alumni updates

Lots of cute photo updates posted to the FaceBook group page... go check it out! Alumni, if we're missing you, please join the group and post to the wall!

Board Certified!

The Class of 2009 is 3 for 3 on passing the Family Medicine boards so far! Big congratulations to Rene, Adriana and Roberto who have already received their results!!

The rest of you, please let me know when you hear your results?!

STFM 09 - Denver

Who recognizes this UTMB FMRP alum? See comments for the answer!

And congratulations to Dr. Rene Melendez and his faculty mentor Dr. Burch for their successful poster presentation. A great deal of interest was shown in their project. Excellent work, Rene!

long time

I had no idea so much time had passed since I last blogged. It seems like only a few days ago that the RIF occurred. It is still painful.

Some good things are happening though. I heard today that alumnus Pompeyo Chavez and his wife had a healthy baby boy today. Also current R2 Sashi Braga and his wife welcomed a healthy baby girl to their family this week. Congratulations to all of them!

Also, faculty member Jim King who was affected in the RIF has been hired by the Baytown FMRP, so he will stay in the area. They are adding a great faculty member to their program. Our loss is their gain. I'm happy that Jim found a good spot in a good program.

Former Dept of FM member Susan Berkley PA who was working for the Dept of Surgery most recently and affected by the RIF has accepted a position at the 4Cs Clinic.

A community hospitalist physician at one of our community hospital partners today agreed to take the R3s onto her hospital service to finish out their last required block so they are on track to finish their curriculum and graduate on schedule. We are still waiting to see if John Sealy reopens on January 5th as projected. If so, we will staff that service with R1s and R2s.

Things are coming along with our new clinic space at UHC. We have been plagued by computer bugs and glitches since opening but it seems that some significant progress was made yesterday in resolving most if not all of the current problems.

Scheduling has been a major problem since the RIF, because key administrative staff were lost who normally managed that function. This week saw major strides toward figuring out a new process for dealing with scheduling and we are all hopeful that it will be simpler and easier to manage from January forward.

Recruiting is going very well, much better in fact than I ever dreamed it would this year. We appreciate the support shown by our applicants and are grateful that we've been able to progress with this more or less as normal.

I think we are all very much looking forward to the holiday break. I'm hopeful that the new year will bring good things for Galveston Island and UTMB.

A new addition to the family!

Congratulations to Dr. Liliana Andrade and family on their new addition:

Andres Eduardo was born on 02/26/08 at 12:46 pm. He weighted 6 lb and 2 Oz. and his length was 18 1/2 inches.

back, catching up!

I am home from spending a month in Russia, adopting my two newest daughters. We are all adjusting and I'm looking forward to being back to work in the very near future.

Lots has happened while I've been away.

Recruiting season is getting wrapped up. We have our final two interviews scheduled for tomorrow and we're looking forward to that. Our official Rank Meeting will be held next week, at which we will construct our final Rank list. We're also looking forward to that!

We have a very interesting situation developing with our graduating class of 2008... it looks like five of them will be going on to fellowship training, and that is definitely a record for us! The two who have gotten word recently and not been previously announced are: Javier Rios - Sports Medicine and Jose San Martin - Obstetrics. Congratulations!! Edited to add: I don't find where I previously announced David Schnaiderman's fellowship... so here goes - David will also be staying on here at UTMB for his Geriatrics fellowship!

Also, I recently learned that one of our Chiefs - Carlos Montiel - will join one of our former graduates - Alex Brzezny - in practice in Washington state after graduation. I'm happy for everyone concerned!

hello from Manuel

Here is a photo hello from Manuel. He says all is going well and he plans to sit for the boards in December.

Dr. O'Donell has a birthday!

Dr. O'Donell celebrated a major birthday milestone last week, with cheers and ongoing well wishes from her Family Medicine family. A good time was had by all!!

Residents: Donna Simmons, Rene Melendez, Jerome Alonso

What exactly is Jerome up to?!

Chairman Dr. Barbara Thompson, birthday girl Dr. O'Donell, and former resident / now faculty member Dr. Hanan Hussein.

alumni news

We received news of a former graduate, Luis Benavides (Jan '07), by way of a relative with a family member in his new community of Whitney/Hillsboro, TX. Below is an exerpt of the email:

...my Mother (in Whitney, TX) tells me that there is a new physician in the
area (with hospital privileges in Hillsboro) who the whole town in thrilled
with. She is thinking of going to him because he has such a good
reputation.

I'm always thrilled to hear good things about our graduates! Kudos to Luis!

Alumni news

Announcement from Dr. Mark Guidry:

Appointment
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Cassandra Arceneaux to the executive manager position of Director of Community Health Services effective April 1, 2007. Dr. Arceneaux is a board certified family physician and a preventive medicine resident. She has served as a Ready Provider in the 4C's clinic, provided over 4 months of learning and volunteer service as a resident assigned to the Health District. During her time at the Health District, Dr. Arceneaux reviewed teen pregnancy data, organized outreach Head Start physicals, studied 4C's utilization data and presented her findings to the Governing Board, and assisted in EMS recruitment efforts.

Beginning in April, Dr. Arceneaux will oversee all community health services and programs (public health nursing, breast cancer screening, senior outreach, immunizations, HIV/STD, TB, WIC, etc). She will organize comprehensive community outreach events; will medically supervise public health programs requiring standing delegation orders (e.g., immunizations, TB, HIV/STD, breast cancer screening, etc), will provide clinical preventive healthcare, will serve as deputy health authority, and will participate in public health preparedness activities and outbreak investigations.

Please welcome and congratulate Dr. Arceneaux. On April 2nd, she may be reached at 409-938-2457.


Harlan "Mark" Guidry, MD, MPH
Chief Executive Officer & Health Authority
Galveston County Health District
409-938-2401; Pisa Lewis, Asst.
www.gchd.org

countdown to Match!

It's getting close!! Less than one week until we find out if we filled, one week until we will know WHO we got, and one week + one day until our applicants find out where they matched. Very exciting times. I am greatly looking forward to next week!

I received emails from two former residents this week... Anika Bell-Gray and Clint Watson. Both included photos of their kids, so stop by the Residency bulletin board to see those. I hear great things about Clint and Jo from my Waco colleagues! Nita Caskey visited with Luis Benavidez in Whitney recently. His new practice has been open one month and is doing very well. Staff contacts report that Manuel Gonzalez has relocated to New Zealand to begin his additional training in OBGyn.

Alumni - send in your updates or post them in the comments! We love to hear from you.