From: Durham, Erika
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 3:11 PM
Subject: UTDB eflash (weekly edition) -- Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Farrar wins scholarship

Dean Catherine M. Flaitz, D.D.S., M.S., (right) congratulates Farrar on her scholarship win.

Fourth-year dental student Ashley Farrar received the Dental Student Scholarship Award from The Foundation of the Pierre Fauchard Academy. Farrar was honored with a certificate and a check for $1,500.

Farrar was selected based on her potential for becoming an outstanding leader in the profession and her work in the university and the community. When surveying candidates, the judges considered the level of integrity, imagination, self-initiative and communication.

D’Souza talks stem cells to Houstonians

Rena D’Souza, D.D.S., Ph.D., was featured on Fox 26 News Thursday, June 9, to discuss how stem cells can be extracted from teeth, especially those of infants. D’Souza told reporter Melissa Wilson that she believes within five to 10 years a system will be in place that allows people to routinely bank their children’s teeth for possible future use.

Welcome to the family: Dr. Zesheng Liu has arrived

Today marks the launch of Welcome to the Family, a feature of the UTDB eflash that highlights new faculty, staff and research postdocs. This feature will provide a name, face and background information on those who are new to the UT Dental Branch. Let’s make sure we welcome them to our great institution.

Meet: Zesheng Liu, M.D., Ph.D.

Liu joined the Dental Branch June 1 as an instructor in the Department of Diagnostic Sciences. Liu received his M.D. from Beijing Medical University, Beijing, China, and his Ph.D. from Hebrew University of Jerusalem—Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. He then completed five years of postdoctoral training, first in the Department of Molecular Pathology at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and then in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Liu’s research at the Dental Branch will focus on the effects of selenium on oral cancer cells. He is located in room 3.094J (across from the Cooley Conference Room). His lab is 300F. Contact: Zesheng.Liu@uth.tmc.edu, (713) 500-5269.

The DB’s summer bash

Celebrate the summer with the Employee Relations Committee as they present the annual end-of-the-year celebration noon-4 p.m., Thursday, July 21, at the UT Recreation Center, 7779 Knight Road. This year’s celebration, co-hosted by the Office of the Dean and the Office of Patient Care, is bound to be the most exciting ever. In addition to good food and fellowship, there will be games, prizes and swimming. The event is free and open to everyone.

Pierpont wins iPOD

Congratulations to Phil Pierpont, D.D. S., associate dean for Student and Alumni Affairs, for holding the winning ticket for an iPOD Shuffle, raffled off by the University Classified Staff Council.

The UCSC sends a special thanks to all who purchased tickets for the drawing. To date, nearly $700 has been raised for next year’s scholarship fund. Look for future fund raisers to benefit six more deserving students who are children of classified staff members. Your dollars make a difference!

The scholarship winners were: future student of California Technical Institute Haile Xiao, child of Jianguo Xiao of the Medical School; future student of the University of Houston Roy Emanuel, child of Annette Emanuel of General Administration; future student of Stanford University Connie Yu, child of Audry C. Yu and Jin Yu of the School of Public Health; future student of University of Texas-Austin Andrew Chiu, child of Nai-Hui Chiu of the Medical School; and future student of Haverford College Laren Messer, child of Margaret Messer of the Medical School.

UTDB eflash is an electronic newsletter produced by The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston. Submit items for consideration to Erika.Durham@uth.tmc.edu by Tuesdays at noon. Items may be edited for length and style.