The Shield Volume 2

F E AT U R E S

MED SCHOOL

UT UNITED

Combating

Celebrating the

to Launch in East Texas

COVID-19

Why We Are Stronger Together

CLASS OF 2020

It’s Time.

The Future

of Medicine in East Texas.

On the cover L to R: Dr. Julie Philley, Dr. Kirk A. Calhoun and Dr. Sue Cox Photo credit: Casey Jay Benson (Philley) and Jarad Navarro (Calhoun, Cox)

FALL 2020 • VOLUME 02

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Message from the President 2020 is a year like none other. We anticipated 2020 would be a year of change, as The University of Texas System Board of Regents announced in December 2019 an unprecedented $95 million investment to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT) and The University of Texas at Tyler (UT Tyler) to build new educational and clinical facilities to better meet healthcare education needs.

Shortly thereafter, the Regents announced the plan to unite UTHSCT and UT Tyler into a single administrative structure to increase our combined capacity to meet the educational and health needs of an underserved and growing East Texas.

The alignment will result in one seamless environment for students and faculty. It will strengthen recruitment, increase experiential training for undergraduate and graduate students, support extensive research growth, serve as a catalyst to grow the healthcare workforce, and deliver healthcare in a single, fully integrated academic and medical setting.

In February, we announced we would launch the first medical school in East Texas, followed by a monumental announcement that the East Texas Medical Center Foundation committed $80 million toward the medical school — making it the largest single donation to establish a medical school in the history of Texas. Our new medical school will focus on meeting the health challenges of our region and recruiting students who come from and want to remain in East Texas.

Also, that same month, the U.S. government declared a public health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to more than 200,000 U.S. deaths and more than 1.10 million worldwide deaths to date.

UTHSCT researchers responded with action, finding ways to combat the pandemic and to ease human suffering. Today, several of our top researchers are involved in vital work to find treatments and vaccines.

Due to the pandemic, classes at UTHSCT and elsewhere moved online. Our students and faculty persevered through significant disruptions and challenges in 2020, demonstrating great adaptability, tenacity and grit.

For the first time ever, we hosted a virtual commencement to ensure the safety of our 2020 graduates, their family members, our faculty, our staff and other guests.

2020 is not yet over, but it has taught us all new lessons — in handwashing, mask wearing, social distancing, virtual meeting technologies, online learning and more. I encourage everyone to remain flexible and continue to learn and prepare for change, for if 2020 has taught us anything, it is that change is inevitable.

As we look to the future, we are positioned to have an even more profound impact as we seek to benefit human health and to improve the quality of life throughout East Texas and beyond through excellent patient care and community health, comprehensive education and innovative research. We have much work to do, and the future is bright for UTHSCT and all of East Texas.

Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP President The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler Chairman of the Board UT Health East Texas

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CONTENTS 4

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REALIGNMENT DRAWS UT TYLER AND UT HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT TYLER TOGETHER

NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL

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UT HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER RESIDENCY OPPORTUNITIES GROW

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COMBAT IN G COVID -19 THROUGH RESEARCH

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SOUTHWEST AG CENTER CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF IMPACT

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PUBLIC OUTREACH THAT MEETS REAL NEEDS

6 Awards 19 Cope’s Corner 34 Giving Makes A Difference 36 Donor List 38 Ways To Give PAGE 3 | VOLUME 02

UT System Invests Heavily in East Texas with $95M Funding, Merger

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BIG NEWS

Last November, a $95 million major investment from The University of Texas System Board of Regents was announced to accelerate high-quality health education and healthcare in East Texas.

The Permanent University Fund (PUF) allocation includes $60 million earmarked for a new graduate medical education and resident teaching facility at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT) and $35 million earmarked for an advanced nursing and PAGE 4 | VOLUME 02

health sciences complex at The University of Texas at Tyler (UT Tyler).

The two projects will have a significant increase of Tyler's leadership role in healthcare education and workforce preparation in the East Texas area, which historically has had a shortage of healthcare professionals and a high percentage of health disparities compared to other regions in the state.

MERGER, LEADERSHIP ANNOUNCED Last December, another big announcement came when the UT System Board of Regents authorized a realignment of UTHSCT and UT Tyler into a unified institution under one administrative structure to best serve the needs of the state of Texas and to enhance and expand educational, research and clinical delivery in East Texas.

UTHSCT will become an administrative unit within UT Tyler, with Dr. Kirk A. Calhoun, UTHSCT president and chairman of the board of UT Health East Texas (the 10-hospital health system serving the region), serving as president of the combined universities, effective January 1, 2021.

"With two great UT institutions ..."

The realigned university will offer new experiential training for undergraduate and graduate students, increase its ability to garner additional research support, strengthen the recruitment of top faculty and students for its undergraduate, graduate and residency programs and serve as a catalyst to grow a highly trained healthcare workforce.

“With two great UT institutions situated only miles apart in the same city, it just makes sense for both to come together as a unified institution, scale their missions, and significantly increase their combined capacity to respond to the educational and health needs of a dynamic and growing region of Texas,” UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife said.

Calhoun said the new alignment builds on many strong partnerships already existing between the two institutions and praised the UT System leadership.

“I’m delighted with the Regents’ vision of one seamless environment that will benefit all of our students and faculty, giving them the best possible opportunities to learn, teach, conduct research and deliver healthcare in a single, fully integrated academic and medical setting,” said Calhoun, who has served as president of UTHSCT for almost 18 years.

Calhoun and Eltife negotiated in 2018 with Ardent Health Services of Nashville, Tennessee, and the East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System (ETMC) to create the UT Health East Texas health system, a regional network of hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, freestanding emergency centers and urgent care facilities throughout East Texas.

As part of the accreditation process in unifying UT Tyler and UTHSCT into one institution, UT System appointed a steering committee with faculty and staff from both institutions to make recommendations for UT System to submit a Substantive Change Prospectus to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) for its review and approval.

The prospectus was submitted in August 2020, and was required before the accreditation agency could begin its rigorous review of the application this fall. Part of the process involves an understanding of the institution’s proposed organizational and administrative structure, which requires one president with responsibility for all functions of the university.

Eltife and the Board of Regents praised the leadership, enthusiasm and collegiality that President Calhoun and current UT Tyler President Michael Tidwell have brought to the transition process from the start, including the full commitment of the two presidents and their respective university communities to unite the institutions as seamlessly as possible.

The Regents will seek additional authorizations from the Texas Higher Educating Coordinating Board and appropriate accrediting and licensing agencies to finalize a new structure.

L to R: UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun, UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken, Rep. Gary VanDeaver, Rep. Matt Schaefer, UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife, Rep. Travis Clardy, Rep. Chris Paddie, Rep. Cole Hefner, Rep. Jay Dean, Rep. Dan Flynn, UT Tyler President Michael Tidwell

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT LEADERSHIP IN ASTHMA MANAGEMENT AWARD

EAST TEXAS HUMAN NEEDS NETWORK COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD Nurse-Family Partnership Team

Breath of Life Mobile Pediatric Asthma Clinic Team

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM RISING STARS AWARD

FELLOW OF INDIAN SOCIETY FOR MEDICAL STATISTICS

Shashi Kant, PhD

Karan Singh, PhD, FMSSANZ, FASA

Associate Professor Pulmonary Immunology

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM BOARD OF REGENTS’ 2020 OUTSTANDING TEACHING AWARD Torry Tucker, PhD Associate Professor Cellular & Molecular Biology

Professor & Founding Chair Epidemiology & Biostatistics

2020 NET HEALTH 'DOC' BALLARD AWARD Jeffrey Levin, MD, MSPH, DrPH, FACOEM, FACP Sr. Vice President & Provost Academic Affairs

Associate Dean Faculty & Education Initiatives

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New Rural Residency Program to Address Physician Shortages

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ural communities face greater risks of poor health outcomes than their urban counterparts, due to the shortage of physicians and other qualified medical professionals serving in rural areas.

In July, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded a three-year, $750,000 grant to UTHSCT to establish a new rural residency program in Northeast Texas, an area encompassing 35 counties where 58% of the 1.5 million population live in rural areas.

HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for improving healthcare to geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable people. HRSA grants help expand the physician workforce in rural areas by funding the development of new, sustainable residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine and psychiatry. UTHSCT was the only institution in Texas to receive the award.

In Northeast Texas, the shortage of mental health providers is acute. More than half of the 35 counties in Northeast Texas report the ratio of patients to mental health providers is nearly 25,000-to-1, which is seven times worse than the state average.

Ashlee Blaine, DO, is a psychiatry resident in her final year of the residency training program at UTHSCT.

UTHSCT RESIDENCY PROGRAMS Family Medicine General Psychiatry General Surgery Internal Medicine Occupational Medicine Rural Family Medicine Rural Psychiatry

Physician listings from the Texas Medical Board show that more than 60% of counties in Northeast Texas do not have even one general psychiatrist.

Northeast Texas also has a suicide rate that is 43% higher than the state average.

“The mental health challenges in this region are very evident,” said UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun. “We felt it was very important that we step up to help resolve these problems within our community and the state. Our emphasis on behavioral health has afforded us to become the principal provider for behavioral health services in this region. Most of our counties do not have access to mental health services; we want to change that.”

Candidates have been interviewing through 2020 for the new rural psychiatry residency program to be hosted in Pittsburg, Texas, where UTHSCT has already experienced great success with a rural family medicine residency program.

With the majority of physicians graduating from residency programs and entering medical practice within 100 miles of their training programs, UTHSCT plans to leverage this trend and encourage graduates of the rural psychiatry program to enter practice in Northeast Texas to serve a community in need.

“With the HRSA grant, we are continuing to expand our reach into rural communities to address mental health concerns in a very significant way,” Calhoun said.

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It’s Time

FOR A MEDICAL SCHOOL IN EAST TEXAS

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$80 Million Committed For New Medical School By East Texas Medical Center Foundation

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n a monumental display of generosity, the East Texas Medical Center Foundation committed a historic $80 million gift to UTHSCT in February. The announcement came less than a week after The University of Texas System Board of Regents announced plans to launch a new medical school in East Texas — which is the only region in the state without a medical school.

Elam Swann, chairman of the East Texas Medical Center Foundation board and a Tyler businessman and philanthropist, said the foundation was honored to make the historic investment, which is the largest single commitment ever made to establish a medical school in the state of Texas and is the largest gift ever made to any institution or organization in East Texas.

“At the core of a region’s vitality is its commitment to a healthy society,” Swann said. “We have a desire and a responsibility to participate in that effort, and we hope our gift will inspire other individuals and organizations to participate.”

UTHSCT President Kirk. A. Calhoun, UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife and UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken each expressed gratitude to the ETMC Foundation.

“The East Texas Medical Center Foundation’s commitment to advancing medicine in East Texas marks an unprecedented financial commitment and vote of confidence in our university, and for that, we are eternally grateful,” Calhoun said. “We pledge to be excellent stewards of this gift as we serve the community.”

Eltife, a former state senator and former Tyler mayor, said the foundation’s generous gift shows lawmakers the community is committed to the medical school.

“We know it will expand opportunities for patients who need primary and specialty care, enhance the capacity of our local hospitals to treat and heal, and boost our economy and biomedical research capabilities,” Eltife said.

“Your commitment represents the start of a whole new, promising era for a healthier Northeast Texas, and we could not be more grateful.”

Milliken said the foundation’s gift, with the recent $95 million UT System allocation for new nursing and research facilities at UT Tyler and UTHSCT, respectively, represents a shared commitment that will fundamentally improve career opportunities and health outcomes for the entire East Texas region.

“There is, of course, much work ahead, but our partnership with the East Texas Medical Center Foundation gives us the head start we need to make our ambitious plans a reality,” Milliken said. “We stand committed to our shared vision, and I am convinced that together, we will be enormously successful.”

An economic impact of nearly $1.9 billion annually is projected by Waco-based research and analysis firm The Perryman Group.

With undergraduate pre-med and health-related programs already in place at UT Tyler, and graduate healthcare degrees and residency programs already in place at UTHSCT, a new medical school will enable young, bright local high school students to start and finish their full medical education without leaving East Texas.

Having an exceptional medical school in East Texas also will attract students from outside the area and will serve as a catalyst for physicians to remain in East Texas after their residencies, improving healthcare outcomes in this rapidly growing region of the state. New programmatic and facilities investments will improve healthcare education, research opportunities and clinical services to patients in medically underserved, rural areas with faster access to physical and mental health services for generations to come.

“We have a huge task ahead of us, but we know how to do it, and we have the leadership in place to make it happen,” Calhoun said. “We are good at these kinds of big, audacious goals." (continued)

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NEW LEADERSHIP ANNOUNCED Julie Philley Named Executive Vice President, Health Affairs Julie Philley, MD, has been named executive vice president for health affairs for UTHSCT, responsible for overseeing the health system and the medical school. She is board certified in pulmonary and critical care medicine and serves as the chair of the Department of Medicine. Philley studied medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, completed her internal medicine residency in Baltimore, Maryland, at

the Johns Hopkins University/Sinai Hospital program and completed her fellowship at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. A native East Texan, she grew up in Overton and returned to Tyler in 2012 to continue her research efforts in nontuberculous mycobacterial disease and bronchiectasis. She is currently principal investigator on COVID-19 research on convalescent plasma.

L to R: Dr. Kirk A. Calhoun, UTHSCT president; Elam Swann, ETMC Foundation chairman; Kevin Eltife, UT System Board of Regents chairman; and James B. Milliken, UT System chancellor

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Susan (Sue) Cox, MD, a nationally recognized leader in medical education, has been named the planning dean for the medical school in East Texas.

An obstetrician-gynecologist by training, Cox has shaped medical education for 30 years and currently serves as executive vice dean of academics and chair of the Department of Medical Education at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. The lead designer of curriculum for Dell Med, Cox co-chaired the accreditation steering committee. Last year, she received the 2019 Association of American Medical Colleges Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award, recognizing faculty for distinguished contributions to medical education nationwide. Cox has received many awards for leadership, distinguished teaching and clinical work, including being listed among the Best Doctors in America. Cox is known for emphasizing leadership skills, collaboration, innovation, problem-solving and cross-disciplinary teamwork with a focus on value-based healthcare.

“We are honored she has chosen our medical school in East Texas to be the capstone of her esteemed career,” Calhoun said.

Paired in leadership with Dr. Philley will be Daniel Deslatte, the senior vice president for business affairs and chief operating officer for health affairs at UTHSCT. Deslatte has served UTHSCT since 2011 in various roles, most recently as the senior vice president for business affairs and external relations, responsible for strategic planning, business functions and overseeing the university’s interest in the UT Health East Texas health system. He was named among the Top 25 Emerging Leaders for 2019 by Modern Healthcare, the leader in healthcare business news, research and data. Prior to joining UTHSCT, he spent nearly a decade in senior-level positions in the Texas Legislature, including chief of staff to a senior member of the Texas House of Representatives and as the director of a joint House-Senate committee overseeing Texas’ health and human services system.

Kris Kavasch will be the UTHSCT chief financial officer and vice president for finance. She has spent more than 12 years with UTHSCT serving various roles in internal audit, culminating with her role as chief audit executive prior to transitioning to the vice president/chief financial officer role. A certified public accountant, she has more than three decades of professional experience in the fields of internal auditing, public accounting, corporate accounting, regulatory auditing, healthcare administration, Medicaid fraud investigation, State of Texas agency and university finance and administration and property and casualty insurance underwriting.

We are stronger together.

With these exceptional leaders in place, we have all the building blocks we need to move the medical school forward once the legislature approves it in Spring 2021," Calhoun said.

“East Texas is rural, underserved and ripe for this new medical school for a lot of reasons,” Calhoun said. “We have the opportunity to do great work on behalf of the community and to provide better healthcare to the nearly 1.5 million people who call East Texas home.”

“When you look at medical schools that try to start new, most are not in an institution like ours with 70 years of experience running clinical operations and 10 hospitals in its health system,” Calhoun said. “We have the clinical piece put together, and we have 70 years of biomedical research funded at the highest levels by the National Institutes of Health. Our elected officials at the local and state levels say they want this medical school because it is a good thing for East Texas. And with the spectacular generosity of the ETMC Foundation's $80 million gift, we clearly have philanthropic support.

“When you layer all of that together, you see that we have a good start on a medical school,” Calhoun said.

The new medical school in East Texas will be the seventh medical school within the UT System, which opened two medical schools in recent years: The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine and The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School.

“People have always wanted a medical school here, and now the timing is perfect,” Calhoun said. “The pieces are in place. With the formation of UT Health East Texas in 2018, the university expanded its clinical enterprise to make it more than enough to accommodate growth in residencies that would be required to support a medical school.”

UTHSCT already planned to expand more than 200 residency slots in the next five years — the first two in general surgery and internal medicine — with rural psychiatry opening this year.

Calhoun is primarily promoting from within and confident about the future and the planning already underway.

“UTHSCT, with our partnership with 10 UT Health East Texas hospitals for medical residencies, will be a division of UT Tyler, pending approvals, which unites all three institutions into a large University of Texas family,” Calhoun said. “That will have a big impact on all students, faculty and staff because we are stronger together.”

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FEBRUARY 6 The Medical School Announcement Officials from The University of Texas System announced a new medical school for East Texas at a news conference at the Plaza Tower in downtown Tyler.

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FEBRUARY 12 ETMC Foundation Awards $80 Million The East Texas Medical Center Foundation announced an $80 million commitment for a medical school in East Texas at a news conference at Willow Brook Country Club in Tyler.

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1. U T System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife speaks at the news conference 2. Rep. Travis Clardy 3. A crowd packed the event venue 4. L to R: Mike Allen, Jim Perkins and Rachel French 5. Rep. Matt Schaefer

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6. R ep. Chris Paddie at microphone and L to R: Rep. Cole Hefner and Rep. Jay Dean.

7. UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun 8. L to R: UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken and UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife 7

9. Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran 9

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10. L to R: John Soules and UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun

Big News In 2020

11. Don Warren

to R: Dana Staples speaks with 12. L Barbara Copeland 13. UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun, seated center, flanked by L: Elam Swann and R: UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife, with ETMC board members standing. Calhoun holds up signed commitment for $80 million from ETMC Foundation embers of ETMC Foundation 14. M being recognized 1

to R: Dr. Jeanette Calhoun, UTHSCT 15. L President Kirk A. Calhoun and Betsy Ellis 16. Elam Swann 18

17. L to R: UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun, Barbara Bass and Mike Allen 18. E TMC Foundation Board with Executive Director Dawn Franks, seated center; Mike Coker at far right, standing to R: UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun 19. L and Dr. D.M. Edwards

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20. L to R: UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun and UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken PAGE 13 | VOLUME 02

UTHSCT RESEARCH MAY PROTECT LUNGS FROM COVID-19 DAMAGE

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esearchers across the globe are paying close attention to research conducted, published and patented by UTHSCT for its potential to treat COVID-19.

Though developed for treatment of other types of lung injuries, including that caused by influenza, research directed by Anna K. Kurdowska, PhD, MS, provides a strong foundation for a possible treatment to protect against pulmonary injury caused by COVID-19.

Kurdowska joined UTHSCT nearly 30 years ago. Today, she serves as the associate dean for research operations and compliance, as well as the director of research, and is a professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology that also houses the Master of Science in Biotechnology program.

Gaining international traction, her research focuses on the pathogenesis of acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS), which can be triggered by COVID-19.

“ALI/ARDS is a serious condition characterized by severe impairment of lung function causing breathing difficulty, as well as fluid accumulation in the lungs due to loss of lung tissue integrity,” Kurdowska said. “With no effective treatments currently available, severe ALI/ARDS cases have high mortality in COVID-19.”

However, Kurdowska's research could lead to solutions.

Kurdowska discovered that the Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein serves as a master regulator of processes in the lungs and vasculature, which contributes to ALI/ARDS. Therapies targeting this protein, particularly the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib, proved highly effective in an ALI/ARDS preclinical model.

Given that the development of ALI/ARDS contributes substantively to the lethality of COVID-19, Kurdowska's study supports the use of ibrutinib and other BTK inhibitors as treatments for COVID-19 patients with serious lung

Dr. Anna K. Kurdowska works in the lab on vital lung research.

and systemic complications. Clinical trials are ongoing to test BTK inhibitors for severe COVID-19.

“BTK inhibitors provide hope by decreasing inflammation and preventing further lung injury while preserving the immune system's ability to respond to the virus,” she said.

With Kurdowska's groundbreaking research initiating the concept, AstraZeneca (Britain/Wales-based), BeiGene (China-based), National Cancer Institute (U.S.-based), American Society of Hematology (U.S.-based) and McKesson's U.S. Oncology (U.S.-based) are all currently exploring BTK inhibitor use for clinical trial testing in patients with severe COVID-19 infection and ALI/ARDS. Further, several preliminary studies showing effectiveness of BTK inhibitors in patients with COVID-19 cited Kurdowska’s work as a primary proof of concept.

BTK inhibitors provide hope by decreasing inflammation and preventing further lung injury while preserving the immune system's ability to respond to the virus.

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Convalescent Plasma Research To Combat COVID-19 Blood plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 could be a promising treatment to slow the spread of the virus and potentially stop the pandemic.

“Convalescent plasma” from recovered patients contains antibodies, called high titer anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing immunoglobulin, that could help sick patients fight off the disease, according to research being conducted by UTHSCT. The treatment also could be made rapidly

available when enough people who have recovered from the virus have donated their plasma containing these antibodies.

Principal investigators on the research are pulmonologists Dr. Julie Philley and Dr. Megan Devine along with Dr. Steven Idell, senior vice president for research and dean of the School of Medical Biological Sciences, who received more than $2 million in a grant allotment from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for their research.

L to R: Dr. Megan Devine and Dr. Julie Philley

that is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome 2: SARS-CoV-2.

While promising, the effectiveness of convalescent plasma in this disease still needs to be proven.”

UTHSCT’s allotment of over $2 million is part of an $8 million NIH grant that includes study sites in New York, Miami and UT Health Science Center at Houston.

“This study, supported by the NIH, will answer the questions if convalescent plasma helps prevent worsening lung symptoms — or death — in hospitalized COVID-19 patients,” Philley said.

“This is a major impact study to rapidly identify one possible treatment for COVID-19 and the mortality associated with the disease,” said UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun. “We are one of just a few institutions asked to do detailed work on carefully selected convalescent plasma. The fact we are assembling a great team of academic physicians here in East Texas, in support of our new medical school, is allowing us to participate in this way.”

“This research can have a major impact on public health and may provide needed treatment to slow the spread of the virus,” Philley said.

“Supportive care is the mainstay for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the related pneumonia

Sick patients who meet clinical criteria receive the convalescent plasma. The doctors then study patient responses to the plasma to identify if their ability to fight the virus is enhanced, determined by marked improvement of clinical disease. The doctors hope that administering the plasma will provide immediate protection from the disease.

UTHSCT RESIDENTS REFURBISH

N95 MASKS

In the early months of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic last spring, N95 respirator masks to protect healthcare workers were in short supply. Many institutions like UTHSCT had expired N95 respirators that could be used, except the elastic bands to hold them on had become brittle and unusable.

The Food and Drug Administration released an Emergency Use Authorization that gave permission to institutions to use masks past their

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expiration date. The only issue with the masks was the elastic bands.

Enterprising occupational medicine residents created a three-step process to refurbish and retrofit the elastic to meet the needs of healthcare workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They first punched holes in the sides of the masks.

Then they attached zip ties and surgical-grade rubber bands. The third step was quality control, as they cut zip tie ends and packaged them.

Their innovative approach allowed the face covering, which is still functional, to be preserved while attaching new straps to provide an appropriate fit and restore full functionality.

Since beginning the project, the group began retrofitting 2,500 to 3,000 per day and eventually retrofitted nearly 80,000 respirators to protect healthcare workers.

Vaccine Development and Diagnostic Testing The second novel coronavirus project is designed to combat the current pandemic by the development of a new COVID-19 vaccine. This project, spearheaded by UTHSCT researcher Dr. Guohua Yi, is in collaboration with researchers in El Paso as part of a joint effort to deliver a vaccine that works by targeted stimulation of the immune response to COVID-19. Based on a new platform, their proposed vaccination strategy will boost the immune protective response. Should Yi’s work prove successful, his COVID-19 vaccine could advance the fight to manage the sweeping COVID-19 pandemic.

PUBLIC HEALTH

APPROACH

Dr. Jeffrey Levin Retires After 32 years of service to UTHSCT, Jeffrey L. Levin, MD, MSPH, DrPH, FACOEM, FACP, announced his retirement as provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. He was honored on August 15 with a virtual retirement party held primarily online with a dozen selected guests wearing face masks and sitting in socially distanced chairs across the President’s Event Center in the School of Community and Rural Health building on the UTHSCT campus.

“If we had allowed everyone who wanted to be here to attend, it would have been standing room only, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to celebrate you in this way,” said UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun to Levin, who built UTHSCT's Occupational Medicine Department into one of the most respected programs of its kind in the country.

Dr. Paul McGaha Takes Oath As Health Authority UTHSCT Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Community Health Paul McGaha, DO, MPH, was sworn in by Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran on September 29 to serve as the Smith County Health Authority beginning October 1.

McGaha has served the people of East Texas in public health for more than 30 years with a vocational mission to help improve health outcomes in East Texas and reduce health disparities in the area. For more than 19 years he served as the regional medical director for public health regions 4 and 5 (north) of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) in Tyler.

The department interfaced closely with nine local health departments/districts and served as the primary public health entity for the remaining 26 counties. Additionally, McGaha served as acting assistant commissioner for DSHS from 2012 to 2013.

Levin also served for six years as the Smith County Health Authority, covering several infectious disease concerns including ebola, zika, measles and COVID-19.

Levin will continue to be involved with UTHSCT as a part-time professor of occupational and environmental medicine, professor of occupational and environmental health sciences, alternate responsible official for the Public Health Laboratory of East Texas (PHLET) and as provost emeritus.

In announcing his retirement, Levin also announced his last day as the local Health Authority would be September 30. Health authorities did not need to look far to find his successor.

L to R: Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran administers the oath of office as Net Health CEO George Roberts takes a photo of Dr. Paul McGaha, the new Smith County Health Authority.

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TRAUMA AND ABUSE SERVICES FOR KIDS PROGRAM

The Trauma and Abuse Services for Kids (TASK) program at UTHSCT is training professionals to effectively support abused children. These professionals include psychologists, professional counselors, social workers, law enforcement officers, nurses, psychiatrists, pediatricians and graduate students in these fields of study.

TASK provides evidence-based assessment and treatment strategies, as well as supervised practical training experiences for university students in our region.

Trainees work directly with children and families through collaboration with 13 child advocacy centers (CACs) throughout East Texas.

“It surprises most people to know that universities don’t teach how to work with abused children,” said Jeffrey Wherry, PhD, ABPP, who is a UTHSCT professor of psychiatry and behavioral health and director of the TASK program. “Child abuse may get a cursory mention in a class or two — maybe. Graduate schools, medical schools, nursing Dr. Jeffrey Wherry programs, psychology and counseling degree programs do not adequately address how to deal with child abuse.

No professional licensure for any discipline requires this training. Yet one out of every four women and one out of every six men have been sexually abused by the age of 18.

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“Working with child abuse trauma requires specific skills and expertise,” he said. “Skills are not learned by merely listening to a lecture or two. It takes practice to become competent. Just as you cannot learn to play a musical instrument by attending a lecture, you must practice what you learn until you become competent. The same is true of working with abused children."

"Psychological symptoms from child abuse manifest in many ways: difficulty concentrating, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or problematic sexual behavior," Wherry said. "Symptoms of child abuse can be misdiagnosed as attention deficit disorder when it may be PTSD. Emotional dysregulation related to abuse may be misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder.

Someone who is trained and experienced in assessing child abuse is more effective in treating the underlying causes of these symptoms and behavior.”

With years of experience, Wherry and the TASK team have assessed sexually abused children at CACs and worked with residential populations and foster children.

Wherry has also conducted research resulting in more than 40 published journal articles, 250 presentations and foundation/grant support exceeding $8 million. The former CEO of the Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis, Wherry has been a tenured professor at four universities and was named an Integrated Scholar at Texas Tech University. He also received the Outstanding Professional Award in 2013 from the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. He has assembled an outstanding team that includes a child and adolescent psychiatrist, a psychologist, an advanced nurse practitioner, a licensed professional counselor and others.

The team is collaborating with the 13 CACs in the greater East Texas region with the goal of increasing access and the level of evidence-based care.

“These are the first steps to educate and train our future professionals to improve the assessment and treatment of child abuse,” Wherry said.

COPE'S CORNER:

87 Legislature Preview th

It feels like just yesterday we were celebrating the successes of the 86th Legislative Session and thanking our East Texas legislative delegation for their strong support of UTHSCT. Now, as cooler weather delivers merciful relief to an unprecedented year, we find ourselves again knocking on the door of the Texas Legislature’s biennial convening in January 2021. Every legislative session is unique, bringing with it new challenges, political landscapes or palace intrigue. The 87th Legislature will feature all three but undoubtedly will be marked by challenges faced by the state dealing with COVID-19 and the economic turmoil it has caused.

Although it is still too early to tell exactly how bleak the state’s budget situation might be, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has provided early indications. While Texas was initially projected to end fiscal year 2020 with a $3 billion surplus, significant declines in tax revenue will result in an estimated $4.6 billion deficit.

How ongoing impacts of COVID-19 will affect projected revenues for the FY 2022-2023 biennium remains to be seen. All of those red numbers mean legislators will be faced with tougher decisions while crafting

By Matt Cope, Director of Governmental Relations The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler

a budget to meet the needs of a growing state.

These challenges bring about opportunities. We have the opportunity to showcase to elected leaders the lifesaving work UTHSCT has done in the midst of the current pandemic, to demonstrate the positive economic impact of our vibrant institution in tough economic times and to preview the growth of UTHSCT that is yet to come. We have a great story to tell the legislature. We look forward to telling it.

At the top of our legislative agenda is securing approval for UTHSCT to establish East Texas’ very own medical school. This proposal is only possible thanks to overwhelming philanthropic support already pledged by the East Texas community. The demonstration of community support for a medical school in East Texas will not go unnoticed by the state’s leadership.

While all state agencies and universities likely will be forced to tighten their belts in the upcoming

biennium, we will work hard to demonstrate the value of the work done at UTHSCT and to protect the funding that supports these critical programs. Thankfully, funding for rapidly growing mental health programs at UTHSCT has so far been shielded by Texas Governor Greg Abbott from mandated reductions.

We will work collaboratively with colleagues from across the state to educate the legislature on the importance of these funds.

East Texas is blessed with a strong, experienced legislative delegation who work hard every day to represent East Texans well. In difficult times like these, it is comforting to know our region will have strong advocates in the upcoming legislative session. Next time you see your local state representative or state senator, take a moment to thank them for their support of UTHSCT. Let them know how much our institution — and a future medical school — means to you. I am confident that, with their help, we will celebrate a successful legislative session come next summer.

Rep. Cole Hefner speaks on behalf of East Texans in support of the new medical school.

PAGE 19 | VOLUME 02

CENTER CELEBRATES YEARS 25 Years of Occupational Safety and Health in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing: The Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention and Education (SW Ag Center)

By Vanessa Casanova, PhD

PAGE 20 | VOLUME 02

Agriculture jobs, including farming, logging and commercial fishing, consistently rank among the most dangerous jobs in the United States.

To address high risks of injuries and illnesses in agriculture workers, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed an extensive agricultural safety and health program in 1990 and today supports research and prevention programs at university centers in 10 states.

The Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention and Education (SW Ag Center) was created at UTHSCT in late 1995 as part of this initiative to serve agricultural workers across Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Farmers are nearly eight times more likely to die on the job than the average American worker . . .

Throughout its 25-year history, the SW Ag Center has focused research on diverse and vulnerable populations to address issues associated with agricultural production including injury surveillance, poultry dust exposure, pesticide exposure, musculoskeletal disorders, hearing loss, pulmonary disease, stress and heat illness.

Dr. Deborah Helitzer’s research in New Mexico showed community partnerships can be effective to develop, implement and evaluate agricultural injury-prevention programs with the Navajo Nation and in other cross-cultural settings.

workshop to train 150 medical residents and rural osteopathic medicine students about occupational and environmental health and safety issues faced by rural agricultural workers.

Outreach mini grants have funded organizations to educate rural-focused high school students, college students and agriculture science teachers. Internships have provided college students hands-on experience developing enduring safety products. UTHSCT Master of Public Health students have gained practicum experience through capstone projects.

A robust pilot/feasibility studies research program awards funding for short-term research projects. One example is Dr. Aman Dhillion’s retrospective, case-control observational study of 100 cases from an established Parkinson’s disease patient group, routinely followed in a clinical neurology practice in East Texas, to explore possible links between the disease and pesticide and herbicide use.

The SW Ag Center is currently working with the National Tractor Safety Coalition on rebates for rollover protective structures (ROPS) on older tractors. Farmers are nearly eight times more likely to die on the job than the average American worker, with tractor overturns the leading cause of death. ROPS are 99% effective in preventing injury or death in the event of an overturned tractor when used with a seatbelt and are 70% effective when used without a seatbelt.

Wait lists are long for ROPS retrofitting rebates.

Currently, no funding is available for installing these lifesaving devices on older tractors in Texas. Learn more at: ropsr4u.org.

The SW Ag Center has accomplished a lot in the last 25 years, yet much still lies ahead to ensure that the workforce producing vital food and fiber remains healthy and safe.

Dr. Jeffrey Levin’s research with Vietnamese commercial shrimp fishermen along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast showed that simple, culturally appropriate safety messages in visual form could favorably influence workers’ attitudes, beliefs and behavior to lower risk of injury.

Dr. Vijay Boggaram’s research showed the impact of poultry dust exposure and inflammatory responses in the lungs. Dr. David Douphrate is adopting novel mobile technology in a logging project to track real-time musculoskeletal symptoms, and Dr. Eva Shipp is building sophisticated surveillance tools for agricultural crash data.

The SW Ag Center’s capacity-building activities are diverse, including hosting an agromedicine

Dr. Vanessa Casanova is the director of the SW Ag Center at UTHSCT and devotes time to teaching, research and service for the School of Community and Rural Health.

PAGE 21 | VOLUME 02

Award-winning

ASTHMA

PAGE 22 | VOLUME 02

Benefiting East Texas Through Public Outreach

PROGRAM Asthma is a serious respiratory disease that affects the quality of life of over 23 million Americans and their families.

Extensive evidence suggests that reducing indoor exposure to irritants — such as secondhand smoke and allergens from house dust mites, pests, mold and animals — can prevent asthma attacks or lessen their severity.

UTHSCT initiated a mobile asthma program in 2008 coined "The Breath of Life Mobile Pediatric Asthma Clinic." The mobile asthma program travels to schools, apartment complexes, churches and community health centers, serving 2,500 unique children a year.

Comprehensive asthma care is provided, and because asthma and environmental triggers go hand in hand, children receive allergy testing and treatment, if indicated. Children who have severe or uncontrolled asthma receive a home assessment provided by a community health worker. This successful program has seen a significant decrease in missed school days and a 50% decrease in asthma-related emergency room visits.

This year, the asthma bus got a new look, and the UTHSCT asthma program received an award: the National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Among the nation's highest honors for programs helping families bring asthma under control, this award recognizes health programs for excellent environmental asthma management.

The new look, along with critical repairs and a reserve account for ongoing maintenance, are the direct results of philanthropy. A generous, anonymous donor stepped up to ensure this award-winning program will continue serving families across East Texas.

"We are grateful to our donors for their generosity for the upgrades to the bus, and we also are truly honored to receive this award from the EPA," said UTHSCT President Kirk A. Calhoun. "Having asthma doesn't have to be debilitating for children. Through the care delivered in the Breath of Life mobile asthma program, our goal is to enable children to thrive in their school and home environments."

Approximately 9% of children in Texas have asthma, while rates in Northeast Texas are disproportionately higher at 14%. The region consists of mostly rural communities with a few small metropolitan areas.

Environmental triggers (such as higher than average smoking rates, pollution and air quality, impacts from high pollen, mold exposures and substandard housing in Northeast Texas) contribute to these high rates. Access to primary or specialty care is limited due to a lack of providers, which leads to increases in emergency department visits and subsequently missed school days due to asthma-related symptoms.

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Nurse-Family Partnership Assures Healthy Start For Babies Young, first-time moms-to-be can get the care and support they need to have a healthy pregnancy through the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program funded through a federal grant and offered through UTHSCT. The program provides first-time expectant mothers with home health visits from a highly trained nurse beginning early in their pregnancy. Visits continue through their child’s second birthday.

During home visits, the nurse asks the young mother questions, discusses topics of interest and fills out an assessment checklist that includes weight and blood pressure levels. Initial visits are weekly, and then every other week until the child is born when they return to weekly visits. Visits are monthly between ages 18 to 24 months.

New moms develop a close relationship with a nurse who becomes a trusted resource they can rely on for advice on everything from safely caring for their child to taking steps to provide a stable, secure future for their new family.

Throughout the relationship, the nurse provides the moms with the confidence and the tools necessary to not only assure a healthy start for their babies, but also to envision a life of stability and opportunities for success for both mom and child.

PAGE 24 | VOLUME 02

Focusing on low-income, first-time mothers because they are most vulnerable and in need of resources, the program has three goals: improving pregnancy outcomes, improving child health and improving economic self-sufficiency of the family.

A February 2020 graduation marked the second class of approximately 20 women to participate in the program. Referrals do not require a healthcare provider.

For more information, call (903) 877-8145 or email nursefamily.partnership@uthct.edu.

Benefiting East Texas Through Public Outreach

Smoking Rates in Rural East Texas Are Soaring The Tobacco-Free Northeast Texas Program offers free support to patients who want to stop using tobacco or nicotine products. Sponsored

by UTHSCT, the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the program offers participants free nicotine and tobacco cessation treatment counseling, a 10- to 12-week supply of nicotine replacement patches as therapy and supportive text messages. If a participant relapses, they can restart the program anytime. For more information or to enroll in the program, call (713) 794-3175.

Love Yourself Enough to Live a Healthy Lifestyle Through education, the Lifestyle Change Programs at UTHSCT offer multiple services to aid in improving the health of patients and community members in East Texas.

Focusing on creating healthier habits leads to an all-encompassing lifestyle change that improves and expands quality of life by reducing chronic disease health implications, including but not limited to prediabetes, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. All workshops are taught in a group discussion format by a certified community health worker (CHW) and a certified lifestyle change coach to foster a supportive environment.

Lifestyle Change Programs include: The Prevent T2 Program, a year-long workshop series approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and taught by a certified lifestyle change coach, has proven to help people with prediabetes prevent or delay development of Type 2 diabetes by 58%. Participants learn healthy choices to prevent, manage and control prediabetes.

The Hypertension (Blood Pressure Management) Program is a 12-week commitment to help participants improve their self-managed blood pressure care and make healthy lifestyle choices.

A list of workshop dates is available online at uthct.edu/lifestyle-change-programs.

For more information or to enroll in the program, email lifestylechangeprograms@uthct.edu or call (903) 877-1436.

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CHILD PSYCHIATRY ACCESS NETWORK BENEFITS EAST TEXAS East Texas pediatricians and primary care providers have a new ally to address behavioral and mental health issues for their child and adolescent patients. UTHSCT is the Northeast Texas hub for the Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN), providing doctors free access to child and adolescent psychiatrists to treat their young patients’ mental health issues.

Calls from doctors are quickly answered and directed to appropriate mental health professionals to meet patient needs. Available to every primary care provider in Texas with child and adolescent patients, CPAN can also help pediatricians locate referrals for mental health providers in local communities and provide mental health resources and relevant continuing medical education credit opportunities to the physicians.

Senate Bill 11, signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott last June, established the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium (TCMHCC) that created the new networking program, CPAN, and the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program. The TCHATT program will provide public PAGE 26 | VOLUME 02

schoolchildren in East Texas with direct access for assessments, referrals and limited care through telemedicine by licensed mental health therapists and psychiatrists, with parental consent.

“Due to limited psychiatric resources available in rural Northeast Texas, obtaining mental health services is challenging, but the challenge becomes exponentially greater seeking mental health help for child and adolescent patients,” said Laura Young, the CPAN senior program manager at UTHSCT. “That’s where CPAN can help. Our child and adolescent psychiatrists and therapists provide real-time consultation to pediatricians and family medicine providers on the front lines caring for children and adolescent patients in our region. We anticipate our CPAN team will quickly become a trusted resource for primary care physicians when meeting the mental health needs of our most vulnerable population — our children.”

TCMHCC was created to increase access to mental healthcare for children and adolescents by

leveraging the expertise and capacity of all 13 state-funded, health-related institutions of higher education.

Dr. Jeffery Matthews, chair and associate professor of medicine in UTHSCT’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, and Brittney Nichols, the department’s administrative director, represent UTHSCT on the executive committee of the TCMHCC. “It is not uncommon for patients to drive over 50 miles or more to access mental healthcare,” Nichols said. “Both CPAN and TCHATT allow us to address the mental health provider shortage in innovative ways, bringing care closer to the patient.”

The University of Texas System is the administrative support entity for TCMHCC, which also funds initiatives to increase the number of child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship programs. Both CPAN and TCHATT provide training and education to healthcare providers and school staff to improve mental healthcare for children and adolescents. Doctors can call (888) 901-CPAN (2726) to enroll.

UTHSCT Improves Dental Safety Protocols Amid Pandemic Challenges

Benefiting East Texas Through Public Outreach

Concerns about COVID-19 spreading at dental offices led occupational medicine residents at UTHSCT to work with clinical staff at St. Paul Children’s Services, a nonprofit in Tyler, to do a worksite walk-through and develop a new model of best practices for health and safety, despite pandemic challenges.

“These particles can stay suspended in the air for long periods of time like fog or smoke,” said Dr. Kevin Moore, UTHSCT assistant professor of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences.

To control aerosols, UTHSCT residents developed steps to limit aerosol-generating procedures, capture aerosols at the source, increase ventilation and improve air filtration, separate treatment areas from office and break rooms, and require respirators and other personal protective equipment to protect workers. Fit testing of retrofitted N95 respirator masks was conducted with clinical staff, including training on the proper donning and doffing of masks and other protective equipment.

St. Paul provides dental care for underserved children and families in Tyler, Texas. Adriene Haire, DMD, leads the initiative, seeing pediatric dental patients for prevention, maintenance and treatment.

While St. Paul is just one of many dental service providers in the East Texas region, UTHSCT is uniquely positioned to provide these health and safety services to other dental clinics in the community. To accomplish that, UTHSCT provided a live, hour-long webinar in June to help other professionals learn more about the challenges facing dental practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Controlling aerosolized particles is a challenge dental offices face since some particles can travel up to 20 feet.

Since some degree of aerosol spread of COVID-19 is possible, limiting release of aerosols is critical during the pandemic.

The collaboration between UTHSCT and St. Paul began in January 2020 and is part of the Social Security Act Section 1115 to allow experimental, pilot or demonstration projects that promote Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program objectives.

PAGE 27 | VOLUME 02

School of Community and Rural Health

2020 COMMENCEMENT Master of

PUBLIC HEALTH

ABYGAYL ALVAREZ

CINDY CRYE

Lindale, TX

SANDRA PEREZ Harlingen, TX

SHELBIE POWELL

MICHAEL WIRSCHING Laredo, TX

CELESTE FISHER

Jefferson, TX

Tyler, TX

VALERIE SMITH

Tyler, TX

Dallas, TX

LELA WOLFE Alba, TX

DANA SMOTHERMAN Winona, TX

ASHIQ ZAMAN Norman, OK

2020 RESIDENCY GRADUATES FAMILY MEDICINE

RURAL FAMILY MEDICINE

OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE

Tyler Gerald Arendt, MD Matthew Orvin Cook, DO Anthony William Handoyo, DO Sahar Jamalyaria, DO Rezwana Rahman, DO Adam Lucas Ulibarri, MD Renny Madathikudiyil Varghese, MD Linh My Vo, DO

Christian Ferrer, MD Moises Plasencia, MD

Marco Britton, MD, MPH Paul Scanlan, MD, MPH Michael Wirsching, MD, MPH Ashiq Zaman, MD, MHA, MPH

PAGE 28 | VOLUME 02

WELCOME NEW RESIDENTS! Visit uthct.edu/residents for a full roster of our 54 new residents and their specialties.

Master of

SCIENCE IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

KRISTIN DEAN

CHRISTIAN JORDAN DE VERA

REBEKAH EMERINE

JOSHUA KLEAM

RANISHA LOGAN

ADRIAN MAPLES

Troup, TX

Naga City, Phillipines

Bullard, TX

Chapel Hill, TX

Brooklyn, NY

Henderson, TX

MADELINE MCALLISTER (not pictured) Abilene, TX

INTERNAL MEDICINE Loren Albritton, DO Tara Brayboy, MD Xinyu Cao, DO Ramy Elhalwagi, DO Olubadewa Fatunde, MD Amal Ghneim, DO

Nadia Jamil, MD Pooja Naik, MD Gladys Ogbonna, MD Dhruv Rajpurohit, DO Christopher Ross, MD Kevin Saunders, DO

PSYCHOLOGY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM GRADUATES Beverly Bernal, PsyD Jennifer Campbell, PhD Steven DiFrancesco, PhD Jennie Edwards, PsyD Abigail Happli, PsyD

Kaimile Jordan, PsyD Amanda Korsmo, PsyD Dominique Lawson, PsyD Samantha Martin, PhD Nelly Yuen, PhD (ABD)

PSYCHOLOGY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP GRADUATE Joseph Whitehouse, PsyD PAGE 29 | VOLUME 02

RESEARCH FUNDING

and

UTHSCT Receives $2.8M Grant For Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death in persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a virus that attacks the body's immune system. HIV infection in children markedly increases their susceptibility to TB. Researchers at UTHSCT are working to combat it with research for a study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), which infects a third of the world’s population, causing 1.3 million deaths per year, including 100,000 children.

The principal investigator on the research is UTHSCT Chair and Professor of Pulmonary Immunology Dr. Raman (Krishna) Vankayalapati, and co-investigators, UTHSCT researchers Drs. Karan Singh and Deepak Tripathi, who have been awarded a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

responses to M.tb. Identifying HIV-positive children with LTBI who are at greatly increased risk for developing TB would allow treating only high-risk children, which would facilitate completion of therapy for LTBI and prevent future development of TB. To identify these children, it is important to pinpoint the nature of the defective immune responses that permit development of active TB in coinfected pediatric patients who are HIV-positive and LTBI-positive.

The grant-funded study will be performed in India as a part of a RePORT-India consortium. This study will leverage the large Indo-U.S. investment and TB/HIV

“Approximately 90% of infected persons have latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI),” Vankayalapati said.

“They have protective immunity and remain well, but 10% of infected persons develop primary TB soon after infection or experience reactivation TB many years later.”

Vankayalapati said that to develop an adequate prophylaxis or therapy, it is important to understand immune

"These studies will lay the groundwork for strategies to develop novel anti-tuberculosis vaccines that stimulate strong natural killer (NK) cell-mediated immunity in HIV-positive and HIV-negative children with LTBI and reduce the development of TB."

PAGE 30 | VOLUME 02

research consortium of RePORT-India, which has developed cohorts of TB cases and household contacts in India and has paired Indian investigators with U.S. investigators at six sites.

The focus of the research is on identifying immune defects that make children, particularly HIV-positive children, at greatest risk for progression of LTBI to TB. These studies will lay the groundwork for strategies to develop novel anti-tuberculosis vaccines that stimulate strong natural killer (NK) cell-mediated immunity in HIV-positive and HIV-negative children with LTBI and reduce the development of TB.

BREAKTHROUGH TREATMENTS

NIH Funds Model For Lung Research At UTHSCT The potential space between the lung and chest wall, called the pleural space, can fill with blood that clots and scars with what is called retained hemothorax, causing respiratory problems that affect about 14,000 patients in the nation every year.

Surgery is often used to treat clotted intrapleural blood collections, but this is a problem since people with hemothorax often have had trauma from a car accident, gunshot, other penetrating wounds, and sometimes a bleeding disorder, which makes such surgeries more hazardous.

“We think this problem can be best treated pharmacologically,” said Dr. Steven Idell, senior vice president for research and dean of the School of Medical Biological Sciences at UTHSCT. “We have a new agent in a phase two clinical trial testing for infection in the pleural space that can be helpful here.”

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the NIH thinks so, too, having provided a new two-year, $881,000 grant for the research.

We think this problem can be best treated pharmacologically.

The new grant funds Idell and two other UTHSCT professors of medicine as principal investigators — Dr. Andrey Komissarov and Dr. Galina Florova — to set up a model of persistent blood accumulation in the pleural space that surrounds the lungs.

Because best treatment for this condition is now unclear, the NIH is funding creation of this new model to determine best candidate treatments for near-term clinical trial testing.

PAGE 31 | VOLUME 02

Gene Editing Research Holds Promise

R

esearchers are studying how to add, remove or otherwise alter material in an organism’s DNA at precise locations within a genome to result in effective new treatments for genetic and infectious diseases.

Joining UTHSCT in late 2019, Guohua Yi, PhD, brought along a three-year, $2.25 million National Institutes of Health grant to research the potential viability of disease prevention and treatment through gene editing, sometimes called genome engineering.

“Modifying genes in living cells and organisms may correct mutations at the exact locations in the human genome, effectively treating disease,” Yi said.

Yi is focused on the effective editing of T cells, referred to as T lymphocytes and thymocytes, that are specific types of white blood cells that are part of the immune system and play

PAGE 32 | VOLUME 02

a vital role protecting the body from infection and disease.

“Since T cells play a critical role in orchestrating cell-mediated immunity and humoral immunity, T cell gene editing offers promise to treat diseases such as HIV and cancer, as well as autoimmune diseases,” Yi said. “The process may also help us to understand how diseases form and respond to treatment, as well as provide new methods for diagnosis, treatment and prevention.”

Yi is specifically studying the successful and effective delivery of clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats and associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) to T cells.

Delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 to T cells for efficient modification remains difficult. Therefore, Yi has set his sights on effectively creating a novel lentivirus-like particle linked to an antibody specific to T cells. This antibody-conjugated lentivirus will

Dr. Guohua Yi does genome engineering, or gene editing, to develop new treatments for disease. specifically bind to T cells and deliver the encapsulated CRISPR-Cas9 to T cells for successful gene editing.

CRISPR-Cas9 allows the alteration of a cell’s DNA at precise locations by using a specially designed RNA molecule to guide a Cas9 enzyme to a specific sequence of DNA. Within this specific stretch of genetic code, Cas9 then cuts the strands of DNA at that point and removes a small segment, creating a gap in the structure where a new piece can be added.

Revered as a breakthrough in science, CRISPR-Cas9 is quickly proving to be the frontrunner of gene editing and has generated much excitement in the scientific community due to its efficiency, accuracy, cost and speed.

It has emerged as a powerful tool for genome engineering in diverse organisms, as well as for developing therapeutics for genetic and infectious diseases.

RESEARCH FUNDING BREAKTHROUGH TREATMENTS and

UTHSCT Receives $412,000 NIH Grant For Pulmonary Research Mycobacterium kansasii (M. kansasii), which causes disease in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients, is the second most common non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM).

It is the focus of research being conducted by Dr. Shashi Kant, an associate professor of pulmonary immunology at UTHSCT. Kant’s research received a two-year, $412,862 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the NIH to determine optimal dosages of the medications isoniazid, rifampin and ethambutol for treatment of M. kansasii.

Our approach is less time-consuming compared to the traditional drug development strategies to help improve the clinical care of these patients.

The American Thoracic Society currently recommends a combination regimen of the three drugs given daily for 12 months or more, long beyond when the bacteria ceases being cultured from the sputum and twice the length of a tuberculosis regimen.

“Mycobacterium kansasii pulmonary disease resembles tuberculosis (TB) and could be a target for TB-like, short-course chemotherapy,” said Kant, who is principal investigator on the grant.

Drug doses currently used to treat M. kansasii are not optimized, and as a result, treatment outcomes are disappointing despite long-term therapy.

Therefore, studies to explore different drugs and combinations for potential synergy, antagonism or additivity in preclinical models are needed. The new research will use a hollow fiber model system, mathematical modeling and clinical trial simulations to determine the optimal drug doses of each drug in the combination.

“The drugs that will be tested in this project have a known safety and toxicity profile, so we expect our new optimized dose combination regimens can readily be advanced into clinics,” Kant said. “Our approach is less time-consuming compared to the traditional drug development strategies to help improve the clinical care of these patients.”

Dr. Sashi Kant received an NIH grant to study M. kansasii, the second most common non-tuberculosis mycobacteria.

PAGE 33 | VOLUME 02

A

MAKING A

s the only university medical center in the region, UTHSCT has the experience, the vision and the leadership to transform the health of East Texas.

Philanthropic investments in our healthcare services and educational programs are critical to providing the fuel to get us there. Our ability to impact our region and beyond has grown exponentially as a result of several very positive transactions including: the expansion of our clinical facilities through our UT Health East Texas clinics and hospitals; the opening of the School of Community and Rural Health; the announcement by The University of Texas System to

establish a medical school in East Texas; and the recent announcement that UT Tyler and UTHSCT will be unified into one comprehensive institution. Now more than ever, philanthropy will play a significant role in our mission to provide outstanding healthcare and medical education across East Texas. We look forward to and welcome all to join us as we work together for the greater good of our communities by providing excellent patient care and community health, comprehensive education and innovative research.

PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL The President's Council has a long history of touching lives by providing scholarships for our students, vital funding to support critical research and excellent patient services. It is only through the generosity of our donors that we are able to offer these valuable services. Membership in the UTHSCT President’s Council is an investment in future healthcare professionals, an investment in community, and ultimately, an investment in the future.

WHO WE WILL BE TOMORROW HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT WE DO TODAY.

PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL IMPACT ACADEMICS

PATIENT CARE

Scholarship Funding The President’s Council offers scholarships to students pursuing various master’s degree programs.

These students are the next generation of physicians, medical researchers and healthcare professionals.

Funding for Lifesaving Treatments Many of our patients do not have the means to acquire the level of healthcare they need.

By offering them financial assistance for transportation to their appointments or providing funds for lifesaving medical diagnostic testing, we improve the health of our East Texas community — one patient at a time.

SUPPORT FOR UNFUNDED PROGRAMS

Unique Research and Community Outreach Initiatives

The President’s Council also supports impactful programs on our campus that otherwise would not have funding. This includes unique research investigations involving students and professors across our campus and community outreach programs providing medical testing to the underserved.

Philanthropic contributions to the President’s Council make a significant difference in the lives of so many people throughout East Texas and beyond.

PAGE 34 | VOLUME 02

DIFFERENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL Donations to the Research Council provide a strong foundation for our Biomedical Research Center laboratories as they develop new treatments and cures. With the help of our philanthropic donors, our world-renowned scientists continue to make progress with conditions such as lung injury, lung infections, infectious diseases and most recently COVID-19. Our research impacts patient outcomes and provides hope for a better tomorrow.

RESEARCH COUNCIL IMPACT SEED FUNDS

SUPPLIES

To begin any new investigation, seed funding is required. Through philanthropic donations, our researchers are able to generate the data needed to apply for additional National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. NIH funding ensures the continuation of a research project that can lead to breakthroughs, new treatments, cures and interventions for COVID-19.

Chemicals and other key materials used in research are often very costly. Our philanthropic support ensures that funds are available to acquire these supplies which are vital to the experiments taking place in our labs.

ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT Being on the cutting edge of discoveries means having the latest, most efficient and most effective laboratory equipment. Procuring essential equipment for our experiments is a must. Our research scientists need this equipment to continue making pertinent discoveries and to collaborate with other renowned scientists from around the world as new treatments and cures are found.

SO MANY WAYS TO MAKE AN IMPACT PLANNED GIVING

HONORARIUMS & MEMORIALS

A Legacy Impact

Planned giving enables you to make a gift that keeps on giving!

Whether your gift is made during your lifetime or as part of your estate, planned gifts ensure you leave a legacy of making a difference.

There are many ways to make a legacy gift, such as endowments, trusts, life insurance, real estate, personal property, cash and more.

Make an honorary gift or a memorial gift for that special someone — family, friends, coworkers and loved ones. Your gift to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler will not only touch those you hold dear, but will also impact healthcare and medical education across East Texas. This means healthier families, happier children and stronger communities.

For more information, contact Candice Christian at (903) 877-7047.

To donate online, visit www.uthct.edu/give.

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LEGEND

DONORS making a DIFFERENCE Medical School Galaxy 2021 2020 President's Council 2020 Research Council Scholarships Special Program Funding

Marilyn Abegg-Glass Gayle Adamson Advanta Toxicology LLC Sheryl and Tim Alexander Carol and Mike Allen Lesal Ruskey and Christopher Allen Allen-Lottmann-Kimmel, PC T.L. Arnold Kimberly K. Ashley Austin Bank Cynthia Ball BancorpSouth Bank Barbara and Billy Bass Elaine Belt Cindy and W. Scott Benson Shirley and Rohn Boone Michele and Scott Bosworth Kay and Mike Breedlove Vicki and Michael Briggs Betsy Brush and Jon Jacobs Joyce Buford Melvina and Herb Buie Kathryn and Reagan Butts Jeanette and Kirk Calhoun LaQuita and Ralph Caraway Dana and Chad Cargile Amy Cherrnay Candice Christian Citizens 1st Bank Shelli and Steven Cox Kris and Bobby Curtis Terry and Dennis Darryl Kaela and Daniel Deslatte Alex and Paul Detwiler Eagle Home Loans East Texas Medical Center Foundation D.M. Edwards Gary Eiland Barbara Elliott PAGE 36 | VOLUME 02

Betsy Ellis ExxonMobil Foundation R.W. Fair Foundation Amy Faulconer Fidelity Charitable Maxine Flatt Samantha and Stephen Ford Jan and Sam Forester Four Seasons Women's Health Joanne and Arthur Frank Dawn and Eddy Franks Mike Gabel Genelle and Bernard Gann Debbie and Bob Garrett Elaine and Richard Gibson Susan and Lee Gibson Michael D. Gollob Charitable Trust Mildred Grinstead Jo Ann and Randy Grooms Patricia and Clark Hampe Carlene Harris Mitzi Harris Jennifer Harrison Henry & Peters PC Bob L. Herd Foundation Janet and John Hills Judy and David Hodge Annabel and Joseph Hoffman Judy and George Hurst Laura and H.T. Hyde Joanne and Steve Idell Kate and David Iglesias John Soules Foods Joie De Vivre Dinner Club Kris Kavasch and Laura Smith Merry Sandra and Michael Kennedy Vanessa Kickhoefer Nancy and Bill Lamar Kay and Paul Latta Tinsel and Leon Leach Silke and Gerald Ledlow Diane and Jim Lestor Virginia Harleston and Jeffrey Levin Kim Luna Bill Martin Kathy and Brian McCabe

Gifts Received as of September 30, 2020 Zelia and Paul McGaha Mo and Doug McSwane Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute for Texas Donna and Mike Metke Clyde Mills Kelly Morrison Linda H. Nelson Dalia Nessim Ellen and Tom Noneman Molly and Scott Norwood Patti and Bola Olusola Oncor Electric Delivery Company Sheryl Rogers Palmer Paneless Home Services Margaret and James Perkins Family Foundation Julie Philley and Richard Lee Linda J. Punch A.W. Riter, Jr. Family Foundation Nelson J. Roach Stephenie and Randy Roberts Robyn Rogers and Bob Rice Sam Roosth Susan and Paul Rountree Sandy Schulze Cindy Scott Connie and Tom Seale Julie and David Shamburger Ann and Bill Sheehy Barbara Shtofman Beka and Kenny Sigler Janet and Mickey Slimp

Vicki and Douglas Smith Juanita and Harold Smotherman Somatique Medical and Dental Corp.

South Tyler Rotary Club Squyres, Johnson, Squyres & Co Janet and Todd Staples Delton Starling Stephen F. Austin State University Nancy and Bruce Stevens Glenda Strum Judy and Charles Tate Texas College Linda and Charles Thomas Phyllis and John Tindel Debbie and Jim Toman Kimberly and Torry Tucker Tyler Junior College Kelley and Lonny Uzzell Chris Venable Caryn and Joseph Vorsas Debbie and Bob Waldrop Jo Ellan and Ben Walley Gail Weatherly Lynn and Don Wells Amanda Wickman Harry L. Willett Foundation Joe Woelkers Amy and Tom Woldert Sharon and James Wynne Alice Yanity Ashiq Zaman

GALAXY AWARDS 2021 Good things are worth the wait So ... Watch for the New Date!

Summer 2021

Honoring Margaret & Jim Perkins | Willow Brook Country Club Funds raised to benefit the new medical school with an emphasis on mental health education.

For additional information, please contact Institutional Advancement at (903) 877-5135.

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Ways to Give MANY WAYS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. MANY WAYS TO GIVE.

There are many different ways to make a legacy gift; perhaps some you haven’t ever considered.

Here are a few types of assets you can give to achieve your goals:

Cash

Giving cash is the simplest way to make a difference at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, and you can deduct the amount immediately on your income tax.

Life Insurance

If you no longer need your life insurance policy because it will no longer benefit your survivors, you can gift it to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.

Stocks & Securities

Giving securities, including stocks and bonds, is easy and effective, too. If you have held the securities for more than a year and they have appreciated, giving to UTHSCT can provide a tax deduction and help avoid capital gains tax.

Retirement Plans

Giving UTHSCT part of your retirement assets, such as from your IRA, 401(k), 403b, pension or other tax-deferred plan, is a simple way to make a gift and can keep you in a more advantageous tax bracket. This is especially true for alumni and friends who are age 70.5 years or older and must take a required minimum distribution each year.

Moreover, retirement plans passed to your children and heirs could lose almost half their value through the income taxes they will have to pay. On the other hand, naming The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler as a beneficiary generates no income taxes and the institution receives the full value of your retirement plan.

Mineral Interests

By transferring mineral rights to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, you truly are giving the university a “gift that keeps on giving.” The University Lands office has been stewarding the largest land and minerals endowment in the country for over 100 years. Our experts will ensure your natural resources yield maximum value.

Artwork & Collectibles

Paintings, sculptures, coins … if it's worth something to someone, that worth can transfer to the university.

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Real Estate & Land

A gift of real estate, such as your home, ranch, vacation property, commercial property or even vacant land, could be your most impactful donation. Moreover, if your property has appreciated, giving it to UTHSCT can provide a tax deduction and help avoid capital gains tax.

Will & Estate Plans

You can designate The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler as a beneficiary in your will, living trust or other estate plan document.

Business Interests & Closely Held Stocks

Nothing has growth potential like your stake in a growing company. There are key times in the life of a business when it makes sense to set aside some of the ownership interest for charitable contributions, such as:

• When a company is being formed.

• Before an initial public offering (IPO).

• When a company is being recapitalized.

• Before the sale, merger or acquisition of a company.

• Before an owner or partner in a company retires.

By donating closely held stock before these liquidity events occur, you can claim an immediate tax deduction for the full market value without ever recognizing a taxable gain. You essentially “double up” on the tax benefits.

Intellectual Property & Royalties

Creativity is at the heart of what it means to be a part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler family, and that creative power can transfer into financial security for the institution through gifts of intellectual property and royalties.

Charitable Gift Annuity

If you are age 55 or older, you can transfer cash or appreciated securities to The University of Texas Foundation, and you are paid a fixed amount (with rates based on your age) annually for the rest of your life. This provides security for you and your loved ones, and some of this income may be tax-free.

Charitable Remainder Trust

As with a charitable gift annuity, a charitable remainder trust allows you to transfer cash and appreciated securities, as well as property, to UT System or your bank/trust company. The difference is that instead of a simple contract, your asset funds a trust, which directs a specific distribution to you or your family with the remainder being distributed to the institution. The trust will provide you with an upfront charitable tax deduction and provide you with income for life (flexible or fixed for life or for a set term of years).

Charitable Lead Trust

You can transfer cash, appreciated securities and/or property into a lead trust that makes gifts to UTHSCT for a number of years. You will receive a charitable deduction, and you or your family receives the remainder of the trust at a tax savings.

To explore your planned giving options, contact: Marilyn Abegg-Glass Consulting Vice President Institutional Advancement marilyn.abeggglass@uthct.edu

Kenneth Sigler Exec. Director, Advancement Services kenneth.sigler@uthct.edu Betsy Brush Director, Major Gifts betsy.brushhahn@uthct.edu

Institutional Advancement 11937 U.S. Hwy. 271 | Tyler, TX 75708 (903) 877-5135 PAGE 39 | VOLUME 02

Visit www.uthct.edu/give to learn more.

We Train Heroes To learn more about our residency programs and graduate degrees, visit uthct.edu.

Advancing education. Advancing research.

Advancing healthcare. Together.

11937 U.S. Hwy. 271, Tyler, TX 75708 | (903) 877-7777 | uthct.edu

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