Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579

James F. Hanley, M.D., joined the Regional Academic Health Center in 2001 and is acknowledged as one of the architects of the RAHC internal medicine residency program.
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HARLINGEN (June 3, 2008) — Two volunteer faculty members at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) received special awards at the RAHC's annual faculty recognition ceremony May 30.

James F. Hanley, M.D., professor and founding director of the internal medicine residency program, received the 2008 Distinguished Faculty Member award. Carmelita Teeter, M.D., a volunteer faculty member who is fellowship-trained in sports medicine and shoulder surgery, was honored with the Horizon Award.

300 volunteer faculty members acknowledged
Lewis Greenberg, M.D., vice dean for clinical affairs in the Health Science Center School of Medicine and assistant vice president for medical affairs, and Leonel Vela, M.D., M.P.H., regional dean of the RAHC, thanked more than 300 volunteer faculty members for their time, talent and commitment to the education of the next generation of physicians who will serve the Lower Rio Grande Valley, South Texas and the world.

Most RAHC-trained internists stay in the region
“It was nearly six years ago that the Regional Academic Health Center Medical Education Division was dedicated in Harlingen, and since that time more than 500 students have completed a portion of their third and fourth years of medical school in the clinically unique environment of the Valley RAHC,” Dr. Vela said. “In addition, the RAHC internal medicine residency program has trained, or is in the process of training, more than 35 internists, most of whom have stayed in the Valley and South Texas to practice. Without the generous and sacrificial support of our volunteer faculty, Valley Baptist Health System and other clinical partners, this would not have occurred. The Valley is medically enriched because of their efforts.”

2008 Distinguished Faculty Member
Dr. Hanley has influenced all of the internal medicine residents at the RAHC, including dozens of Kleberg Medical Scholars supported by the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation. Those scholars conduct clinical research projects on health issues that most affect people who live in the Valley. Dr. Hanley is widely respected as an outstanding physician and teacher. Under his leadership, the RAHC internal medicine residents have developed and presented clinical research projects at national and state meetings.

Carmelita Teeter, M.D., of Rio Grande Orthopedic Center in Harlingen has been a RAHC volunteer faculty member for two years.

Horizon Award
Dr. Teeter, who received the Horizon Award, is an outstanding, up-and-coming RAHC faculty member. A fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Dr. Teeter practices at Rio Grande Orthopedic Center. She completed her fellowship at the UT Health Science Center at Houston in 2003 after a residency at Case Western Reserve University and medical school at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Ruth Berggren delivers keynote address
Ruth Berggren, M.D., director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics in the School of Medicine, delivered the keynote speech on “Choices in the Storm — You Can Make a Difference.” She discussed her life-changing experience inside New Orleans’ Charity Hospital during Hurricane Katrina.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $576 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion bioscience and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 23,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.