Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579

Dr. Richard Usatine is one of the authors of a new diagnostic aid for physicians, “The Color Atlas of Family Medicine.”
Printer Friendly Format

SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 10, 2009) — A picture is worth a thousand words, which is the thought behind a new family medicine resource that contains many contributions by UT Health Science Center San Antonio faculty, students and residents.

The Color Atlas of Family Medicine, a hardcover book, features 1,500 full-color photographs “depicting both common and uncommon appearances of diseases and presentations that clinicians encounter every day,” said one of the authors, Richard P. Usatine, M.D., professor in the departments of Family & Community Medicine and Medicine at the Health Science Center.

Images will help physicians in diagnosing illnesses
“No other resource offers such a comprehensive collection of these diagnosis-speeding images,” Dr. Usatine said. “No matter what the presentation, all the visual guidance needed for successful patient management is right here at the reader’s fingertips.”

Co-authors are James Tysinger, Ph.D., deputy chair for faculty development in the Department of Family & Community Medicine; former Health Science Center faculty member Heidi Chumley, M.D., associate chair of family medicine at Kansas University; Mindy Ann Smith, M.D., professor of family medicine at Michigan State University; and E.J. Mayeaux Jr., M.D., professor of family medicine and obstetrics & gynecology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.

“I enjoyed collaborating with the other editors,” Dr. Tysinger said. “Each is a seasoned family physician and skilled teacher who knows how color photographs and succinct descriptions help students and residents learn to diagnose medical problems. The book is appropriately dedicated to the late Leonard G. Paul, M.D., the Department of Family & Community Medicine’s chairman emeritus, who was a superb teacher and consummate role model for his students, residents and colleagues.”

The atlas features 1,500 full-color photographs of various diseases and conditions.

Numerous HSC departments contributed to the atlas
These departments of the UT Health Science Center School of Medicine made significant contributions to the new resource: Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Urology, Pathology, Family & Community Medicine, Surgery, Radiology, Pediatrics and Orthopaedics’ Podiatry Division. The Dental School also is a strong contributor.

Dr. Usatine praised the assistance of School of Medicine students as well as patients of two student-run free clinics — Alpha Home, which helps indigent women with urgent but unmet medical needs, and the SAMMinistries Transitional Living and Learning Facility.

For more information, visit the book's Web site.

# # #
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 $668 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $16.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $36 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 25,600 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other 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, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.