Medicine,East Tennessee State University. Davidis a professor of medicine/immunol-ogy, director of the ImmunologyResearch Laboratory, and chief of theDivision of Biomedical Research in

the Department of Internal Medicine.The Immunology Research Laboratoryhas replaced the clinical immunologylaboratory, which he organized anddirected for almost twenty years. Hismajor research interests are in theareas of immune responses topathogens, and inflammation andatherogenesis.

David is married to Sue Chi, acertified public accountant workingfor the State of Tennessee as a taxauditor. They have two children.Their daughter, Michelle, is a juniorand son, Michael, a sophomore inhigh school. Both play violin and aremembers of the Johnson City Sym-phony Orchestra. Proud parentsDavid and Sue enjoy gourmetcooking, music, and the performingarts.

Diane Simpson, M.D., Ph.D. (’78Microbiology and Immunology; ’83SOM), has left the Texas Departmentof Health (TDH) after ten years ofservice to work for the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention’sNational Immunization Program.While at TDH, Diane served as theappointed state epidemiologist andspent the last nine years as theassociate commissioner for diseasecontrol and prevention, working witha variety of infectious disease andother programs including immuniza-tions, TB and HIV/STD control, andinfectious disease and environmentaldisease epidemiology.

In August 1999, she moved to Atlantato take the position of director of theData Management Division withinthe National Immunization Program(NIP). This position allowed her towork directly with the NationalImmunization Survey and with theefforts to promote immunizationregistries within the states. In April2001, she was asked to temporarilytake over the responsibilities of thedeputy director of NIP and she is stillacting in that position.

Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, Ph.D. (’79Human Biological Chemistry andGenetics) is associate dean for

undergraduate education in theCollege of Veterinary Medicine andhead of the Department of Veteri-nary Anatomy and Public Health atTexas A&M University. She received aBachelor of Science degree in biologyfrom the University of Texas–El Pasoin 1975, and her Doctor of Philosophydegree in human biological chemistryand genetics and cell biology. Sheconducted postdoctoral research indevelopmental neuroimmunology atthe University of California–LosAngeles from 1980–1982.

Evelyn has received numerous awardsand honors, including the Texas A&MUniversity Former Students Associa-tion Distinguished Faculty Award forResearch (1998); the CarringtonAward for Research, Texas A&MCollege of Veterinary Medicine(1993); and Who’s Who in America(2000, 2001).

The GSBS honored her with the 2002Distinguished Alumnus Award inrecognition of her outstandingachievement and contributions to herfield and her profession.

Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, Ph.D.


C L A S S Notes

1980sJ. Mark Petrash, Ph.D. (’82 HumanBiological Chemistry and Genetics), isassociate professor of ophthalmologyand visual sciences, and of genetics,at Washington University in St. Louis.He is the principal investigator fortwo grants from the National EyeInstitute of the National Institutes ofHealth. One five-year grant providesMark, who also is director of researchin the ophthalmology department,with $1.8 million to continue hisresearch on the aldose reductaseenzyme and its role in diabeticcomplications of the eye. Last year,Mark and fellow researcher FloranteA. Quiocho, Ph.D., Howard Hughesinvestigator and professor of bio-chemistry at Baylor College ofMedicine in Houston, were the firstto crystallize the aldose reductasemolecule in the presence of aninhibiting drug.

The second grant is a five-yearextension of a Core Grant for VisionResearch that helps fund the work ofthirty-two investigators at the Schoolof Medicine. The National EyeInstitute will provide $1.8 million tothe department during those fiveyears. The grant is one of twenty coregrants in the United States. Washing-ton University investigators workingunder the core grant umbrellapublished more than 170 papers inpeer-reviewed journals during thelast five years.

Elizabeth Eaton, Ph.D. (’86 PreventiveMedicine and Community Health), hasbeen named the new executivedirector of the Houston Academy ofMedicine–Texas Medical Center Library.Elizabeth received her bachelor’sdegree in chemistry, math, andastronomy from Hood College inFrederick, Maryland. She worked atMassachusetts General Hospital andtraveled to St. Bartholomew’s MedicalCollege in London, where she was aresearch assistant in the gastrointesti-nal lab. Afterward, she returned to thestates to join the staff at the Universityof California–Los Angeles as a researchassistant.

1990sCarlos Torres-Ramos, Ph.D. (’95Human Biological Chemistry andGenetics), and Sylvette Ayala-Torres,Ph.D. (’98 Human Biological Chemis-try and Genetics), have returned toPuerto Rico to join the faculty of theUniversidad Central del Caribe Schoolof Medicine, where they both havebeen named assistant professor in theDepartment of Pharmacology. Theyare busy with their research andteaching, and enjoy all aspects ofworking in the academic environ-ment.

In addition to the rewards of theirprofessional life, Sylvette and Carlosenjoy spending time with theirfamilies and an occasional escape tothe countryside for a hike in thewoods. They send greetings to theirfriends and look forward to hearingfrom them.

Roy Dyer, Ph.D. (’96 Microbiology andImmunology), is senior researchfellow in the Department of Molecu-lar Pharmacology and ExperimentalTherapeutics at the Mayo Clinic. Heand his wife, Amy, and their twochildren, Karley and Cole, enjoy livingin Rochester, Minnesota.

Roy is studying the pathogenesis ofHuntington’s disease (chorea, or HD).HD is an inherited, progressiveneurodegenerative disease thataffects a specific region of the brain(striatum) that is involved with thecontrol of movement. The diseaseaffects one in ten thousand peopleand exhibits a dominant inheritancepattern (a 50 percent risk of a childinheriting the disease from oneaffected parent). Roy is studying theproteolytic processing and aggrega-tion of the HD protein in human postmortem brain and mouse models ofthe disease. He published a paper inthe November issue of NatureGenetics.

Kristi Schrode, J.D., Ph.D. (’98 MedicalHumanities), has moved fromWashington, D.C., to Mountain View,California, to accept a position with

Johnson & Johnson as in-house legalcounsel. Her responsibilities includesupport for ALZA Corporation, aJohnson & Johnson operatingcompany that develops innovativedrug delivery technologies.

School of AlliedHealth Sciences1970sLinda E. Vaclavik (OT ’73) is servingas the director of rehabilitationservices for Victoria Warm SpringsRehabilitation Hospital in Victoria,Texas. She has been the directorsince its opening in November 1998.George A Hartzel (PT ’74) is now alifetime member of the SAHS AlumniAssociation. George is self-employedin Beaumont, Texas, but he is takingsome time out to be a grandfatherto a 3-year-old. Dorcas S. Ciskowski(’77 PT) and her husband, Rick, havetwo children. Their 20-year-olddaughter received a full volleyballscholarship to East Tennessee StateUniversity. Their son, 14, is a highschool sophomore. Dorcas has beenin private practice since 1981,specializing in medically fragilepediatrics. She and her family live inPhoenix, Arizona. Sherry J. Morrey(PA ’78) continues to work for theU.S. Army. She is the clinical coordi-nator for the Interservice PA pro-gram. She oversees the Phase IItraining of eleven Army, eight AirForce, one Navy, and one FederalBureau of Prisons sites.

1980sJanet R. Bezner (PT ’81), a 1995Distinguished Alumna, is nowworking for Southwest Texas StateUniversity in San Marcos, Texas.Kathleen “KC” (Rader) Lovin (PA ’83)became the first female physicianassistant to serve onboard the U.S.Navy ship the USS Cimarron, AO-177,and was the first physician assistantto serve as the senior medical officer.Kathleen was awarded the Navy


C L A S S Notes

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��Send your news, school and year of

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Association of Physician Assistants’first PA of the Year award. In 1991,Kathleen married Mark Lovin of WestVirginia. She currently works in agroup family practice office inCharleston, West Virginia. She writesthat she is the president-elect of theWest Virginia Association of PhysicianAssistants and that she was ap-pointed this year to serve a three-year term as a trustee for theAmerican Academy of PhysicianAssistants’ Physician AssistantFoundation. “I hope to visit familyand friends in the Houston areasometime soon,” she writes. “I lookforward to having an opportunity tomeet with UTMB area PAs and PAstudents then. Fellow PA alumni cancontact me at my email [email protected] or KathleenLovin, PA-C, MS, 1105 Bridge Road,Charleston, WV 25314.” Susan L.Martin (OT ’83) lives in Rogers,Arkansas, with her husband, Gaylon,and daughters, Holly, 15, and Sara,12. Susan is employed by the North-west Medical Center in Springdale,Arkansas. Soraya C. RodriguezLebsack (PT ’87) married TerryLebsack in September 2000. KimberlyZepeda Forrester (OT ’89) and herhusband, Gene (SOM ’90), are livingin The Woodlands, Texas, with their2-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Anne,and 8-month-old son, AndrewJonathan.

1990sLisa Hill Whitley (PT ’91) and herhusband, Noel, are proud to an-nounce the birth of their first child,Lauren Ann, born August 28, 2001.Jennifer Brown Hoopman (OT ’95) isworking with the PresbyterianHospital of Dallas. She and herhusband welcomed the birth of adaughter, Rachel Elisabeth, onMarch 26, 2001.Erik Hamnes (MPT ’96) recently waspromoted to vice-president ofrehabilitation. He is responsible foradult rehabilitation, pediatricrehabilitation, agrability, health andwellness, and information andreferral for Easter Seals Tennessee.Erik and his wife, Katy, have a 1-year-

old daughter, Gracie Bell.Michelle L. Garcia Ontiveros (OT ’96)graduated from the University ofPhoenix with a Master of Arts degreein organizational management inFebruary 2000. In December 2000 shemarried a speech therapist. AmyOsburn-Torres (PT ’96) is living andworking in the Galveston area. Amyreceived her pediatric specialtycertification in 2001, and is now apediatric certified specialist. Christo-pher Paul Watson (HCA ’96) isemployed with Price WaterhouseCoopers, LLP, in Dallas. Christophercan be reached via email [email protected]. EdwardA. Downs (HCA ’97) is the administra-tor of Bayshore Surgery Center inPasadena, Texas. He built the facilityfrom the ground up, and the HCAsection opened in June 2001. HeatherA. Hargrove (RC ’97) still works at TheNorth Texas Hospital for Children atMedical City, Dallas, as a registeredrespiratory therapist. In December,she will graduate from TexasWoman’s University with a master’sdegree in occupational therapy. IvanLuna (MPT ’98) hopes everyone is ingood health and spirits. Ivan recentlyrelocated to Morrison, Colorado. Heworks with the Injury Clinics ofColorado in Denver. His new address

is 4452 South Yank Street, Morrison,CO 80465. His home phone number is(303) 934-5091; his work phonenumber is (303) 433-2116. His officeaddress is Ivan Luna, Injury Clinics ofColorado, 2460 West 26th Avenue,Suite 15C, Denver, CO 80211. RonaldRandall (PA ’99) recently becamefather to Sarah Elizabeth Randall,born April 30, 2001, and weighing 7lbs., 12 oz. Ronald works for aprimary care facility in Texas City.Julie L. Tvrdy (OT ’99) has moved toKaty, Texas, and is employed withWest Houston Medical Center.

2000sHeather Harrison (OT ’00) is currentlyliving in Sugar Land, Texas, and isemployed by West Houston MedicalCenter. Dana A. Hogue LeBlanc (OT’00) is employed by Quinlan Indepen-dent School District in Quinlan, Texas.Nancy B. Eversole Dunbar (MPT ’01)delivered a baby girl on June 22,2001.


C L A S S Notes

MEMORIALS

&TRIBUTES

Honor a Friend or Loved OneCommemorate a Special OccasionSupport Health Science Education

The Memorials and Tributes program at UTMB provides our

alumni and friends a special and caring way to honor a relative,

friend, or loved one while supporting health science education.

When you send a memorial or a tribute gift to UTMB, an

acknowledgment of your gift is sent to the appropriate family

member or individual, notifying him or her of your

thoughtfulness. For more information on the program or to

request special Memorials and Tributes envelopes, please contact

the Office of University Advancement at (409) 772-3951 or

[email protected].

School of Medicine1930sRobert K. Blair, Sr., ’37, Houston, isstill going strong. He made a three-week riverboat trip through thehighlands and glens of Scotland inAugust 2001. During a two-day stopin Edinburgh, he revisited themedical school there with memoriesof UTMB’s great anatomist Dr.William Keiller. Robert sends bestregards to his fellow alumni. WilliamSeybold, ’38, Dallas, is grateful thathe is still alive and smiling. He sendsbest wishes to his surviving class-mates as well as to those who werefreshmen and sophomores at UTMBin 1938, 1939, and 1940.

1940sMarvin Schlecte, ’40, Wimberley,Texas, has been fully retired sinceJune 2000. He now walks with acane, but can still drive his car.Walter Parks, ’42 (December),enjoyed his class’ annual meeting inNovember 2001 at the Mill Creek Innin Salado, Texas. Carey King, ’43,Dallas, was named a Texas Chapterlaureate during the November 2001annual meeting of the Texas Acad-emy of Internal Medicine. William(W.C.) Mills, ’43, is retired and livingin Austin. He is sad to report that hiswife, Lila, died in September 2000.Joseph Neel, ’43, Dallas, retired fromgeneral surgery in 1985. Prior toretirement, he jogged 100 miles amonth. Now, he can be found at theCooper Aerobics Center six after-noons a week running 14 miles eachtime. Additionally, he runs an hour,four times a week at dawn aroundhis residence. J. Alan Stewart, ’43,writes: “I noted an error in the dateof the Texas City disaster in thearticle quoting Dr. Damiani (UTMB’s‘Greatest Generation,’ Winter 2001).The date in your article was April 16,1949—the correct date is April 16,1947. How do I know? On that date, Iwas a medical officer in the U.S.Navy, stationed at the U.S. Naval

Dr. Robert K. Blair and Captain Hammil,

on “The Lord of the Glens” riverboat

sailing through the Highlands of

Scotland. August 2001.

Dr. Robert K. Blair with two stepsons

George and David Shannon. At the flag-

pole on the grassy bluff at the Shannon

family house on Trinity Bay, Texas.


C L A S S Notes

Hospital in Houston. The entiremedical staff responded.” Afterleaving the Navy, Alan was in generalpractice in Lake Jackson until retiringthere in 1987. In 1967 classmate DorBrown, ’43, got Alan involved in anallergy practice that he continued ona limited basis until final retirementin January 2001. Activities nowinclude golf, woodworking, cuttinggemstones (when inspired), andworking out at the gym four times aweek. Frank Dunn, ’47, San Antonio,Texas, is hoping to get back intopractice after an illness due to arsenicpoisoning. It’s been a slow process.Glenn Gordon, ’47, Eugene, Oregon,sends warm greetings to his class-mates and friends. He is retired andwould welcome a visit any timefellow alumni are in his area. You canreach him by email [email protected].

1950sPete Palasota, ’50, Abilene, Texas,was the Taylor-Jones Haskell CountyMedical Society’s 2001 Gold-HeadedCane Award winner. This award paystribute to outstanding members ofthe medical profession, and presentsto the public the qualities needed toproduce an outstanding physician.Pete is the 16th recipient since 1961.Robert Wise, ’50, Williamsburg,Virginia, is the Magee Professor ofMedicine Emeritus at ThomasJefferson University’s JeffersonMedical College. He was a guidingforce in bringing Jefferson MedicalCollege and Hospital to its noweminent national status as a majoruniversity for medicine and alliedhealth sciences. Robert Eckert, ’51,Athens, Texas, retired from his familymedicine geriatrics practice. Life isbusy and good; he does not see howhe ever had time for work. DeweyPeace Jr., ’51, New Braunfels, Texas,and his wife, Nita, went on a two-week river cruise from Moscow to St.Petersburg, Russia, in September2001. Clyde Morgan, ’53, a derma-tologist living in Abilene, Texas, islisted in the current Who’s Who inScience and Medicine as well asWho’s Who in the World. Noble

Rumbo, ’53, Richardson, Texas, retiredin September 2000. W. Cone Johnson,’54, Denton, Texas, retired after 47years in practice. He was apulmonologist for 42 of those yearsand was the first board-certifiedpulmonologist in west central Texas.Julius Burianek, ’55, retired in April2000 after practicing pediatrics inBaytown, Texas, for 38 years. L.E.Chapman, Jr., ’55, Seabrook, Texas,retired last year. He writes that hishealth is good and that he is enjoyingjust being lazy. Alvin LeBlanc, ’55,UTMB’s associate dean emeritus forgraduate medical education, was therecipient of the 2001 John C. GienappAward. This award recognizes thededication of those who have madeoutstanding contributions to theenhancement of residency educationand accreditation activities. Al washonored for his leadership, vision,and many accomplishments ingraduate medical education. ErnestRising Jr., ’55, Arlington, Texas,retired from his orthopaedic surgerypractice in November 2001. MelvynH. Schreiber, ’55, Galveston, was oneof several UTMB faculty membershonored at the School of Medicinecommencement in May 2001. Inrecognition of his outstandingcontributions to student education,the graduating class selected him asthe recipient of the James W. PowersMemorial Award. This award recog-nizes a teacher of clinical subjectswho, by his or her example andinstruction, has contributed in aneminent way to the creation of aphysician capable of practicing boththe art and science of medicine. Melis the Robert N. Cooley DistinguishedProfessor of Radiology at UTMB.Gordon Jones, ’56, Broaddus, Texas,and his wife, Dot, enjoy living onLake Sam Rayburn. They keep busygardening, fishing, seeing friends,and with their three sons and onegranddaughter. Gordon practicedradiology in Lufkin for 34 years. Hehas macular degeneration and can’tdrive, but otherwise is in goodhealth. David Smiley, ’56, Lamesa,Texas, retired from general surgeryfive years ago. He suffers from an

Alzheimer-like disease and is inremission from prostate cancer. Hiswife, Evelyn Smiley, ’57, is a part-timestaff physician at Lamesa PrimaryCare Clinic. She writes that she still issad both of their physician childrenwere refused admission to UTMB. JoeWhetsell, ’56, Tyler, Texas, retired inJuly 2001. Following a trip to France,he plans to learn how to use acomputer, become a gardener, anddo some volunteer work. JamesShepherd, ’58, Georgetown, Texas,received a Lifetime AchievementAward from the Georgetown AreaCommunity Foundation. AllanHanretta, ’59, Santa Barbara, Califor-nia, sends best wishes and prayers forthe most abundant fulfillment of alldreams, wishes, and expectations toall members of the class of 1959.Thomas Kirksey, ’59, Austin, Texas, isa diplomat of the American Board ofSurgery and the American Board ofThoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.He is executive vice president ofmedical affairs, Seton Health CareNetwork, at Brackenridge Hospital inAustin.

1960sCarlos Mata, ’60, San Antonio, Texas,practiced urology in Laredo until hisretirement in December 1998. Henow enjoys traveling, motorhoming,golfing, gardening, fishing inRockport, and his seven grandchil-dren. Fred Castrow II, ’61, Houston,was elected president of the Ameri-can Academy of Dermatology. TracyGordy, ’61, Austin, and Paul Wick, ’61,Tyler, Texas, each received distin-guished service awards from theTexas Society of Psychiatric Physiciansin November 2001. Paul is theAmerican Psychiatric Association’sdelegate to the American MedicalAssociation. Tracy is chair of theAmerican Medical Association’sCurrent Procedural TerminologyPanel. Tracy was also named Physicianof the Year for 2001 and received theGold-Headed Cane Award from theTravis County Medical Society.Malcolm Mazow, ’61, Houston, waselected vice chairman of the Councilof the American Academy of Oph-


C L A S S Notes

thalmology and is on the board ofdirectors of the American Academy ofOphthalmology. Daniel L. Creson, ’62,is a professor of psychiatry andbehavioral sciences at the UT MentalSciences Institute in Houston. Hetraveled to New York after the WorldTrade Center disasters to assessstrategies for helping Arab- andMiddle Eastern-Americans who havebeen living in fear since September11. James Guckian, ’62, Austin, Texas,is serving as acting executive vicechancellor for health affairs for theUT System, succeeding Dr. CharlesMullins. He reports to the chancellorand is directly responsible for six UTsystem health institutions in Houston,San Antonio, Tyler, Galveston, andDallas-Fort Worth. He joined the UTSystem as executive associate forhealth policy and planning in 1988and served as vice chancellor forhealth affairs and principal advisor toDr. Mullins. Frank Lanza, ’62, Hous-ton, will be president-elect of theAmerican College of Gastroenterol-ogy in October 2002. He will assumethe presidency in October 2003.David McCarron, ’62, Austin, Texas,plans to retire in September 2002. Heneeds additional time for fishing andhunting. Dana Copp, ’64, retired fromthe United States Public HealthService several years ago. He recentlyreturned to Austin, Texas, after being“a professional gypsy” for manyyears. Robert Faust, ’64, retired frompractice in April 2001. He lives inLubbock, Texas. Howard Condren,’65, Miami, Oklahoma, is a semi-retired orthopaedic surgeon. He doeslocum tenens and raises thorough-bred horses. William (Bill) Jacobs, ’65,an associate professor in UTMB’sdivision of cardiology, was awardedthe Internal Medicine FacultyTeaching Award for 2001. He is thedirector of medical education anddirector of the UTMB HeartCenterclinics. Melton Horwitz ’66, Houston,is a representative to the board ofgovernors of the American Academyof Otolaryngology—Head and NeckSurgery, representing the TexasAssociation of Otolaryngology—Headand Neck Surgery. James Wells, ’66,Long Beach, California, is president ofthe California Society of Plastic

Surgeons. He also is serving a one-year term as the 2002 president ofthe American Society of PlasticSurgeons. James recently went backto solo practice from a six-personpractice that he founded. He has adaughter, Sara, 13, and a son, Greg,30. Classmates who travel to the LongBeach area should be sure to get intouch with him or contact him viaemail at [email protected]. He sendsbest wishes to all, and is shown herewith his wife, Karen. George Abdo,’67, practices full-time at HoustonNorthwest Medical Center at CypressFairbanks Hospital in Houston. Heenjoyed his 35-year class reunion inMarch 2002. Blue Cross and BlueShield of Texas named Houstonurologist Paul B. Handel, ‘67, amember of the Texas Affiliate Board.The board was created to advise theHealth Care Services Corporation’sboard of directors on local businessactivities, health care developments,and community relation opportuni-ties and priorities in Texas. Handel isa former chair of the Texas MedicalAssociation Council onSocioeconomics and former presidentof the Harris County Medical Society.Alan Baum, ’68, Houston, was electedto the board of trustees of the TexasMedical Association (TMA) Founda-tion. Alan is a former president of theTMA. Don Read, ’68, a Dallas, Texas,colorectal surgeon, was elected the119th president of the Dallas CountyMedical Society (DCMS) in January

2002. He has served the DCMS invarious capacities since 1988. Donand his wife, Roberta, have twogrown daughters. Robert Tenery Jr.,’68, was listed in D magazine as oneof its “top 330 local physicians in 29specialties” in the Dallas, Texas, area.The magazine surveyed 1,000 primarycare physicians and 4,000 specialiststo find out who, among their peers,they would trust with their ownhealth or that of their families.Johnny Alexander, ’69, Lufkin, Texas,retired from private practice inSeptember 2000. He continues towork part-time as a military reservemedical commander and as a consult-ant to the Texas RehabilitationCommission. Katie Youngblood, ’69,left her faculty position with theUTMB Family Practice ResidencyProgram in Conroe, Texas, in August1997. Before completely retiring inJuly 2001, she precepted there and atthe Brazos Valley Family PracticeResidency Program in Bryan, Texas.

1970s

John E. Frandolig, ’70, is enjoyingretirement on his farm in LakeGeneva, Wisconsin. He recentlyreturned from his sixth medicalmission in the past three years toHaiti. The contrast between thepoverty and natural beauty made animpression on him. Joe Pate, ’70,Dublin, Texas, retired from familypractice several years ago after twobrain stem strokes. Luckily, only hisspeech was affected and he is happyand healthy. Joe and his wife stillhave many fond memories ofGalveston and UTMB, and wish theycould see all of their old friends.Edward (Ned) Snyder III, ’70,Galveston, is president-elect of theTexas Academy of Internal Medicine,the Texas chapter of the AmericanCollege of Physicians-AmericanSociety of Internal Medicine. ManonBrenner, ’71, Littleton, Colorado, isself-employed as a medical consultantfor Social Security Disability andPlanned Parenthood. She did aspecial fellowship in the University ofColorado’s family medicine depart-ment because of her interest inpracticing general medicine in a

Dr. James and Karen Wells


C L A S S Notes

community health clinic systemworking with patients who fallbetween the cracks of insurance andMedicaid, i.e., the “working poor.”Douglas Horbelt, ’72, was named theDaniel K. Roberts Professor ofObstetrics and Gynecology at theUniversity of Kansas School ofMedicine–Wichita. His numerouscontributions to medical educationand research in obstetrics andgynecology have created nationwiderecognition for the Wichita campus.In addition to many teaching awardsreceived throughout his career, theschool’s class of 2001 honoredDouglas with the Golden ChairAward “with deep appreciation forbeing a supportive friend, trustedadvisor, gifted teacher, and respectedmentor.” Douglas is board-certified inobstetrics and gynecology andgynecologic oncology. He serves as anoral board examiner for the AmericanBoard of Obstetrics and Gynecologyand as a reviewer for several medicalpublications. A. Nelson Avery, ’73, isthe UTMB School of Medicine’s newfaculty director of student recruit-ment. Delbert Domstead, ’73, retiredin March 2001 after almost 28 yearsof solo ob/gyn practice (and over4,600 deliveries) in San Marcos, Texas.He hopes to learn how to sleep atnight again and then go fishing.During his career he served aspresident of the medical staff, chiefof credentialing, chief of obstetrics,president of his county’s Tri-CountyMedical Society, and as a physicianrepresentative on a hospital’s boardof directors. Many colleagues aregraduates of UTMB, and he wasproud to serve with them. CharlesKuttner, ’73, lives in Portland,Oregon, with his wife, Donna. Bothof their grown children live nearby.Charles commutes by bus to Salem,Oregon, where he is the psychiatristin a Veterans Administration mentalhealth clinic. Jimmy Randles, ’73,recently moved to a rural practice inColumbia, Louisiana. Robert McCrea,’74, is employed as an obstetrics/gynecology staff physician at CignaHealthcare in Tempe, Arizona. Herecently was promoted to a colonel inthe Air Force Reserves, working as aflight surgeon at Luke Air Force Base.

Deborah Peel, ’74, Austin, Texas, ispresident of the National Coalition ofMental Health Professionals andConsumers. The coalition is fightingto rebuild the shattered mentalhealth care system by focusing mediaand public attention on the need tomove mental health care to the topof the nation’s agenda. Guy Clifton,’75, Houston, is the Runnells Distin-guished Chair and professor and chairin the Department of Neurosurgeryat the UT Health Science Center–Houston. He has been named directorof TIRR’s (The Institute for Rehabilita-tion and Research) Mission Connectprogram, an initiative to conductcollaborative research in centralnervous system injuries, diseases, anddisorders. Ann Sims, ’75, Woodway,Texas, volunteers as the medicalconsultant for the Advocacy Centerfor Crime Victims and Children. Aspart of their Hometown Heroprogram, Time Warner Cable, FoxSports Southwest, and the BaylorUniversity Athletic Departmenthonored Ann for her service to theWaco community. Texas GovernorRick Perry appointed PeggyWakefield, ’75, Corpus Christi, Texas,to serve on the Asthma and AllergyResearch Advisory Committee. Peggyalso was appointed as chair of thepatient education committee for theAsthma Coalition of Texas. E.A. Clark,’76, Longview, Texas, is the medicaldirector of Diagnostic Clinic ofLongview PA, where he has beenpracticing pediatrics for 21 years. Hewas elected president of the 2001–2002 Triad Hospitals, Inc. NationalPhysician Leadership Group. He alsoserves on Triad’s corporate board ofdirectors. George F. Smith, ’77,relocated from Tyler, Texas, to SanAntonio, Texas, after accepting aposition with Humana, Inc., in May2001. He is the new vice presidentand chief medical officer for southTexas, overseeing all medical opera-tions for San Antonio and CorpusChristi. George served as class hostand enjoyed seeing classmates whilecelebrating their 25-year reunionduring Homecoming in March 2002.Shelley Sekula Rodriguez, ’79,Houston, is president of the 2001–02Texas Dermatological Society. She

won the Houston City Council’s AtLarge Position 3 in a December 2001election. She has a dermatologypractice in Clear Lake, Texas, and isthe widow of the late SylvanRodriquez, a former local newsanchor.

1980s

Molly Droge, ’80, Dallas, is presidentof the Texas Pediatric Society. She andher husband, Michael Droge, Ph.D.,served as host committee members ofthe UTMB President’s Outreach Visitto Dallas in February 2002. JimRohack, ’80, Temple, Texas, waselected to a four-year term on theAmerican Medical Association (AMA)Board of Trustees in June 2001. Hereceived the largest vote count in thehistory of a board race, even overfour incumbents. Jim has served inthe AMA House of Delegates and is aformer chair of the AMA Council onMedical Education. The TexasAcademy of Family Physicians (TAFP)recently selected David Wright, ’80,Austin, Texas, as the Texas Physicianof the Year. He will be recognized atthe TAFP’s annual session andscientific assembly in July 2002.Sidney Aldridge,’81, Southlake, Texas,has been a hospitalist at CookChildrens Physician Network in FortWorth for six years after being inprivate practice for ten years. Sheenjoys the challenge of a hospitalpractice and the interesting cases itpresents. Sidney is married to JimBonnet, ’80. They have three chil-dren. William Brelsford, ’81, is a self-employed rheumatologist. He hastwo children: Kate, 13, and George,9. William has been living in hishometown of Tyler, Texas, for 13years and loves it. He feels blessed tohave a great practice in a wonderfultown. D. Scott Miller, ’81, Fort Worth,is the 2001–02 Texas DermatologicalSociety’s president-elect. DavidMoeller, ’81, The Woodlands, Texas,enjoyed a great 20-year class reunion(with a memorable group photo) inGalveston at Homecoming 2001.Cheryl Alston, ’82, was selected for aposition with the U.S. Department ofState as a regional foreign medicalofficer. She left for El Salvador in


C L A S S Notes

November 2001. Cheryl will be theembassy doctor there and her regionwill include all of the countries fromMexico to Panama. Her husband,Dave Wilson, and three cats (nochildren) moved with her. To get intouch with Cheryl, write to: HealthUnit, Cheryl L. Alston, M.D., Unit3120, APO AA 34023. Justin Bartos,’82, Keller, Texas, is the 2001–02president of the Texas Academy ofFamily Physicians. Dean Dimmitt, ’82,is in an internal medicine privatepractice that is affiliated with theBaylor University Medical Center inDallas. Classmates who rememberhim as “Daddy Dean” from medicalschool might feel a bit older whenthey hear that his son, Brad (bornduring his second year at UTMB), isnow attending UTMB’s School ofMedicine. His other two sons areNathan, 19, and Ben, 16. Dean gotremarried in September 2001 to theformer Patty Smith of Dallas. Theyenjoyed seeing many classmates atHomecoming in March 2002 whenthe class of 1982 celebrated its 20-year reunion. Steven Dunton, ’82,Conyers, Georgia, is the chief medicalexaminer of Gwinnett County. Healso is a forensic pediatrician forChildren’s Healthcare of Atlanta,which includes the two largestchildren’s hospitals in Georgia. KarenKemper, ’82, closed her 15-year-oldpediatric practice in Abilene, Texas,and moved to Waco, where shejoined three physicians at theHillcrest Pediatric Pavilion. She andher husband of 32 years have fourchildren and one grandchild. Theiroldest daughter is the assistantdistrict attorney in Plainview, Texas.One son is an aerospace engineeringstudent at Texas A&M and the otherson is in aviation school in Dubuque,Iowa. Karen’s youngest daughter is ajunior in Waco’s Vanguard CollegePreparatory School. Michael Mitchell,’82, Irving, Texas, moved from SanAngelo to the Dallas-Fort Worth areawhere he joined Heartplace—a singlespecialty cardiology group—andopened a new office at HarrisMethodist Hospital. He and his wife,Sue, have three children: Kyle, 12;Jeff, 11; and Kristen, 9. Frank Emery,’83, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is in solo

plastic and reconstructive surgery.Dave Espino, ’83, recently wasappointed vice chair for research anddevelopment in the Department ofFamily and Community Medicine atthe UT Health Science Center in SanAntonio. He is now a full professor.Richard Jones, ’83, is in privatepractice in ophthalmology in Sacra-mento, California. Stephen Tyring,’83, a UTMB professor of dermatol-ogy, microbiology and immunology,and internal medicine, will have hisbook, Human Papillomaviruses,Clinical and Scientific Advances,published by Oxford University Press.The book combines a discussion ofcurrent research with clinical fea-tures, current treatments and thefuture of treatment. Ronald Valdez,’83, is co-founder of the Institute forWomen’s Health, the largest obstet-rics and gynecology group practice inSan Antonio, Texas. J. Pierre Filardi,’84, writes that he had a great 2001with a few personal milestones. First,he passed a certification course tobecome a certified triathlon coach.Later in the year he set a personalrecord of 5 minutes, 15 seconds in themile run at the Congress Avenue milerun in Austin. Pierre practicespediatric anesthesiology. CharlesFraser, ’84, was honored at anAmerican Heart Association Ball inHouston in February 2002. He is chiefof congenital heart surgery at TexasChildren’s Hospital and Baylor

College Medicineas well as cardiacsurgeon-in-charge at TexasChildren’sHospital. MarkLaney, ’84, FortWorth, Texas,was namedpresident of theCook Children’sPhysician

Network (CCPN) in May 2001. CCPN ispart of the Cook Children’s HealthSystem and is one of the largestpediatric group practices in theUnited States. Kenneth Furukawa,’85, writes that he finally is off ofactive military duty and working at areal job. He is a staff anesthesiologistat Shriners Hospitals for Children in

Sacramento, California. KennethQuenneville, ’85, practices emergencymedicine in Eagle Lake, Texas. Inaddition to being the father ofGenny, 4, and Ariel, 3, he is anairplane pilot and owner of a CessnaCenturion. Kathryn Buck, ’86, Boerne,Texas, was named a distinguishedalumnus of Austin College during acampus ceremony in October 2001.She is a pediatric emergency physi-cian at San Antonio’s MethodistChildren’s Hospital and received thehospital’s Extreme Service Award in2000. Kathryn is a member of theGovernor’s Advisory Board andparticipates in Texas Department ofHealth meetings as well as servingher local community in many differ-ent programs. She and her husband,Danny, have four children. RobertMatteson, ’86, a Galveston radiolo-gist, is the 2002 president of theGalveston County Medical Associa-tion. Michael “Lif” Lifshen, ’87,married Marny Lochhead in March2001. Marny is a public relationsconsultant and Lif is a family physi-cian in private practice in Austin.They support a growing family of twodogs, a cat, and a horse, and areanxiously awaiting a UT footballnational championship. Robert Minor,’87, and his wife, Estela Sosa, ’87, livein Harlingen, Texas, where he is in aninternal medicine group practice andshe is in solo obstetrics and gynecol-ogy practice. Joseph Fernandez, ’88,is still working at Southwest MedicalAssociates in Albuquerque, NewMexico. He and his wife, Farrell, arehappy living there with their daugh-ter, Abby. Another baby was born inDecember 2001. Glen Landesman,’88, Belle Mead, New Jersey, wasappointed the director of theDepartment of Family Practice atSomerset Medical Center in additionto running his own full-time familymedicine private practice. WilliamVarner, ’88, The Woodlands, Texas, isdirector of anesthesiology at GreaterHouston Anesthesiologists. His manyaccomplishments include completinga fellowship in cardiovascularanesthesiology, being namedMemorial Hermann Hospital System’sPhysician of the Year, and receiving amaster’s degree in business adminis-

Mark Laney


C L A S S Notes

tration from the University ofHouston. William also started adevelopment company, Ocean ResortProperties, in Crystal Beach–Galveston. Harris Baden, ’89, lives inWashington State with his wife, Gina,and their three children. He practicespediatric critical care.

1990sGene Forrester, ’90, is a nephrologistliving in The Woodlands, Texas. Heand his wife, Kim, have two youngchildren, Elizabeth and Andrew.David Handley, ’92, and MelissaHanson Handley, ’92, write that theyare doing just great. Melissa Isbell,’90, San Antonio, Texas, is married toPatrick Isbell, ’90. She is a full partnerwith Renal Associates, P.A. Theirchildren are Nicholas, Cassie, Sean,and another daughter who was bornin November 2001. Robert F. “Rob”Patterson, ’93, Pensacola, Florida, wasmentioned in national news storiesfor his part in treating the 8-year-oldboy whose right arm was bitten offby a shark in July 2001. Rob, apediatric intensivist in the critical caredepartment of the Nemour Children’sClinic, says that although it is rare forhim to treat shark bites, his exposureto such patients during medicalschool in Galveston was greatexperience. Richard Tyer, ’93, joinedCentral Texas Neurology Consultantsin June 2001. He has offices in RoundRock and Austin, Texas. Carlos Cruz,’94, Little Rock, Arkansas, is a vascularsurgeon who joined the staff at theUniversity of Arkansas as an assistantprofessor. Kimberly Wherry Roys, ’94,Topeka, Kansas, married Dr. MichaelRoys in June 2000. She is a radiologistwith the subspecialty of abdominalimaging and prenatal sonography.Her husband is an interventionalradiologist. Since graduation, AimeeWilkin, ’94, Winston-Salem, NorthCarolina, completed residency(medicine) and an infectious diseasesfellowship at the University ofCincinnati. She spent the followingtwo years as faculty at Johns HopkinsUniversity’s AIDS service whilepursuing a master’s degree in publichealth. Aimee is married to ArjunChatterjee, M.D., and is on the

faculty at the Wake Forest UniversitySchool of Medicine([email protected]). ChristopherMcMillan, ’95, is in a radiologyresidency at Baptist MemorialHospital in Memphis, Tennessee.Upon completion, he will be board-certified in family medicine andradiology. He will join TexarkanaRadiology Associates in the summerof 2002. Christopher and his wife,Lindsey, are very happy to be movingback to Texas. They have twochildren, Emily and Patrick. David S.Patterson, ’95, (Rob Patterson’sbrother) practices neuro-radiology inAustin. David Wood, ’95, Fairfield,California, completed his radiologyresidency in the spring of 2002. Hemoved to Madison, Wisconsin, wherehe will enter a neuro-radiologyfellowship at the University ofWisconsin. Ashley Davis, ’96, and herhusband moved to Boise, Idaho, inApril 2001. Their daughter, born inJuly 2001, was a “face” presentation–yikes! Ashley works for a familydoctor in solo practice. MicheleGilbert, ’96, has been practicing inAustin, Texas, since August 2000. Sheis one of nine physicians at Renais-sance Women’s Group. She movedinto a new home in northwest Austinin October 2001. Matthew Ryan, ’96,Galveston, joined UTMB’s faculty inAugust 2001. His second child, a sonnamed Tristan, was born in January2001. Amy Simon, ’97, Grand Rapids,Michigan, completed her plasticsurgery residency in June 2002. Shewill spend the next year in twofellowships: six months in reconstruc-tive breast surgery and six months ina combined aesthetic and oculoplasticsurgery fellowship in Atlanta. Shehad fun seeing classmates inGalveston during Homecoming 2002.Trey (Enrique F.) Benavides III, ’98,and Melissa (Myrick) Benavides, ’98,are the proud parents of a son,Enrique F. Benavides IV, born on May23, 2001. They both finished familypractice residencies at John PeterSmith Hospital in Fort Worth, whereTrey is now starting an obstetricsresidency. Melissa joined NorthTarrant Family Practice. Jeremy L.Gibson, ’98, completed his residency

in pediatrics at Scott & WhiteMemorial Hospital and the TexasA&M University System HealthScience Center College of Medicine inJune 2001. He will remain in Temple,Texas, and practice pediatrics at Scott& White. David Lozano, ’98, Helena,Alabama, started a pediatricpulmonology fellowship in July 2001at the University of Alabama’sBirmingham Children’s Hospital.George Walls, ’98, Houston, is acorporate physician at ExxonMobil.He and his wife are pleased toannounce the birth of their daughter,Caroline, on February 1, 2002.

2000sBobby Ritter, ’01, is doing his intern-ship and residency in urology in Tyler,Texas. You can reach him by email [email protected]. CatherineWalsh, ’01, Providence, Rhode Island,wishes everyone the best. She isdoing her residency at BrownUniversity.

Renee Remi Solis, ’01, and Edward(Ned) Snyder IV, ’00, (shown here intheir engagement picture) weremarried in Galveston on June 22, 2002.She currently is in her internship atChristus St. Joseph Hospital in Houstonand will complete her dermatologyresidency in Galveston. Ned is a plasticsurgery resident at UTMB.

Renee Remi Solis and

Edward (Ned) Snyder IV


C L A S S Notes

In MemoryAnthony M. Orlando ’33, SanAntonio, Texas, November 13, 2001

W. Burgess Sealy ’34, Fort Worth,Texas, May 23, 2001

Henry G. Wallace ’34, city unknown,December 30, 2001

Shirley S. Bowen ’35, Houston,October 12, 2001

Granville J. Hayes ’37, Alvin, Texas,October 12, 2001

Ed S. Crocker ’38, Houston,November 4, 2001

John C. Kennedy ’38, Houston,February 3, 2002

Andrew J. Magliolo ’38, Austin, Texas,January 8, 2002

W. Pruett Watkins ’38, Austin, Texas,January 11, 2002

G. Valter Brindley Jr. ‘39,Temple, Texas, June 17, 2002

Herbert A. Schubert ’39, Rogers,Texas, July 19, 2001

Thomas J. Archer Jr. ’40, Austin,Texas, January 9, 2002

James A. Hunter Jr. ’40, Rusk, Texas,October 28, 2001

Fredrick F. Rogers ’40, Corpus Christi,Texas, November 8, 2001

Alfred M. Tocker ’40, Wichita, Kansas,October 23, 2001

John B. Webb ’41, San Antonio,Texas, November 7, 2001

Ned Snyder Jr. ’42 (March),Brownwood, Texas, October 11, 2001

Capres S. Hatchett Jr. ’42 (December),Amarillo, Texas, November 18, 2001

Ervin J. Skrivanek ’42 (December),Ennis, Texas, August 25, 2001

Robert L. Stubblefield ’42(December), Houston, January 18, 2002

Milton R. Hejtmancik ‘43,League City, Texas, June 21, 2002

Charles W. Coussons ’44,Nacogdoches, Texas, May 3, 2001

Edwin Goodall ’44, Breckenridge,Texas, January 12, 2002

Donald R. Lewis ’44, Paris, Texas,February 23, 2002

C. Vernon Caver ’45, Honolulu,Hawaii, April 14, 1999

Joseph G. Holt Jr. ’45, Denton, Texas,January 20, 2002

Dennis M. Voulgaris ’45, Wharton,Texas, June 18, 2001

Charles N. Jones ’46, Winthrop,Arkansas, August 10, 2001

John E. Martin ’46, Houston,January 18, 2002

I. Emil Carroll ’47, Albuquerque, NewMexico, July 31, 2001

Frank L. Dunn ’47, San Antonio,Texas, date unknown

O. Harold Ross ’47, Nederland, Texas,November 11, 2001

Truett C. Boles ’48, Arlington, Texas,May 14, 2001

Robert H. Fain ’48, Houston,March 25, 2002

Carroll E. Murtha ’48, Abilene, Texas,July 17, 2001

Thomas W. Risley ’52, Fort Worth,Texas, November 4, 2001

Raymond R. Thomas ’53, Eagle Lake,Texas, March 14, 2001

Kenneth P. Dobbs ’54, Dallas,July 20, 2001

John H. Langston, Jr. ’56,New Braunfels, Texas,September 26, 2001

John M. Bardwil ’57, Olympia,Washington, February 2, 2002

James D. Lancaster ’57, Fort Stockton,Texas, May 24, 2001

Bill V. Hewett ’59, Huntsville, Alabama,January 16, 2002

John C. Ramsay ’60, Victoria, Texas,December 20, 2001

Edward L. Wall ’60, Houston,March 8, 2002

Ronald D. Cress ’61, Texas City, Texas,September 6, 2001

James R. Hampton ’68, El Paso, Texas,February 13, 2002

Daniel P. Kohler ’70, Beaumont, Texas,November 6, 2000

William C. Reeves ’71, Greenville,North Carolina, date unknown

Paula L. Price ’87, Temple, Texas,April 27, 2001

School of Nursing1930sAlice M. Gallagher, ’35, has lived inMission, Texas, since 1942. She haslost contact with all of her classmatesand would love to hear from them.Former classmates can write her at3005 N. Conway Ave., Mission, Texas,78572.

1940sJean M. Bardgette, ’47, ThousandOaks, California, is retired, travelingand doing well. Lynda V. Bisbey, ’48,La Marque, Texas, writes that herhusband of 52 years passed away inDecember 2000. She is so grateful forthe close friendships of her formerclassmates. They are her family andare very precious to her. Ruth E. Cole,


C L A S S Notes

’49, Murray, Kentucky, writes thatwhen she graduated her degree wasfrom the Austin campus with onlyone quarter on Galveston campus.She and her classmates were R.N.graduates for a degree in nursingeducation. Agnes J. Greak, ’46, Liberty,Texas, celebrated her 54th weddinganniversary on October 5, 2001. Shehas five sons, fourteen grandchildrenand two great-grandchildren. EllenMauldin Johnson, ’42, San Antonio,Texas, visited with former classmate,Louise Evans Getty and husband Ben,in West Columbia, South Carolina, inAugust 2001. They are both retiredand doing well. They live part-time ina retirement community and part-time in Lugoff, South Carolina, in acountry home. Ellen also is retiredand volunteers two days a week for athrift shop sponsored by the Method-ist Hospital. She has two children, fivegrandchildren and five great-granddaughters. Katherine (Virginia)Jones, ’49, Bryan, Texas, writes thatshe and her husband celebrated their50th wedding anniversary in Novem-ber 2000. Her nursing classmatesBernice Spreen and Margie Draehn,were in her wedding. Katherine andher husband have two children, threegrand children and two great-grandchildren, and they have lived inBryan all of their married lives. InaClaire McTarnahgan, ’48, met withclassmates Pearl, Lea, Lynda, andMargie in California for golf, boating,and fun. Ina has moved into her newhome in Grand Junction, Colorado,and she loves being retired. ChristineR. Pavalko, ’45, Pasadena, Texas, isretired and she enjoys receiving allthe information sent to alumni in themail. Ruth Lynch Townsend, ’46,Bryan, Texas, was the only one fromthe Class of 1946 to attend the 55-year reunion during UTMB’s Home-coming in March 2001. She had agreat time and she hopes to see moreof her class at Homecoming 2006 fortheir 60-year reunion. Ruth wouldlove to hear from former classmates.

1950sNancy J. Addis, ’53, Athens, Texas,moved from Galveston in 2000. Sheand her husband, Sid, became un-

retired to begin a new career in thetextile recycling business. They haveeight grandchildren and two wonder-ful cats that keep them busy. EllaRuth (Nelson) Bedgood, ’59, Atlanta,Texas, attended her 45-year highschool reunion in Liberty, Texas. Ellahopes that her nursing class will haveone soon. She has many fondmemories of UTMB and the goodnursing training she received thatprepared her for future occupationsof various types. Ella has a total of 40years of nursing of which all havebeen very rewarding. Dr. Dorothy A.Chesley, ’57, Austin, Texas, retired asdirector of the Nurse OncologyEducation Program (NOEP). She is aconsultant for NOEP working on aproject for parish nurses. The goal isto educate parish nurses to promotequality of life at the end of life. Dr.Chesley was also inducted into theAlumni Association Hall of Fameduring Homecoming in March 2001.Dorothy Daeschner, ’51, San Antonio,Texas, announces the birth of hergranddaughter, Ava Solange Gough,born on August 16, 2001. Ava alsowas welcomed by her big sister,Isabella. Tatsuko A. (Tachibana)Dolloff, ’55, Crossville, Tennessee, isenjoying her new home on the lakewith her husband, Howard, andgolfing in the winter in Florida. Herson Paul has a Ph.D. in electricalengineering. Her son Matthewcompleted a master’s degree inEnglish at UT–Austin and is nowworking toward a Ph.D. Meredith R.Ferguson, ’57, works part-time as aschool nurse. She moved to Waco,Texas, after her husband died twoyears ago. Meredith would love tohear from her classmates. Ellarein J.Fourcade, ’54, Santa Fe, Texas, islooking forward to her 50-year classreunion. Kathleen (Kitty) NentwichJaniga, ’57, San Antonio, Texas,retired in May 1999 after 26 years ofteaching at San Antonio College. Shenow manages ranch land andvolunteers in parish nursing. Sheoccasionally works at the collegepart-time to support her habits oftraveling and quilting. Billie JoManeth, ’57, Flower Mound, Texas, isretired and currently does volunteer

work, participates in new neighbor-hood activities, continues to sing withthe community chorus and travels toHouston frequently to help herbrother care for their mother. Billieand her husband enjoy severalweekends a month at their ranchnear Victoria, Texas. She wouldappreciate hearing from classmatesat [email protected]. Dr. MaryLucille Moore, ’59, Friendswood,Texas, was appointed professoremeritus at the UTMB School ofNursing in September 2000. JuneMorgan, ’57, Greenville, Texas, waswidowed in March 2000. She lives ona farm raising hay and she has sixgranddaughters. Caroline Mosher,’55, Richardson, Texas, is retired froma regular job, but she keeps her handin nursing by going on medicalmission trips. For the past two years,she has traveled to San Cristobal,Guatemala, and helped to open ahospital for a week by serving as aclinic nurse for one of the doctors.Caroline would enjoy hearing fromanyone. Donna B. Vaughn, ’59,Corpus Christi, Texas, writes that shehad bilateral total knee replacementsand is doing well. She hopes to eitherreturn to work soon or retire.

1960sJean A. Cox, ’61, Austin, Texas,published her memoirs in a booktitled A Long Way From the CottonPatch. More than a life story, itdescribes the economic and politicalclimate during the years of the GreatDepression, as it affected familiesliving on small farms in West Texas.The rigors of a three-year nursingschool program in Austin duringWorld War II in the Cadet Nurseprogram are detailed, as well as athirty-five-year nursing career atUTMB and three different VeteransAdministration centers. Jean also saysthat her maiden name was Cox andthen she worked at UTMB under thename of Jean Stekoll, then marriedand graduated under the name ofJean Rowland. She was widowed andthen married Richard Cox, so she isback to the name she started outwith. Jewell Braun Ellis, ’61, Austin,Texas, retired in June 2001 after forty


C L A S S Notes

years working at BrackenridgeHospital, primarily in cardio care. Shenow plans to do some reading,sewing, and traveling. D. Ellen Kerr,’68, Fort Worth, Texas, enjoys treatingpatients with primary and secondarylymphedema. For fun, she and herhusband, Lee Unger, went tentcamping in Arkansas, Tennessee, andKentucky in September 2001. Dr.Katherine J. Moore, ’61, Houston,earned her doctorate in education in1995. She is currently working asmanager for Employee HealthServices at Compaq ComputerCorporation/Hewlett-Packard inHouston. She manages two on-siteclinics serving approximately 12,000employees. Katherine continues herconsiderable involvement with theAmerican Association for Occupa-tional Health Nurses (AAOHN) andthe Commission for Case ManagerCertification (CCMC). She is serving afour-year term as a commissioner forCCMC at the national level andcontinues legal nurse consulting andoccupational health consulting part-time, an activity that she plans toexpand when she retires. She has twogrown daughters and one grandchild.Dr. Bonnie L. Rickelman, ’63, Austin,Texas, holds national board certifica-tion by the American NursesCredentialing Center (ANCC) andrecognition by the Texas Board ofNurse Examiners as an advancedpractice clinical specialist in adultpsychiatric-mental health nursing.She also holds national certificationas a group psychotherapist andlicensure as a marriage and familytherapist. Her research interestsinclude theory development andpredictor models of suicidal behaviorsand cognitive interventions tooptimize healthier attributions andprevention of demoralization,depression, and suicide. She isinterested in further study ofattachment and quality-of-lifeprofiles in older adults. She is anassociate professor at the Universityof Texas at Austin, where she teachesboth undergraduate and graduatecourses. Kathleen Cunningham-Smith, ’63, Gaithersburg, Maryland,received the Information Technology

Award for Knowledge Advancementfrom Sigma Theta Tau International.The annual award salutes nurses,groups, and society chapters thathave used information technology toimprove health care and further theirprofession. Sigma Theta Tau recog-nized her and two other Washingtonarea nurses for creating and conduct-ing the continuing educationprogram, Weekend Immersion inNursing Informatics (WINI). Thisprogram has been presented 24 timesthroughout the United States and inCanada.

1970s

Kleanthe “Anthe” Caruso, ’75,League City, Texas, was appointedchair of an American Nurses Associa-tion (ANA) task force to revisestandards of care for correctionalnursing. Dianne M. Fasano, ’78,Houston, has been a coordinator forhealth care ministry at St. BernadetteCatholic Church in Clear Lake since1996. Patricia E. Felkins, ’76,Floresville, Texas, is self-employed asan independent case manager. Shealso is chairman of the Case ManagerSociety of South Texas (CMSST) untilAugust 2002. Patricia has a small herdof goats for eating the grass on herfive acres of land and guineas to eatthe grasshoppers. She enjoys theoutdoor life very much. Kay McEwenShepard, ’71, Plano, Texas, is acertified occupational health nursespecialist (COHN-S) and a certifiedcase manager (CCM). She is also anofficer of a local branch of theAmerican Association of OccupationalHealth Nurses. Kay was the firstundergraduate to marry and have achild while in school at UTMB. Sheand her husband have been marriedfor 33 years and that baby boy,Michael, is married with a 4-year-oldlittle girl. Their younger son, Jason, iscurrently in college. LTC Phyllis J.Smith, ’76, Fort Sam Houston, Texas,U.S. Army, Army Nurse Corps, retiredfrom the military after more thantwenty-two years of combined activeduty and active reserve service. Shereceived her Bachelor of Science inNursing from UTMB in 1974 and her

Master of Science in Nursing fromUTMB in 1976. Her husband, Harold,is working at the Burke MentalHealth Center in Lufkin, Texas. Herson Nathan is a senior at the UnitedStates Military Academy at WestPoint, New York, and her son Allen isa freshman at UT-Austin.

1980sSister Mary Chaudet, ’81, St. Louis, isactive in the Nurses for NewbornsFoundation, which provides a safetynet for families most at risk, to helpprevent infant mortality, child abuse,and neglect through in-home nursingvisits, providing health care, educa-tion, and positive parenting skills. Shewas the first full-time staff nurse in1993. Mary was recognized byOprah’s Angel Network for hercontributions to this organization.Alexia Green, ’84, Lubbock, Texas,was selected as a Robert WoodJohnson fellow for 2001–2004. Shewas one of twenty nurses selectednationally to receive executive nurseleadership training by the RobertWood Johnson Foundation. CarmenKranz Green, ’80, Houston, is presi-dent of Qstaff, Inc., a temporarystaffing agency in Houston. She hasbeen married for five years and hastwo children. Henry Guevara, ’80,Georgetown, Texas, presentedresearch findings at the AmericanAssociation of Occupational HealthNurses conference in San Francisco oncase management of temporaryworkers at Applied Materials.Winifred Lorraine Langham, ’84,Texas City, Texas, was the recipient ofthe 2001 Martin Luther King Awardat UTMB. She was the first NursingService employee to receive theaward. Holly Fatherree Rost, ’84,Southlake, Texas, is busy keeping upwith her children—Megan, 15, Alex,13, Tommy, 12, Khristina, 10, andKatie, 7. She volunteers as a nurse ather children’s school.

1990sHelen Louise Boling, ’94, Toledo,Ohio, is a pediatric nurse practitionerworking as part of a large mid-levelprovider program (NPs/PAs) at Toledo


C L A S S Notes

Many individuals, especially those on fixed incomes, have been hurtrecently by low interest rates and volatile stock market reports. Certificates ofdeposit that paid 8 percent or more in the past are being rolled over at 5percent or less. Bonds are not much better. Bull or bear stock market“rollercoaster rides” are not to everyone’s liking, and some stock investmentsmay pay dividends of only 2 to 5 percent.

Many senior alumni and friends of UTMB age sixty-five and better arelearning about the University of Texas Foundation’s Gift Annuity Programwhich benefits UTMB and provides guaranteed, fixed payments. Rates pay asmuch as 7 to 10 percent, depending on age.

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Reviewing the Charitable Gift Annuity

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• A source of income for your or your spouse’s lifetime• A charitable income tax deduction• An opportunity to establish an endowed fund in your name

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appreciated stocks

For more information, contact the Office of Gift Planning Services at(409) 772-5151 or e-mail [email protected] or visit us on the web atwww.utmb.edu/giftplanning/.

Hospital and Toledo Children’sHospital. It is a very interesting joblocated in a small, but great andgrowing city. Brant T. Erwin, ’97,Hillsboro, Texas, moved to Anchor-age, Alaska, in May 2001, leaving hisjob as chief nursing officer at HillRegional Hospital in Central Texas tostart a new job at ProvidenceHospital in Alaska. He loves beingback in the clinical setting. Formerclassmates can write him at 2130 East56th Avenue #104, Anchorage, AK,99507. Constance M. Freeman, ’93,League City, Texas, is a part-timeprivate duty nurse in Galveston for afamily that underwrote a loan thatshe received while attending UTMB.She operates an e-commerce andinvestment business from home thatgives her time and financial freedom.Adele Gutierrez, ’94, Houston, waspromoted to chief nurse at MagnoliaHealth Center—Houston HealthDepartment in July 2001. Jason T.Paslean, ’97, Pearland, Texas, writesthat he is working in Houston atMemorial Hermann Life Flight as aflight nurse. Jason got married onOctober 12, 2001. Kelly Snyder-Ruemmele, ’94 and ’00, Houston,graduated from the Primary NursePractitioner program in December2000, and is employed as a certifiedpediatric nurse practitioner at GendiPediatrics in Pasadena. Kelly alsogave birth to her daughter, LauraPage, on May 22, 2001. Brenda S.Salisbury, ’87 and ’93, Baltimore,works in the operating room in openheart and coordinates the mainoperating room at Johns HopkinsHospital. She is an active member ofthe Association of PerioperativeRegistered Nurses Baltimore Chapter.Deborah Saunders, ’91, Cypress, is theTexas regional manager of theNewborn Hearing Screen Program atthe Pediatric Medical Group inHouston.

In MemoryHunda Marguerite Perdue Dorr ’42,San Antonio, Texas,February 28, 1999

Sister Mary Lambert O’Mara ’54,Monroe, Louisiana, November 20, 2000

Dora Louise Brenan Drobel ’42,Roswell, New Mexico,February 12, 2001

J. Elizabeth White ’27, San Angelo,Texas, March 11, 2001

Lorna McKoy ’31, Dallas, May 31, 2001

Joretta F. Wilmer ’84, Houston, April2001

Mary E. Wilhelm ’57, Green Valley,Arizona, July 20, 2001

Audie Stricklin Mensing ’38, SanAntonio, Texas, September 1, 2001

Mary E. Fisher, a beloved facultymember and instructor of the Schoolof Nursing, died on August 1, 2001.Mary worked for the past 25 years asan educator in nursing degreeprograms. In May 2001, she wasawarded the UTMB School of NursingFaculty Excellence Award. Mary’sfamily has established a scholarship inher memory at UTMB. Contributionscan be addressed to the Mary E.Fisher Nursing Scholarship Fund,UTMB School of Nursing, 301 UniversityBoulevard, Galveston, TX, 77555-1132.

Gift annuity paysyou and UTMB CD Rates Too Low, Stocks Unpredictable?

Support UTMB and Enjoy Gift Annuity Payments


BODY & SOUL

I recently spent three days inFlorence with twenty other ger-ontologists in an attempt to de-fine frailty. One of the cardinalsigns of frailty, we all agreed, isslow walking speed—the patientwho takes forever to get from thewaiting room to your office. Weadvocated prospective trials ofbrisk walking in frailty preven-tion. All this left me vaguely un-settled, because I am a greatlover of the art of walking slowly.

One theory of languageholds that the number of wordsavailable to describe a phenom-enon reflects the subtlety withwhich we can think about it. Es-kimos have eleven or thirteen orsome other large uneven numberof words for snow, while theTrobriand Islanders have none.Thus, the Trobrianders cannoteven think about snow, muchless talk about it.

In that case, at some pointin our history walking slowly must have been very im-portant indeed. Amble, mosey, stroll, saunter, shuffle,lumber, ramble, shamble, sidle, meander, wend, sashay—and more. In earlier times perhaps we needed all thesewords. But not any more. We might amble in our dreams,but not on the freeway. One strides in the corridors ofpower; saunterers are not welcome. People rush to theirmassages, their yoga classes. Slow walking is on the vergeof extinction, at risk of relegation to ritual, to surface onlyat weddings and funerals to evoke vestigial emotions froma more placid era. It need not be so.

My youngest daughter knows how to mosey. Thumbsin jeans, hips abducted 15 degrees, this gait is accom-plished by synchronised flexion of the hip and knee, suchthat the foot is lifted with the lower part of the leg stillperpendicular to the ground. Then the knee is extendedto 180 degrees, and the weight shifts forward to that leg,which is planted on the ground about twelve inches infront of where it started.

The mosey is a magnificent walk, more like a dance.It fairly screams with the revels of the journey, the sheerjoy of motion. Had the Wright brothers known how to

mosey, they would not haveneeded an aeroplane.

Henry David Thoreau de-voted a long essay to saunter-ing, which he thought was de-rived from “Sainte Terre”; asaunterer was a holy lander, awalker of sacred ground. I havespent some effort in life teach-ing others to saunter. It is im-portant to me. The sauntererlives in the present. What is im-portant is where you are, notwhere you are going. Saunter-ing is a simple but all-consum-ing act. Hustling, hurrying,rushing—this is all about the fu-ture, ignoring the present to getto the future. But is the futureworth the rush, worth the sacri-fice of the present?

The amble is, of course,uniquely American, embeddedin our Constitution. Our found-ing fathers composed the pre-amble, then ambled to clear

their minds, then wrote the rest of the document. It isalways easier to teach people how to do something ratherthan feel something or be something. Rather than at-tending classes to learn to reduce stress and resolve con-flict, maybe we could all learn how to amble. The ambleis the ambulatory equivalent of a deep breathing exer-cise. It is impossible to simultaneously fight and amble.When we reach Nirvana, we will not be permitted todash or scoot. We will be expected to know how to amble.

So here I am, a conflicted geriatrician. How do I in-tegrate my personal love of sauntering with my profes-sional beliefs in the benefits of rapid walking? Life iscomplex. Perhaps we will evolve to a set of recommen-dations that acknowledge this complexity. Power walk-ing, running, jogging—those we will recommend as help-ful for the body. But moseying, ambling, and saunteringare necessary exercises for the soul.

James S. Goodwin is professor of geriatrics and directorof the Sealy Center on Aging. This essay was previously pub-lished in slightly different form and is reprinted with permis-sion from Elsevier Science (The Lancet, April 13, 2002, Vol.359, p. 1358).

Ambling towards NirvanaB Y J A M E S S . G O O D W I N

Documents

UTMB Quarterly Summer 2002