Baylor news ■ Baylor Medical Center at Garland
■ BHVH earns prestigious 2014
celebrates a half-century of service to our community Baylor Medical Center at Garland recently celebrated the hospital’s 50th anniversary. Named in honor of World War II veterans, the 100-bed Memorial Hospital of Garland opened its doors on March 16, 1964. In January 1991, the hospital joined Baylor Health Care System, becoming Baylor Medical Center at Garland. What began as a humble not-for-profit community hospital has now grown into an expansive medical facility offering a full spectrum of health care services, including extensive heart and vascular services, a breast center, and a newly designed emergency department, to name just a few. “With each passing decade, we’ve found new ways to improve our hospital and invest in our community by expanding our services and striving to improve patient care,” said Tom Trenary, president of Baylor Garland. “And every step has been guided by the values of Baylor Health Care System—integrity, servanthood, teamwork, excellence, innovation, and stewardship.”
TAPE Award The Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital (BHVH) is a 2014 recipient of the Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE) from the Quality Texas Foundation. The TAPE award is the state’s highest honor for quality and organizational performance. BHVH earned this award by demonstrating exceptional performance in all areas of organizational management. The TAPE program is run by the Quality Texas Foundation and is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, using its criteria and process. BHVH was thoroughly examined, including site surveys and numerous reports on all levels of operations. “The next step on our journey will be the pursuit of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. I am confident that with this team, we can accomplish anything,” said Nancy Vish, president and CNO of BHVH. BHVH was previously honored at the achievement level by the Quality Texas Foundation in 2011 and 2012. Past Baylor TAPE award recipients include Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie, 2012; Baylor Medical Center at Irving, 2011; Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, 2010; and Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine, 2009.
■ Baylor expertise at Walgreens
in-store clinics HealthTexas Provider Network recently signed a deal with Walgreens to provide medical oversight of advanced practitioners (e.g., advanced nurse practitioners and physician assistants) at in-store clinic locations. The retail health care concept represents transformative health care changes in North Texas. “This will provide convenient access for low-level care after hours and on weekends,” explained Gary Brock, president and chief operating officer, Baylor Scott & White Health-North Texas. It’s also a cost-cutting idea, he said. “Having more touch points, in a lower-cost environment than what you would see in our own primary care physician offices and hospitals— that means an improvement in our cost profile.” The Walgreens clinic facilities are currently being designed and built inside existing stores. The name is simple and direct: Health Care Clinic at Walgreens. The target for opening is August 2014. The clinics will be strategically located throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth market. Thirteen are planned, but it’s possible the number will increase. 260
■ Game on: Baylor research study wins
first place in national competition A gaming study from Baylor Scott & White Health won a first-place award at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare. The research, which was sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, began as a unique collaboration with the University of Texas (UT) Arlington and UT Dallas in 2011. Using interviews conducted with Baylor nurses and physicians, the project team developed a learning curriculum within a video computer game that simulates interactions between physicians and nurses—otherwise known as GLIMPSE (Game to Learn Important Communications Methods for Patient Safety Enhancement). Three years after the start of that collaboration, the project team has tested the completed game at four patient care units at Baylor Irving. From the onset of this project, the study’s creators had set their sights on one very important goal: to improve the patient experience. “A great deal of health care errors are due
to miscommunication between physicians and nurses, which can present patient safety issues,” said Susan Houston, PhD, RN, director of nursing research and collaborator in the GLIMPSE project. “The nurses as well as the physicians at Irving who played the game were extremely supportive,” she said. “Overall, the collegiality and collaboration have been wonderful in an effort to pull off this 3-year project. Ideally, we will see the long-term effects, not only just in the results of this study, but through a marked decrease in health care errors that occur due to miscommunication.” ■ Three Baylor hospitals on Consumer
Reports top 5 safest ratings Three Baylor Health Care System hospitals are among the top five hospitals in the Dallas– Fort Worth area based on safety scores, according to the Consumer Reports Health Hospital Ratings. Out of the 47 hospitals rated in the area, only Baylor Waxahachie scored above 70 on the 100-point scale. Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth earned the number two rating, with an overall score of 61, while Baylor Medical Center at Irving was fifth on the list, with a safety score of 59. The ratings combine five key measures—mortality, readmission, overuse of CT scans, hospital-acquired infections, and communication—into one composite score so consumers can easily compare hospital safety. “Baylor strongly supports efforts by Consumer Reports to provide information to the public to help them make informed choices about their hospital care,” said Donald Kennerly, MD, associate chief quality officer for Baylor Scott & White Health. “We are proud that three of the top five highest-rated hospitals in the Dallas–Fort Worth area are Baylor hospitals. Baylor has made major investments over many years to improve the quality and safety of care we provide our patients.” ■ Heart disease secrets may lie beyond
the heart For the first time ever, new research suggests that the most common forms of heart disease may be detected in organs outside the heart. If future studies confirm those findings, cardiologists might someday diagnose a person’s heart disease risk with a heart scan, cholesterol test, and urine sample. The latest study, from Baylor’s metabolic research ranks, Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent) 2014;27(3):260–262
RECENT GRANTS • Understanding the early and late endosomal TLR9-mediated responses to viral DNA Principal investigator: Yong-Jun Liu, PhD, MD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $392,000 Award period: 4/1/14–3/31/15 • Mechanisms of B cell responses in autoimmune disease: S13-SRA01-BRI Principal investigator: Virginia Pascual, MD Sponsor: Duke University/National Institutes of Health Funding: $165,637 Award period: 5/1/13–4/30/14
• Novel innate and adaptive immunity pathways lead to human systemic autoimmunity Principal investigator: Virginia Pascual, MD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $726,556 Award period: 5/1/14–4/30/15 • Characterizing DExD/H box helicases as viral sensors in human dendritic cells Principal investigator: Yong-Jun Liu, PhD, MD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $392,000 Award period: 5/1/14–4/30/15
was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Led by Raphael Schiffmann, MD, director of Baylor’s Institute for Metabolic Disease, part of Baylor Research Institute, the study found that increased levels of the urinary substance Gb3 could mean a patient is at higher risk for near-term death from heart disease. Originally, the trial was designed as a screening study for Fabry disease, a rare genetic condition that triggers heart problems. Dr. Schiffmann and his team tested the urine of patients to find elevated Gb3 levels, which is common in Fabry disease patients. “To our surprise, we noticed after a few months that some heart disease patients who did not have Fabry disease did have elevated Gb3 in the urine,” Dr. Schiffmann said. “We also found that some of those patients had died in the short interval that had passed since we had last seen them for this screening study.” Using statistical data, Dr. Schiffmann and his team found that heart disease patients with higher Gb3 levels face a higher risk of death than those with normal amounts of the biomarker. “This was a very surprising, yet encouraging, discovery, given the fact that Gb3 elevation was—until now— thought to be the exclusive hallmark of Fabry disease,” Dr. Schiffmann said. “Remarkably, this biomarker is significantly different from existing ones and could be of great significance for the future study of heart disease.” Continued research is needed to fully explore heart disease biomarkers.
a potential strategy to improve the outcomes of islet cell transplantation for patients with type 1 diabetes and chronic pancreatitis. The Baylor research team determined that withaferin A (WA), a plant-derived compound with strong antiinflammatory and antioxidant properties, is a strong inhibitor of the inflammatory response in islets, protecting them against cytokine-induced cell damage while improving the survival of transplanted islets. The results suggest that WA could be incorporated as an adjunctive treatment to current immunosuppressive therapies to improve islet transplant outcome. “Currently, no antiinflammatory compound with broad benefits such as withaferin A is used in the islet transplant field. The experimental research performed at Baylor on this compound has improved the basic understanding of the molecular mechanism involved in islet damage during the peritransplant period,” said Bashoo Naziruddin, PhD, director of the Islet Cell Laboratory at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. “Islet cell transplant continues to show promise for treating patients with type 1 diabetes. Auto islet cell transplant already is used
■ Baylor awarded patent for major
advance in islet cell transplant research Baylor Research Institute (BRI) has been awarded a patent from the US Patent Office for July 2014
• DC-ASGPR as a novel target for controlling graft-versus-host disease and allograft rejection Principal investigator: Sangkon Oh, PhD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $330,586 Award period: 4/1/14–3/31/15 • Role and function of prohibitin in intestinal inflammation Principal investigator: Arianne Theiss, PhD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $133,057 Award period: 2/1/14–1/1/15
successfully to treat patients with chronic pancreatitis,” Dr. Naziruddin said. “We hope the use of WA will strengthen existing immunosuppressive strategies to improve current islet transplant outcomes by preserving the mass and function of engrafted islets.” ■ BRI receives $3.3 million grant to
continue research in autoimmune diseases BRI has received a $3.3 million grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to fund its Autoimmunity Center of Excellence. The grant was a renewal awarded to Virginia Pascual, MD, the leader of the Autoimmunity Center of Excellence and a director at Baylor Institute for Immunology Research (BIIR). The BIIR Autoimmunity Center of Excellence is one of only a few such centers in the nation. This designation is given to outstanding research and clinical facilities that are awarded these grants. “This was an extremely competitive grant, and we are fortunate that our proposal was renewed. The goals of the center include understanding the mechanisms that lead to
UPCOMING CME PROGRAMS The A. Webb Roberts Center for Continuing Education of Baylor Health Care System is offering the following program: 41st Annual Williamsburg Conference on Heart Disease, December 7–9, 2014, in Williamsburg, Virginia For more information, call 214.820.2317 or visit www.cmebaylor.org.
Baylor news
261
PHILANTHROPY NOTES ■ Thompson’s legacy lives on at Baylor
through vascular surgery fellowships Jesse Eldon Thompson, MD, was a man of vision with a deeply held belief in education. He was known by colleagues, students, and friends as reserved, thoughtful, and driven by a compelling desire to reach the highest possible level of professional competence. Dr. Thompson came to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas in 1954 as a young vascular surgeon with the belief that vascular procedures required specialized training to improve outcomes and results. Shortly after his arrival at Baylor, he established one of the first divisions of vascular surgery in the United States. In 1964, he founded Baylor’s vascular surgery fellowship—the second oldest program in the country devoted solely to the training of vascular surgeons. Since the program’s inception, more than 100 surgeons have been trained, many of whom have become nationally and internationally recognized leaders in vascular surgery. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the vascular surgery fellowship program at Baylor and to honor the program’s founder, Baylor Health Care System Foundation seeks to raise $1.5 million to endow a Jesse Eldon Thompson Fellowship in Vascular Surgery. The program currently trains four vascular surgery fellows each year, and the annual cost to support one fellow is approximately $80,000. Thanks to support from generous donors, more than $500,000 has already been raised toward this goal.
Inc., for their commitment to making a difference in the communities where their employees live and work. In 2010, the Sammons Dallas Foundation made a $20 million gift to benefit cancer initiatives at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center. Most recently, the Men and Women of Sammons donated $150,000 to support a novel genetic detection mechanism for patients diagnosed with hematologic diseases. Thanks to the support received from the Men and Women of Sammons, Edward Agura, MD, medical director of the Bone Marrow Transplant program at Baylor Dallas, and his colleagues are working to create an extremely sensitive DNA-based blood test for early detection of cancer cells. Earlier identification of cancer cells would allow physicians to begin treatment before the cancer has the opportunity to progress to later stages of advancement, when detection becomes easier but treatment is more difficult. The patient-specific genetic detection mechanisms under research at Baylor will enable the laboratory to detect as little as one cancer cell in 1 million—a method that is 10,000 times more sensitive than those currently available to clinicians. Armed with this information, clinicians would follow a treatment protocol which is designed to eradicate “the last cancer cell,” according to Dr. Agura. ■ Meaningful estate gift to help others
■ Sammons gift continues to change
landscape for cancer care at Baylor Baylor Health Care System is grateful to the men and women of Sammons Enterprises,
breathe easier Collins Burton struggled with asthma his entire life. Wanda, his wife, understood his struggle, suffering herself from chronic obstructive pulmonary
autoimmunity and developing tools to monitor these dysfunctional pathways in patients,” Dr. Pascual said. “BIIR has a very strong autoimmunity program, and the renewal of the Autoimmunity Center of Excellence further demonstrates
the quality and success of our program,” said Michael Ramsay, MD, president of BRI. “Dr. Pascual’s research focuses on autoimmune diseases such as lupus, dermatomyositis, and juvenile arthritis. Her work on juvenile arthritis led to a successful treatment for
262
Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings
disease (COPD). Thankfully, the Martha Foster Lung Care Center at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, under the leadership of medical director and pulmonologist Mark Millard, MD, helped both Wanda and Collins manage their pulmonary diseases for years until their deaths in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Grateful for the quality of care they received from their pulmonologist, the Burtons left generous bequests to create an endowment fund in support of pulmonary research initiatives at the Martha Foster Lung Care Center. To date, Baylor Health Care System Foundation has received nearly $3.5 million from the Burtons’ estate. Though there are currently no treatments that undo lung damage from asthma and COPD, Dr. Millard and his colleagues at the Martha Foster Lung Care Center are continually striving to quickly bring new treatment options to their patients. Dr. Millard is currently conducting clinical trials on new medications for asthma, COPD, and pulmonary fibrosis. In addition to these clinical trials, Dr. Millard has also collaborated with the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research to understand more fully how asthma works and determine if the process that leads to asthma can be modified. The Burtons left a lasting legacy through their estates by creating an endowment fund in their names. An endowment fund consists of assets permanently given to charity that are invested to generate a stream of income for that organization. In this case, the Baylor Martha Foster Lung Care Center will benefit from the Burtons’ generosity for generations to come. For information on how you can support these or other initiatives at Baylor, please contact the Foundation at 214.820.3136.
children who did not respond to other therapies. Her group identified an immune system protein, interleukin-1, which is overproduced in these children, and found that a drug that was already on the market could block the effects of this protein.”
Volume 27, Number 3
■ BHVH earns prestigious 2014
celebrates a half-century of service to our community Baylor Medical Center at Garland recently celebrated the hospital’s 50th anniversary. Named in honor of World War II veterans, the 100-bed Memorial Hospital of Garland opened its doors on March 16, 1964. In January 1991, the hospital joined Baylor Health Care System, becoming Baylor Medical Center at Garland. What began as a humble not-for-profit community hospital has now grown into an expansive medical facility offering a full spectrum of health care services, including extensive heart and vascular services, a breast center, and a newly designed emergency department, to name just a few. “With each passing decade, we’ve found new ways to improve our hospital and invest in our community by expanding our services and striving to improve patient care,” said Tom Trenary, president of Baylor Garland. “And every step has been guided by the values of Baylor Health Care System—integrity, servanthood, teamwork, excellence, innovation, and stewardship.”
TAPE Award The Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital (BHVH) is a 2014 recipient of the Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE) from the Quality Texas Foundation. The TAPE award is the state’s highest honor for quality and organizational performance. BHVH earned this award by demonstrating exceptional performance in all areas of organizational management. The TAPE program is run by the Quality Texas Foundation and is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, using its criteria and process. BHVH was thoroughly examined, including site surveys and numerous reports on all levels of operations. “The next step on our journey will be the pursuit of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. I am confident that with this team, we can accomplish anything,” said Nancy Vish, president and CNO of BHVH. BHVH was previously honored at the achievement level by the Quality Texas Foundation in 2011 and 2012. Past Baylor TAPE award recipients include Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie, 2012; Baylor Medical Center at Irving, 2011; Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, 2010; and Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine, 2009.
■ Baylor expertise at Walgreens
in-store clinics HealthTexas Provider Network recently signed a deal with Walgreens to provide medical oversight of advanced practitioners (e.g., advanced nurse practitioners and physician assistants) at in-store clinic locations. The retail health care concept represents transformative health care changes in North Texas. “This will provide convenient access for low-level care after hours and on weekends,” explained Gary Brock, president and chief operating officer, Baylor Scott & White Health-North Texas. It’s also a cost-cutting idea, he said. “Having more touch points, in a lower-cost environment than what you would see in our own primary care physician offices and hospitals— that means an improvement in our cost profile.” The Walgreens clinic facilities are currently being designed and built inside existing stores. The name is simple and direct: Health Care Clinic at Walgreens. The target for opening is August 2014. The clinics will be strategically located throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth market. Thirteen are planned, but it’s possible the number will increase. 260
■ Game on: Baylor research study wins
first place in national competition A gaming study from Baylor Scott & White Health won a first-place award at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare. The research, which was sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, began as a unique collaboration with the University of Texas (UT) Arlington and UT Dallas in 2011. Using interviews conducted with Baylor nurses and physicians, the project team developed a learning curriculum within a video computer game that simulates interactions between physicians and nurses—otherwise known as GLIMPSE (Game to Learn Important Communications Methods for Patient Safety Enhancement). Three years after the start of that collaboration, the project team has tested the completed game at four patient care units at Baylor Irving. From the onset of this project, the study’s creators had set their sights on one very important goal: to improve the patient experience. “A great deal of health care errors are due
to miscommunication between physicians and nurses, which can present patient safety issues,” said Susan Houston, PhD, RN, director of nursing research and collaborator in the GLIMPSE project. “The nurses as well as the physicians at Irving who played the game were extremely supportive,” she said. “Overall, the collegiality and collaboration have been wonderful in an effort to pull off this 3-year project. Ideally, we will see the long-term effects, not only just in the results of this study, but through a marked decrease in health care errors that occur due to miscommunication.” ■ Three Baylor hospitals on Consumer
Reports top 5 safest ratings Three Baylor Health Care System hospitals are among the top five hospitals in the Dallas– Fort Worth area based on safety scores, according to the Consumer Reports Health Hospital Ratings. Out of the 47 hospitals rated in the area, only Baylor Waxahachie scored above 70 on the 100-point scale. Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth earned the number two rating, with an overall score of 61, while Baylor Medical Center at Irving was fifth on the list, with a safety score of 59. The ratings combine five key measures—mortality, readmission, overuse of CT scans, hospital-acquired infections, and communication—into one composite score so consumers can easily compare hospital safety. “Baylor strongly supports efforts by Consumer Reports to provide information to the public to help them make informed choices about their hospital care,” said Donald Kennerly, MD, associate chief quality officer for Baylor Scott & White Health. “We are proud that three of the top five highest-rated hospitals in the Dallas–Fort Worth area are Baylor hospitals. Baylor has made major investments over many years to improve the quality and safety of care we provide our patients.” ■ Heart disease secrets may lie beyond
the heart For the first time ever, new research suggests that the most common forms of heart disease may be detected in organs outside the heart. If future studies confirm those findings, cardiologists might someday diagnose a person’s heart disease risk with a heart scan, cholesterol test, and urine sample. The latest study, from Baylor’s metabolic research ranks, Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent) 2014;27(3):260–262
RECENT GRANTS • Understanding the early and late endosomal TLR9-mediated responses to viral DNA Principal investigator: Yong-Jun Liu, PhD, MD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $392,000 Award period: 4/1/14–3/31/15 • Mechanisms of B cell responses in autoimmune disease: S13-SRA01-BRI Principal investigator: Virginia Pascual, MD Sponsor: Duke University/National Institutes of Health Funding: $165,637 Award period: 5/1/13–4/30/14
• Novel innate and adaptive immunity pathways lead to human systemic autoimmunity Principal investigator: Virginia Pascual, MD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $726,556 Award period: 5/1/14–4/30/15 • Characterizing DExD/H box helicases as viral sensors in human dendritic cells Principal investigator: Yong-Jun Liu, PhD, MD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $392,000 Award period: 5/1/14–4/30/15
was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Led by Raphael Schiffmann, MD, director of Baylor’s Institute for Metabolic Disease, part of Baylor Research Institute, the study found that increased levels of the urinary substance Gb3 could mean a patient is at higher risk for near-term death from heart disease. Originally, the trial was designed as a screening study for Fabry disease, a rare genetic condition that triggers heart problems. Dr. Schiffmann and his team tested the urine of patients to find elevated Gb3 levels, which is common in Fabry disease patients. “To our surprise, we noticed after a few months that some heart disease patients who did not have Fabry disease did have elevated Gb3 in the urine,” Dr. Schiffmann said. “We also found that some of those patients had died in the short interval that had passed since we had last seen them for this screening study.” Using statistical data, Dr. Schiffmann and his team found that heart disease patients with higher Gb3 levels face a higher risk of death than those with normal amounts of the biomarker. “This was a very surprising, yet encouraging, discovery, given the fact that Gb3 elevation was—until now— thought to be the exclusive hallmark of Fabry disease,” Dr. Schiffmann said. “Remarkably, this biomarker is significantly different from existing ones and could be of great significance for the future study of heart disease.” Continued research is needed to fully explore heart disease biomarkers.
a potential strategy to improve the outcomes of islet cell transplantation for patients with type 1 diabetes and chronic pancreatitis. The Baylor research team determined that withaferin A (WA), a plant-derived compound with strong antiinflammatory and antioxidant properties, is a strong inhibitor of the inflammatory response in islets, protecting them against cytokine-induced cell damage while improving the survival of transplanted islets. The results suggest that WA could be incorporated as an adjunctive treatment to current immunosuppressive therapies to improve islet transplant outcome. “Currently, no antiinflammatory compound with broad benefits such as withaferin A is used in the islet transplant field. The experimental research performed at Baylor on this compound has improved the basic understanding of the molecular mechanism involved in islet damage during the peritransplant period,” said Bashoo Naziruddin, PhD, director of the Islet Cell Laboratory at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. “Islet cell transplant continues to show promise for treating patients with type 1 diabetes. Auto islet cell transplant already is used
■ Baylor awarded patent for major
advance in islet cell transplant research Baylor Research Institute (BRI) has been awarded a patent from the US Patent Office for July 2014
• DC-ASGPR as a novel target for controlling graft-versus-host disease and allograft rejection Principal investigator: Sangkon Oh, PhD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $330,586 Award period: 4/1/14–3/31/15 • Role and function of prohibitin in intestinal inflammation Principal investigator: Arianne Theiss, PhD Sponsor: National Institutes of Health Funding: $133,057 Award period: 2/1/14–1/1/15
successfully to treat patients with chronic pancreatitis,” Dr. Naziruddin said. “We hope the use of WA will strengthen existing immunosuppressive strategies to improve current islet transplant outcomes by preserving the mass and function of engrafted islets.” ■ BRI receives $3.3 million grant to
continue research in autoimmune diseases BRI has received a $3.3 million grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to fund its Autoimmunity Center of Excellence. The grant was a renewal awarded to Virginia Pascual, MD, the leader of the Autoimmunity Center of Excellence and a director at Baylor Institute for Immunology Research (BIIR). The BIIR Autoimmunity Center of Excellence is one of only a few such centers in the nation. This designation is given to outstanding research and clinical facilities that are awarded these grants. “This was an extremely competitive grant, and we are fortunate that our proposal was renewed. The goals of the center include understanding the mechanisms that lead to
UPCOMING CME PROGRAMS The A. Webb Roberts Center for Continuing Education of Baylor Health Care System is offering the following program: 41st Annual Williamsburg Conference on Heart Disease, December 7–9, 2014, in Williamsburg, Virginia For more information, call 214.820.2317 or visit www.cmebaylor.org.
Baylor news
261
PHILANTHROPY NOTES ■ Thompson’s legacy lives on at Baylor
through vascular surgery fellowships Jesse Eldon Thompson, MD, was a man of vision with a deeply held belief in education. He was known by colleagues, students, and friends as reserved, thoughtful, and driven by a compelling desire to reach the highest possible level of professional competence. Dr. Thompson came to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas in 1954 as a young vascular surgeon with the belief that vascular procedures required specialized training to improve outcomes and results. Shortly after his arrival at Baylor, he established one of the first divisions of vascular surgery in the United States. In 1964, he founded Baylor’s vascular surgery fellowship—the second oldest program in the country devoted solely to the training of vascular surgeons. Since the program’s inception, more than 100 surgeons have been trained, many of whom have become nationally and internationally recognized leaders in vascular surgery. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the vascular surgery fellowship program at Baylor and to honor the program’s founder, Baylor Health Care System Foundation seeks to raise $1.5 million to endow a Jesse Eldon Thompson Fellowship in Vascular Surgery. The program currently trains four vascular surgery fellows each year, and the annual cost to support one fellow is approximately $80,000. Thanks to support from generous donors, more than $500,000 has already been raised toward this goal.
Inc., for their commitment to making a difference in the communities where their employees live and work. In 2010, the Sammons Dallas Foundation made a $20 million gift to benefit cancer initiatives at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center. Most recently, the Men and Women of Sammons donated $150,000 to support a novel genetic detection mechanism for patients diagnosed with hematologic diseases. Thanks to the support received from the Men and Women of Sammons, Edward Agura, MD, medical director of the Bone Marrow Transplant program at Baylor Dallas, and his colleagues are working to create an extremely sensitive DNA-based blood test for early detection of cancer cells. Earlier identification of cancer cells would allow physicians to begin treatment before the cancer has the opportunity to progress to later stages of advancement, when detection becomes easier but treatment is more difficult. The patient-specific genetic detection mechanisms under research at Baylor will enable the laboratory to detect as little as one cancer cell in 1 million—a method that is 10,000 times more sensitive than those currently available to clinicians. Armed with this information, clinicians would follow a treatment protocol which is designed to eradicate “the last cancer cell,” according to Dr. Agura. ■ Meaningful estate gift to help others
■ Sammons gift continues to change
landscape for cancer care at Baylor Baylor Health Care System is grateful to the men and women of Sammons Enterprises,
breathe easier Collins Burton struggled with asthma his entire life. Wanda, his wife, understood his struggle, suffering herself from chronic obstructive pulmonary
autoimmunity and developing tools to monitor these dysfunctional pathways in patients,” Dr. Pascual said. “BIIR has a very strong autoimmunity program, and the renewal of the Autoimmunity Center of Excellence further demonstrates
the quality and success of our program,” said Michael Ramsay, MD, president of BRI. “Dr. Pascual’s research focuses on autoimmune diseases such as lupus, dermatomyositis, and juvenile arthritis. Her work on juvenile arthritis led to a successful treatment for
262
Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings
disease (COPD). Thankfully, the Martha Foster Lung Care Center at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, under the leadership of medical director and pulmonologist Mark Millard, MD, helped both Wanda and Collins manage their pulmonary diseases for years until their deaths in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Grateful for the quality of care they received from their pulmonologist, the Burtons left generous bequests to create an endowment fund in support of pulmonary research initiatives at the Martha Foster Lung Care Center. To date, Baylor Health Care System Foundation has received nearly $3.5 million from the Burtons’ estate. Though there are currently no treatments that undo lung damage from asthma and COPD, Dr. Millard and his colleagues at the Martha Foster Lung Care Center are continually striving to quickly bring new treatment options to their patients. Dr. Millard is currently conducting clinical trials on new medications for asthma, COPD, and pulmonary fibrosis. In addition to these clinical trials, Dr. Millard has also collaborated with the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research to understand more fully how asthma works and determine if the process that leads to asthma can be modified. The Burtons left a lasting legacy through their estates by creating an endowment fund in their names. An endowment fund consists of assets permanently given to charity that are invested to generate a stream of income for that organization. In this case, the Baylor Martha Foster Lung Care Center will benefit from the Burtons’ generosity for generations to come. For information on how you can support these or other initiatives at Baylor, please contact the Foundation at 214.820.3136.
children who did not respond to other therapies. Her group identified an immune system protein, interleukin-1, which is overproduced in these children, and found that a drug that was already on the market could block the effects of this protein.”
Volume 27, Number 3
