Seven University of Texas programs recognized with President's Cabinet awards

Seven programs were recently recognized with President's Cabinet awards and awarded additional funds from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

The awards, totaling more than $177,000, are given in recognition of individuals who work with programs that have helped UTMB's patient care and educational and biomedical research missions.

The 2012 winners are as follows:

• Lt. Ryan Erwin, of the UTMB Police Department, for Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training. ALERRT seeks to prepare officers for active shooting incidents and strengthen training and communication between officers at UTMB and Galveston. The money will purchase special equipment that will be used in training.

• Carolyn Nelson-Becker for the Department of the Obstetrics and Gynecology's Regional Maternal and Child Health program. The program seeks to provide families of premature babies with support. It trains community health workers who work with families to care for the babies.

• Karen Chapman, of the Department of Rehabilitations, and Marte Herset, at the Center of Audiology and Speech Pathology, for work with the UTMB Stroke Support Group. Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability and this project was started to support stroke survivors and caregivers. The group meets bi-monthly and discusses various topics important to strokes, caring for survivors and prevention.

• Cara Geary, Rev. Kathy Ozenberger and Eva Blight, of the Department of Pediatrics, has been working with the Perinatal Hospice at UTMB. The program supports parents of terminally ill infants. The award funding will allow the program to expand to 14 obstetric clinics, emergency departments and inpatient obstetric departments. The program's focus is staff education, family counseling, community support groups and special care packages for mothers and families.

• Richard Rupp and Bridget Hawkins, for a public vaccine education campaign. The campaign sought to educate the public about vaccinations and addresses issues of safety and health that have come up as a result of anti-vaccination campaigns and misinformation. The campaign is making use of podcasts, newspaper and magazine articles, videos and more to reach out and inform.

• Rimma Osipov and Christine Horstmeyer, for Students Together for Service. The program addresses issues that have resulted from a lack of coordination between student-led patient care initiatives. It will establish a coordination board for UTMB student service organizations to follow in the hope of reducing redundancy and improving efficiency.

• Margaret Resto is working on a sleep apnea program. The program is a joint effort with St. Vincent's that will identify individuals who are uninsured or economically disadvantaged and diagnosed with sleep apnea. These individuals will be provided with continuous airway pressure machines and other supplies. The program will include nursing visiting people's homes to demonstrate the equipment.

UTMB is at 301 University Blvd., Suite 3102, Galveston.

For more information on the President's Cabinet, visit www.utmb.edu/cabinet.