Why would an otherwise reasonable retired pathologist leave behind her comfortable home, family, friends, and dogs to walk 600 miles in 10 cities?
You’ll find out the answer – and then some – when you read “Foot Soldiers: Stories from the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk,” a new book by Deborah Douglas, MD. A breast cancer survivor herself, she interviewed both survivors and co-survivors to collect the stories from participants of the 2004 Susan G. Komen/National Phil-anthropic Trust Breast Cancer 3-Day events.
“My original intent of walking in all 10…events was to prove that, in spite of my anxiety, I could still be adventurous – or, failing that, I could at least quit wringing my hands long enough to walk 600 miles,” Dr. Douglas said. “It was only later that I decided to ask other survivors and co-survivors who were also participating to share their stories.”
The resulting book emphasizes the complexity of diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship, but also challenges the popular mantras that a positive attitude is the only healthy way to cope with the disease and that cancer is an unequivocal gift.
Dr. Douglas, the author of two regional books, is a former member of BCMS’s Publications Committee, having previously served as a regular columnist and as chair. Also active in Women in Medicine activities, she now writes full-time from a ranch 10 miles from Burnet, Texas.
Frost Bank, a subsidiary of Cul-len/ Frost Bankers, Inc. is directing $500,000 over the next 10 years to support two different areas of UTHSCSA’s research enterprise.
Half of the funding, $250,000, is a grant from the Frost Foundation to the President’s Excellence Fund Endowment, which will be used to recruit and retain star scientists in many fields, including studies of aging, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, to name a few. The Frost Foundation funding will allow the health science center to establish a distinguished professorship in one of these areas.
The second half of the funding is a $250,000 grant from the Mary A. Peterson Wyatt Charitable Trust, for which Frost Bank is the trustee. The grant will support construction of the $150 million South Texas Research Facility that will provide 250,000 square feet of new state-of-the-art laboratories. In this building, scientists will engage in translational research to rapidly move discoveries from the bench to the bedside. The South Texas Research Facility will help address the health science center’s growing space deficit, said Francisco G. Cigarroa, MD, UTHSCSA president.
CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital has been ranked in the 93rd percentile for patient satisfaction by nationally recognized healthcare monitor PressGaney.
Ranking information is based on PressGaney surveys mailed to patients’ families or guardians following discharge from the hospital. The survey is designed to measure perceptions from patients and their families regarding the care they received at the hospital by examining all aspects of their stay, both medical and administrative.
The University of Texas System Board of Regents has approved $263 million in capital and other projects for UTHSCSA as part of a $2.5 billion science, technology, engineering, and medicine competitiveness package.
UTHSCSA plans to build a $150 million South Texas Research Facility near its North Campus on Floyd Curl Drive. The building will provide 250,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratories to expand the space needed for the health science center’s growing research enterprise.
The board of regents authorized $40 million in permanent university fund allocations for that project, to augment $60 million in tuition revenue bonds recently approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry at the health science center in a July ceremony. UTHSCSA President Francisco G. Cigarroa, MD, indicated that an additional $50 million for the South Texas Research Facility will come from private donations.
The announcement also included board of regents’ approval for expenditures of $95 million from institutional funds for the new Medical Arts and Research Center, to be built near the North Campus. It also gave authorizations totaling $18 million for various projects, including a new cyclo-tron at UTHSCSA’s Research Imaging Center, campus fire and life safety upgrades, and ongoing work at the Dolph Briscoe Jr. Library.
Col. Robert E. Nei-mes, MD, a board certified general surgeon who served 33 years in the U.S. Army, died August 22 at the age of 83.
A member of numerous profession-al medical associations and recipient of many military awards and decorations, Col. Neimes graduated from the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University and completed his general surgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He served in medical leadership positions around the globe and in the U.S.
