Health Notes: Leader in muscle research joins UT Arlington faculty

Leader in muscle research joins UT Arlington faculty

Marco Brotto, an internationally renowned scientist with joint appointments at the Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has been named the George W. and Hazel M. Jay Professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at the University of Texas at Arlington.

He will join UT Arlington in August.

Brotto is an authority in muscle and bone physiology, sarcopenia and excitation contraction coupling. He is currently the Dale and Dorothy Thompson/Missouri Endowed Professor for Nursing Research and director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Muscle Biology Research Group.

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UT Arlington President Vistasp Karbhari said Brotto’s international reputation and research leadership will accelerate the university’s growth in the health sciences area, strengthen the college’s interdisciplinary research and teaching excellence and enhance its relationships with the medical and health sciences communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“Dr. Brotto’s distinguished career in health sciences – and his internationally recognized research focus on understanding the cellular and molecular basis of muscle atrophy and weakness that come with aging – make him an extraordinary addition to the UTA faculty,” Karbhari said. “His appointment will help enable UTA to address current and future challenges in health care in an even more meaningful way, and further amplify our reputation as the model 21st century urban research university.”

Brotto also will direct the Muscle and Bone Collaborative Sciences and the Ph.D. in nursing program.

His appointment is supported in part by the University of Texas System Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention (STARS) program. The program provides additional startup funding to attract scholars with exceptional records of research, teaching and creative activity.

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Brotto earned his bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in pharmacology at the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil. He completed three fellowships at the Medical College of Georgia in muscle physiology and biophysics and the heart development group before earning his doctorate in physiology and biophysics from Trinity College (Oxford), England in 1999.

After a post-doctoral fellowship and after working as an instructor at the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Brotto was on the faculty at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers University from 2003 to 2007. He has been a faculty member and leader at the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 2007.

Brotto was International Visiting Professor and Scholar at the College of Sciences and Technology in Salvador, Brazil, where he was also the scientific director of the Center for Biomedical Research.

Brotto is on the editorial board of several journals and is a permanent reviewer for the National Institutes of Health Skeletal Muscle and Exercise Physiology Study Section. He is also a reviewer for seven international funding agencies from the United States and Europe. He has more than 80 peer-reviewed, and numerous highly cited, publications in journals such as Aging, Aging Cell, Cell Research, Journal of Cell Biology, Nature Cell Biology, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cell Cycle, Journal of Biological Chemistry and Nursing Research. He has patents and inventions and more than 300 peer-reviewed abstracts for presentations at national and international scientific meetings.

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FW ALLERGIST TO LEAD

AMA HOUSE OF DELEGATES

Fort Worth allergist Dr. Susan R. Bailey has been elected as speaker of the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates.

“I am truly honored to serve this incredible profession as speaker of the House of Delegates,” said Bailey. “My past four years as vice speaker have been extremely rewarding and energizing and I look forward to continuing our robust work to improve the health of our nation together.”

Bailey has been in private practice since 1988 in allergy and clinical immunology. She brings more than 20 years of experience and expertise into this new role.

She has had numerous leadership positions at the AMA. Currently she is on the audit and awards and nominations committees and is chairman of the membership committee. She also represents the AMA on the COLA board of directors. Bailey served two terms on the AMA’s Council on Medical Education, including as its chairman. She was also a member of the AMA’s advisory panel to the Women in Medicine Project, the committee that laid the foundation for the AMA’s Women’s Physician Section.

Previously, Bailey served as president of both the Texas Medical Association and Tarrant County Medical Society. She also was vice speaker and speaker of the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates and for the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology House of Delegates. A graduate of the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Bailey is a Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

METHODIST MANSFIELD URGES

RESIDENTS TO WALK NATURE TRAIL

Methodist Mansfield Medical Center is encouraging local residents to get out and exercise at its new nature trail at Elmer W. Oliver Nature Park.

The new trail partnership with the city of Mansfield is part of the hospital’s “Pathways to Health” initiative. In celebration of Mansfield’s 125th anniversary, the hospital invites residents to walk 125 miles either at a park trail or its new trail at Oliver Nature Park. Those who walk and log 125 miles by Nov. 20 will be considered for individual, family or business recognition at Hometown Holidays.

To find out more and sign up for Move125 go to http://info.methodisthealthsystem.org/mansfieldmove125.

THR RECOGNIZED FOR FOCUS

ON EMPLOYEE FITNESS, NEWBORNS

Texas Health Resources won two national awards for promoting employee well-being.

The National Business Group on Health named Texas Health a gold winner for the 2015 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles awards. Texas Health is among 64 large employers that received an award this year. This is the seventh year the health network has made the list.

The American Heart Association awarded Texas Health platinum-level recognition for being a Fit-Friendly Worksite. THR achieved the platinum-level status for the first time last year after receiving gold-level status five times.

Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford was re-designated by the World Health Organization and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund as a “baby-friendly hospital.” The five-year designation recognizes the hospital’s comprehensive approach to support breastfeeding of newborns.

Texas Health HEB is one of 10 designated baby-friendly hospitals in Texas.

CHAMBERLAIN COLLEGE OF NURSING

OPENS CAMPUS IN IRVING

Chamberlain College of Nursing LLC, a part of DeVry Education Group, opened a new campus at 4800 Regent Blvd. in Irving, its third campus in Texas and 18th nationwide.

The campus will offer a three-year bachelor’s degree in nursing and is accepting applications for admission to the fall semester, which begins Aug. 31.

Chamberlain’s Irving campus will be led by Kacie Spencer, former president of Chamberlain’s Pearland campus. She previously was dean of academic affairs for the Houston campus and faculty chairman and dean of academic affairs for the college’s campus in Arlington, Va.