2026 JAN. EDITION
The 2024-2025 edition of the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine Annual Report has officially been released earlier this month. We invite you to see all of the great accomplishments achieved by our colleagues and students across the college and to share in their successes.
Join us on Monday, February 2 from 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. in TBL 2100 for a presentation on Academic Leadership and Planning by Stephen Scott, M.D., and Marie Jeanne Nisnisan, M.H.A., CSSBB.
Tushar Talaparthy, MS2, won 1st place at the Texas Academy of Family Physicians (TAFP) Annual Session and Primary Care Summit. He won the Primary Research (student category) based on his work with Lola Adepoju, Ph.D., M.P.H. Project title: “Leveraging SMS Text Messaging and Behavioral Theory to Improve Colorectal Cancer Screening in Federally Qualified Health Centers.”
The anesthesiology interest group (AIG) is an organization intended to expose students to the field of anesthesia and provide them with resources to navigate it. The AIG team held an event where they taught students how to recognize symptoms of opioid overdose, and accordingly how to manage it through Narcan administration, where students received free samples. In addition, students practiced how to perform intubation using adult models with the guidance of faculty. Reach out to the AIG team if you want to learn more about anesthesia!
MS2 Isabella Marra, as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow, presented her research at the Albert Schweitzer Winter Symposium. Marra has been working with the FQHC Legacy Community Health to create bilingual resources to help adolescents understand and mitigate anxiety in their daily lives. Diego Alvarez, M.D., Ph.D., has been an important mentor over the course of her project.
Veronique Robert, M.D., co-course director and clinical assistant professor. She completed her medical training at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (in Belgium) and went on to complete residencies in geriatrics and family medicine. Since 2021, she’s worked as a small group facilitator and problem-based learning facilitator at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. We’re thrilled that she will be starting as a course co-director for physicians, patients, and populations.
The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) has awarded Bich-May Nguyen, M.D., M.P.H., FAAFP, the 2026 STFM Advocate Award. This honors STFM member(s) for their outstanding work in advocacy at the local, state, or national level. The STFM is especially proud to recognize Nguyen's national leadership with Doctors for America, including her role as a board member and co-director of the A. Gene Copello Health Advocacy Fellowship. Under her guidance, the fellowship has expanded in size and reach, training physicians and trainees across the country in legislative engagement, media strategy, and grassroots organizing. Copello fellows have gone on to testify before legislatures, work with members of congress, publish influential commentary, and build advocacy curricula at their home institutions, a reflection of her mentorship and vision. Congratulations to Nguyen on this coveted award.
Gregory Scott Brown, M.D., has been featured in a recently published Everyday Health article —Americans Are Really Anxious About the Upcoming Holiday Season. A new poll from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) suggests stress is looming large this holiday season compared with years past — with Americans especially sweating about the economy.
We continue to grow our dynamic team of consummate professionals. Let us welcome the newest members to join our college:
Dana Gazda, associate registrar, and others on the UH OUR - Office of University Registrar team attended the Annual (Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) TACRO Conference in El Paso in November. These meetings provide valuable opportunities for networking and sharing ideas with professionals across the higher education community. The meetings and sessions offer guidance for higher education as our organizations continue to evolve and as we work through pressing issues we face today.
In January, the UH Health Family Care Center attended a resource fair at the Smith Neighborhood Library. We provided information about our services and resources that we offer to patients!
This fall, three projects were recognized with a Centennial Staff Innovation Award, honoring University of Houston employees whose creativity and collaboration lead to lasting improvements across campus. Learn about how Mirla Lopez, David Garcia, CISSP, and Rushil Daivala collaborated across the Household Centered Care and information technology teams to develop a custom Quickbase case management platform that replaced the old system, saving about $100,000 annually. Additionally, this streamlines data, improves reporting accuracy and enables Community Health Workers and leaders to more effectively track and support families throughout their care journey. Learn more about their accomplishments here.
Congratulations to Tameka Clemons, Ph.D., on her recent appointment to the Faculty Council of the University of Houston. Established by the UH System Board of Regents under the authority given to it by SB37 of the Texas Legislature, the Faculty Council is the sole representative body of the faculty constituted to advise the President and her leadership team on academic issues. In this appointment term (Academic Year 2025-2026), you will represent your college on the Faculty Affairs Committee and the Curriculum Committee.
Giving Season was extremely impactful! Thanks to your donations and donations from our sponsors, we gave away 75 care packages and over 150 H-E-B gift cards to our adult patients, plus books and dental kits to our pediatric patients. We appreciate all who contributed and look forward to another great Giving Season in December.
The College of Medicine would like to thank our donors for their most generous support of our students. Listed below are gifts that the college received over the previous month.
$400,000 - additional estate commitment for scholarships ($2.1M total gift) From Bob Diehl
$300,000 - commitment for endowed scholarship from Sutapa Sur
$55,000 - cash gift for endowed scholarship from Bob Diehl
$50,000 - commitment for scholarships via naming opportunity from Rohini and Vishnu Divecha
Do you have something you’d like to share college wide? Email uhcomcom@central.uh.edu with details for consideration in next month’s edition of The Pulse.
