December 2017 Newsmakers

Dr. Kavita Bhavan
Dr. Kavita Bhavan

Bhavan honored with ID Clinical Practice Innovation Award 

Dr. Kavita Bhavan, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, has received the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s 2017 Clinical Practice Innovation Award. The award recognizes members who devote the majority of their time to patient care and have, within the past five years, significantly advanced the clinical practice of infectious diseases by making innovations in clinical practice design or management, or by fostering change to better recognize the value of infectious diseases practice.

Dr. Bhavan is an expert in outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT). Despite the benefits of OPAT for patients on long-term antibiotics, this therapy is typically not available to the uninsured, leading to long hospitalizations for antibiotic infusions at safety-net hospitals. The Medical Director of the Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Clinic at Parkland Hospital, Dr. Bhavan developed a successful program in which even the most underserved patients can receive outpatient antibiotic therapy.

The program offers uninsured patients the option to self-administer intravenous antibiotics, with weekly in-clinic follow-up. Begun in 2009, the program saved more than 27,000 hospital bed days, or about $40 million, in its first four years. Recognized nationally in delivering improved patient care in the safety-net setting, the program’s approach is now being replicated in underserved areas across the country.

Dr. Bhavan, who joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2009, earned her medical degree from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and completed her internship at Rochester General Hospital and the University of Rochester in New York, followed by residency at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans and an ID fellowship at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. She also earned a Master of Health Science degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

Dr. Gary Lemack
Dr. Gary Lemack

Lemack serving as Trustee of American Board of Urology

Dr. Gary Lemack, Professor of Urology, and Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, has begun a six-year term as an elected Trustee of the American Board of Urology (ABU). Dr. Lemack was nominated to the ABU by the American Urological Association.

Dr. Lemack, a UT Southwestern faculty member since 1999, leads the Urology Residency Program and holds the Rose Mary Haggar Professorship in Urology. He is also the Director for the Department of Urology’s Fellowship Program in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery.

After graduating from Weill Cornell Medical College, he completed his urologic residency at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, followed by a two-year fellowship in urology at UT Southwestern. His clinical practice focuses on care for women with incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and other refractory bladder disorders. His research has focused on improving incontinence care for adults with neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. Much of his work has involved collaborations with the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-sponsored Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network.

He has written or co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and over 20 book chapters. Dr. Lemack serves on the editorial board for The Journal of Urology and is an expert reviewer for several other journals. He is currently the President of the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine and Urogenital Reconstruction; an Oral Examiner for the ABU; and an American Urological Association South Central Section board member.

Dr. Ganesh Raj
Dr. Ganesh Raj

Cancer specialist Raj receives Dr. Paul Peters Chair

Dr. Ganesh Raj, Professor of Urology and Pharmacology, has been selected to hold The Dr. Paul Peters Chair in Urology in Memory of Rumsey and Louis Strickland.

Dr. Raj is one of the nation’s leading urologic cancer surgeons and specializes in high-risk procedures for prostate, bladder, kidney, and testis cancers. He has particular expertise in complex salvage procedures – surgeries for cancers that persist despite radiation treatment or previous failed surgery.

Dr. Raj and his team study the mechanisms of therapy-resistant cancers in order to develop new therapeutics. His team has created drugs that uniquely target nuclear receptors in prostate and breast cancers that are approaching clinical trials.

Dr. Raj graduated from the M.D./Ph.D. program at Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia. He completed his urology residency training at Duke University Medical Center and a urologic oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Helen Hobbs
Dr. Helen Hobbs

Hobbs honored with Schottenstein Prize for cardiovascular work

Dr. Helen Hobbs, Director of the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, has received the 2017 Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Prize in Cardiovascular Sciences from the Wexner Medical Center’s Heart and Vascular Center at The Ohio State University. The Schottenstein Prize is among the largest monetary prizes in the U.S. dedicated to cardiovascular research.

Dr. Hobbs, who received the award and a $100,000 honorarium on Nov. 14, co-founded the Dallas Heart Study. Now underway for more than 16 years, the study involves more than 6,000 ethnically diverse participants and has led to more than 200 published papers. Phase three of the study is in the works, with a scientific focus on healthy aging. As part of the study, Dr. Hobbs and Dr. Jonathan Cohen have shown that low-frequency variants in the protein PCSK9 lower plasma levels of LDL cholesterol and protect against heart disease. As a result, two anti-PCSK9 antibodies are now approved by the FDA to treat high cholesterol. Dr. Cohen is a Professor of Internal Medicine and with the McDermott Center who holds the C. Vincent Prothro Distinguished Chair in Human Nutrition Research.

More recently, the Hobbs-Cohen laboratory identified genetic risk factors for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). They found sequence differences in two genes associated with the full spectrum of NAFLD, as well as alcohol-related liver disease. 

“I can think of very few investigators who have contributed as much to our understanding of cardiovascular genetics as Dr. Hobbs. Her work has not only increased our knowledge of the role of genetic defects in heart disease, but, more importantly, it has led to the development of novel and highly effective therapies to treat those diseases and improve people’s lives,” said Dr. Thomas Ryan, Director of the Ohio State Heart and Vascular Center.

Dr. Hobbs, also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, holds the Eugene McDermott Distinguished Chair for the Study of Human Growth and Development, the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Chair in Developmental Biology, and the 1995 Dallas Heart Ball Chair in Cardiology Research.

Dr. Philip Thomas
Dr. Philip Thomas

Physiologist Thomas honored for cystic fibrosis contributions

Professor of Physiology Dr. Philip Thomas recently received the highest honor bestowed by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for work that led to development of a second-generation therapy for cystic fibrosis (CF), a serious, chronic genetic condition that affects breathing and digestion.

The 2017 Paul di Sant’Agnese Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award recognizes Dr. Thomas and Dr. Gergely L. Lukacs of McGill University in Montreal for making “significant contributions to our scientific understanding of cystic fibrosis.” Specifically, they were honored for using genetic tools to validate the “two-hit” hypothesis for cystic fibrosis.

That hypothesis stated that fixing two distinct hereditary defects in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein by separate means would improve its trafficking and function. Their work paved the way for second-generation CFTR modulators, the foundation said.

More than a decade ago, Dr. Thomas discovered that protein folding is disrupted in CF. His laboratory also developed a novel way to monitor the disease process inside cells, determined that the most common cystic fibrosis mutation actually impacts two different cellular processes, and suggested ways to identify new treatments to deliver a one-two punch against both defective processes.

“I am happy to share in this honor, but the credit really goes to the dedicated scientists in our laboratory who have made the discoveries that led to better therapies for cystic fibrosis patients,” said Dr. Thomas, who holds the Ruth S. Harrell Professorship in Medical Research.