William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs, welcomed state legislators, including Texas State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte; Sen. Talmadge Branch, the house majority whip in the state of Maryland; and Sen. Robert Wayne Cooper from the House Committee on Health Care Policy in Missouri, who also is a physician.
Printer Friendly Format

Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579

SAN ANTONIO (June 24, 2008) — Issues in cardiology was the topic June 25 and 26 as a group of state legislators visited The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

“Legislators in the Lab”
State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio welcomed a small group of colleagues from Kansas, Oklahoma, Maryland, Missouri and New Mexico.

During the day-and-a-half program, which is part of the National Conference of State Legislature's “Legislators in the Lab” series, academic cardiologists discussed the latest treatments for cardiovascular disease, advances in surgical therapy, the impact of diabetes, women’s issues regarding heart disease, health care disparities, and aging and the heart.

“I am pleased to present the UT Health Science Center and its faculty’s expertise in cardiology to my colleagues from across the country,” Sen. Van de Putte said. “As legislators, we must strive to improve access to quality health care, as our need for cardiac services grows. In Texas specifically, our lives and economic future depend on advancements in the cardiovascular arena.”

Faculty presentations
William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at the UT Health Science Center, welcomed the group. Presenters at the conference included:

• L. David Hillis, M.D., FACP, chairman of the Department of Medicine
  
• Merry Lindsey, Ph.D., assistant professor in the division of cardiology
  
• Alina Matutes-Eckhart, M.S.N., R.N., FNP-BC, faculty associate in the division of cardiology
  
• John Erikson, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the division of cardiology
  
• Terry Bauch, M.D., assistant professor in the division of cardiology
  
• Diane Ferguson, R.N. director of the Clinical Skills Center
  
• Janet Hays, M.D., associate professor in the division of cardiology
  
• Manoj Panday, M.D., assistant professor in the division of cardiology
  
• V. Seenu Reddy, M.D. assistant professor in the division of thoracic surgery
  
• Charles A. Reasner III, M.D., professor in the division of diabetes

Legislators visit University Hospital and H-E-B Clinical Skills Center
A portion of the program took the legislators to University Hospital, the academic teaching hospital next door to the Health Science Center, for tours of a catheterization laboratory and a non-invasive CT scanning area. Back at the Health Science Center, the legislators toured the H-E-B Clinical Skills Center, where medical and other health professions students are trained in the fine points of examining patients and documenting their medical histories.

Many of the visiting legislators hold leadership positions in their statehouses and serve on social services, human services or health care policy committees.

“We believe this meeting proved very beneficial to legislators and the community,” Linda Sikkema of the National Conference of State Legislatures said. “Legislators not only improve health outcomes for their constituents through changes in public policy, they also serve as community leaders and can lead by example when they change their own behavior.”

Visiting legislators
The visiting state legislators included Sens. Bob Bethell from Kansas, Scott Big Horse from Oklahoma, Talmadge Branch from Maryland, Robert Wayne Cooper from Missouri, John Heaton from New Mexico, Sally Young Jameson from Maryland, Ray McCarter from Oklahoma and Van De Putte.

# # #
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 biosciences 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.