Volume 11, Issue 5
January 26, 2021

Spring Semester at SBMI

We hope everyone had a safe holiday season. We want to welcome back all returning SBMI students. To all new SBMI students, we are very happy to have you join the SBMI community here at UTHealth. We are looking forward to a successful spring semester.

Now that the semester has started, we want to remind all students to submit their updated, yearly degree or program plans if it has not been completed recently. Please work with your academic advisor to complete the plan and if you have questions, please contact the Office of Academic Affairs at 713.500.3591 or [email protected] for assistance.

Office of Academic Affairs Announcements & Reminders for Spring 2021

In order to practice and adhere to appropriate social distancing standards within the classrooms, we will continue the practice of reduced classroom capacity for in-person courses during spring 2021. Classes that have been offered via web delivery will continue to be offered online with full capacity. In-person class sizes were reduced to less than half of their normal capacity and classrooms will be sanitized before and after each session.

Students should follow all protocols and policies detailed on the COVID-19 Student Update webpage as it relates to in-person attendance days for on-campus courses. Students should also refer to Canvas, additional instructions in future communications from the SBMI Office of Academic Affairs, and their course instructors for more information.

Students needing badge access to the SBMI expansion of the UCT building should send pictures of both the front and back of their UTHealth student badge to [email protected].

TMC Library Liaison Librarians for SBMI

Emma Silva and Travis Holder will continue to serve the SBMI community as the TMC Library liaison librarian for SBMI. Students and faculty can reach Emma at 713.799.7114 or [email protected], and Travis at 713.799.7166 or [email protected].

Spring 2021 Scholarship Recipients

SBMI would like to congratulate our recent scholarship winners for spring 2021. We thank all students who applied, as well. These are the recipients:

Doris Ross Scholarship

• Subhiksha Raghuram – MS Student
• Fangfang Yan – PhD Student
• Xinyuan Zhang – PhD Student

James Turley Endowed Scholarship for Global Health

• Gilberto de la Garza Galvan – Certificate Student
• Joseph Krocker – MS Student

Lex Frieden Scholarship

• Annette Mulkay – MS Student

New PhD Student Scholarships - Bridges Family Doctoral Fellowship in Informatics Innovation

• Poonam Desai – PhD Student
• Yan Hu – PhD Student
• Rongbin Li – PhD Student
• Kaichen Tang – PhD Student

New PhD Student Scholarships - SBMI Dean’s Excellence Scholarship

• Morgan Foreman – PhD Student
• Wentao Li – PhD Student
• Xiaotian Ma – PhD Student
• Shikha Tripathi – PhD Student
• Dulin Wang – PhD Student

SBMI Dean’s Excellence Scholarship

• Vyas Dake – MS Student
• Meghana Gudala – MS Student
• Jessica Okunbor – MS Student

SBMI Scholarship Excellence Fund

• Sayali Ethape – MS Student

Registration is Open for UTHealth 2021 Healthcare Innovation Challenge

Registration for the 2021 Healthcare Innovation Challenge (HIC) is open and they are looking for SBMI applicants! HIC is a great opportunity to work as an interprofessional team, with students across all UTHealth schools, to solve systemic issues in healthcare. There is much to gain as a participant, so we encourage students to learn more about the growing annual competition.

Register here: https://forms.gle/DWWQPiZ2zVv4k68z7

HIMSS to Host Virtual Health Information Technology Day

On Feb. 2, HIMSS will host a Virtual Health Information Technology (HIT) Day from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM (CST). The focus for this year will be Telehealth and the event will include a panel of leading experts from across the state of Texas.

Here is the agenda for the day:

• Texas Telehealth Policy (9:30 -10:15 AM)
• Telehealth Reimbursement Overview (10:30 - 11:15 AM)
• Telehealth in Rural Areas Overview (11:30 AM - 12:15 PM)
• National Telehealth Policy Overview (12:30 - 1:15 PM)

Click here to register for each individual session.

Online Financial Disclosure Statement is Now Available

Why is this annual reporting requirement important?

All faculty and certain staff are required to submit a disclosure of financial interests and outside activities online each year by The University of Texas System policy and the UTHealth Conflict of Interest, Conflict of Commitment and Outside Activities Policy (HOOP 20). In some cases, a disclosure may also be required by other state and/or federal regulations (and in accordance with NIH guidance) and for submitting grant applications.

Who is required to submit a Financial Disclosure Statement?

In general, you must submit a Financial Disclosure Statement if any of the following statements below applies to you:

• You are a faculty member;
• You are an administrative and professional (A&P) employee (HOOP 150, Administrative and Professional and Classified Job Appointments);
• You are an executive officer of the university;
• You negotiate or execute contracts on behalf of UTHealth;
• You will be involved in procurement ($15,000 or more);
• You are involved in contract management;
• You are a “Covered Individual” on an UTHealth research project as designated by the principal investigator of the project, per the Research Conflicts of Interest Policy (HOOP 94).

How to submit the Financial Disclosure Statement?

For instructions, FAQs, and the required form, visit the Financial Disclosers Website. The deadline to submit the Financial Disclosure Statement is March 31, 2021.

Questions?

Please contact the Conflict of Interest Office at [email protected] if you have any questions or would like help completing the form.

SBMI In The News

• Lex Frieden was interviewed by the Houston Chronicle about the silver linings that could be found during 2020. The Laredo Morning Times online site picked up the story.