Topics at a glance: UTDB Web site overhaul coming Monday with new look for home page   …  Disclosing Unexpected Outcomes: Program will discuss legal and risk management issues   …  TAWD plans Spring Blood Drive  …  Minority Faculty Association presents awards  …  Foosball in the basement  …  The UCSC wants you! (as a new recruit)  … Trajtenberg to serve as reviewer for ADA's Evidence-Based Dentistry Section

UTDB Web site overhaul reaches new stage;
redesigned home page launches Monday

Beginning Monday, Feb. 18, the UT Dental Branch Web site, www.db.uth.tmc.edu, will have a new look that will be incorporated gradually throughout the site as pages are reviewed, evaluated, updated or discarded. With an estimated 12,000 pages "out there," it could take a while to finish.

UTDB Web Developer Debi Biner said the redesign represents a collaborative effort within the Dental Branch, drawing on suggestions from staff, faculty and students, as well as a designated Web Committee, whose members include Debi Biner, Patty Donna, Harold Henson, Judith Penn, Edward Kelly, Kelly Linder, Sandra Miller, Rhonda Moran, Deborah Noel, Janet Peri, David Taylor, Krystal Toups, John Valenza, and Muhammad Walji.

The new home page design will help users find information faster. Icons will link to frequently used features like Blackboard and will soon link to iTunes University. A click of the mouse will

The new Dental Branch home page will be posted Monday,
February 18.

bring up the school's newsletter, UTDB eFlash!, and when the UTHSC Intranet project is complete, an icon on the home page will take users there, too.

The new home page retains popular UTHSC features such as the People Directory and the A-Z Index, but adds new options for highlighting news and events at UTDB.

The Dental Branch will be one of the next UTHSC schools to institute a Content Management System, which will allow authorized users to update their departments' pages without having to go through the Webmaster.

Biner said the next step in redesigning the site is to meet with individual departments to redesign their top-level pages.

"Each of the departments will have input into the content and appearance of their home page," she said. "We're using Google Analytics to see what people are actually using: which pages have been viewed, how many times they've been viewed, and what links are being used."

Biner has also instituted cascading style sheets for the site and is making sure it will be accessible to users who may have disabilities.

Executive Associate Dean John Valenza, D.D.S., has been overseeing multiple technological upgrades at the Dental Branch, including the Web site redesign.

"I'm really excited about the new home page launch, as it provides a critical first step toward not just a new look, but a whole new way to make resources available to our users," he said. "In addition to the work that Debi Biner is doing, we have a lot of folks to thank for the progress to-date and the new features yet to come."

The Content Management System, UT Intranet, iTunes University and new, improved alumni pages using iModules technology are all coming soon to the Dental Branch.

Disclosing Unexpected Outcomes:
Program will discuss legal and risk management issues

Everyone who sees patients at the Dental Branch is encouraged to attend or tune in to "Disclosure of Unanticipated Outcomes With and Without Medical Error," an upcoming program sponsored by the Healthcare Risk Management/Professional Liability Committee of the UT Health Science Center's Office of Legal Affairs and Institutional Compliance.

Patrice Weiss, M.D., vice chair of obstetrics and gynecology and medical director of the Breast Care Center Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Va., will speak and use video clips to reinforce the importance of full disclosure of unanticipated outcomes. She will identify communication techniques health care providers can use to discuss such outcomes clearly and accurately with patients and families, will list potential causes of unanticipated outcomes, and will identify and recognize the legal and risk management concerns that follow.

Weiss will present the program twice on Monday, Feb. 18:

If you are unable to attend either live lecture, you may watch the afternoon session of the conference at your desktop by clicking either of these links: http://129.106.196.5/channel_5 or http://129.106.196.5/channel_3. Please note the links will not be active until approximately 15 minutes before start time (about 3:45 p.m.). Anyone with a PC that can run Windows Media Player 10 or higher (and most UT computers can do so) should be able to access the program.

The program also will be captured so that those who cannot attend that day can view it at a later date. For more information, contact Healthcare Risk Manager Catherine Thompson at 713-500-3280 or Catherine.R.Thompson@uth.tmc.edu.

Chriszelda Rojas and Barry Rittman, Ph.D.;Nguyet Toliao

Minority Faculty Association
presents scholarships

The Minority Faculty Association has announced the names of 11 University of Texas students in Houston who were awarded scholarships earlier this month. Faculty members from six UTHSC institutions and the UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center nominated 35 students for consideration.

Winners from the Dental Branch were Nguyet Toliao, who received a Minority Faculty Association scholarship, and Chriszelda Rojas, who won a Mary Helen Padilla Scholarship. Other nominees from the Dental Branch were Anthony B. Gonzalez, Houng Nguyen, Karla Zapata and Liliana Galvan.

Miguel F. da Cunha, Ph.D. professor in the Department of Integrative Nursing Care and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the UT School of Nursing, said winners were selected in each category by the MFA Student Affairs and Executive Committees.

TAWD plans Spring Blood Drive

The Texas Association of Women Dentists will hold a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28 in Room B-14 at the Dental Branch. To make an appointment to donate, visit www.giveblood.org, click on the "Make an Appointment" tab at the top left of the screen. After being redirected to a new page, click on "Find a Drive" button to the right of the screen and enter the sponsor code "UTDB." Click on Feb. 28 and sign up for a time slot to donate. You might have to add yourself as a donor if you have not donated through UTDB or TAWD in the past. Just follow the instructions on the site. For more information, contact Tiffany Tredway-Ransom.

The UCSC wants you!
(as a new recruit)

The University Classified Staff Council (UCSC) needs motivated, hard-working employees from the UT Dental Branch, the Medical School, the School of Health Information Sciences and from General Administration to join as full members. The UCSC bylaws require members to be full-time, classified employees who are beyond the probationary employment period. To nominate yourself or someone else — or for more information — contact Diane Brooks at 713-500-8457 or Diane.D.Brooks@uth.tmc.edu. The nomination deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28. Elections will be held during the week of March 3-7.

What is OKU?
National dental honor society encourages, recognizes excellence in dentistry

With a business meeting this month and an awards banquet coming up in April the Mu Mu Chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon National Dental Honor Society has been busy with decisions to make about honors for students, faculty and supporters of dentistry.

Jeryl English, D.D.S., professor and chair of the UT Dental Branch Department of Orthodontics, is currently president of the 50-member chapter.

As an honor society, OKU chooses its members carefully. Only 12 percent of the top 20 percent of the graduating class of dental students may be chosen annually. This year, seven students were selected. Candidates are selected on the basis of academic rank, integrity, leadership and their activities at the UT Dental Branch.

The society also chooses up to three faculty members to honor annually. Dentists and non-dentists may be invited to join as honorary members on the basis of outstanding work on behalf of the profession. This year, OKU plans to extend honorary membership to W. Ken Horwitz, D.D.S. of Houston, who has been guest speaker for the Dental Branch's White Coat Ceremony for dental students since its inception.

"We also select a student from the top three or four candidates in the third-year class to receive the Dr. William S. Kramer Award of Excellence," English said.

The Mu Mu Chapter normally meets twice a year for business, he added. The chapter also hosts the Scholarship Luncheon in the fall and the Annual Awards Convocation and Banquet in the spring. The awards banquet is planned for April 10 at Trevisio Restaurant in the Commons.

New members will be honored at the Awards Banquet. The top performing first-year students also will be recognized.

The keynote speaker for the banquet will be Fred Garrett, D.D.S., a clinical professor in the UTDB Department of Orthodontics. Later this year, Garrett is scheduled to receive the 2008 Dale B. Wade Award of Excellence in Orthodontics from the American Association of Orthodontics at an annual meeting in Denver, Colo.

"One of the things the Mu Mu Chapter does is to raise funds for scholarships for incoming first-year students," English said. "This year we gave 12 scholarships and plan to give 13 scholarships next year. We want to get students pointed in the right direction, toward academic success. Another main goal of the chapter is to encourage students to give back to the Dental Branch throughout their dental careers."

Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Honor Society was organized in 1914 by the faculty of Northwestern University Dental School to encourage and develop a spirit of emulation among students in dentistry and to recognize appropriately those who distinguish themselves through scholarship. The Mu Mu Chapter was established in 1940.

Trajtenberg to serve as reviewer for ADA's Evidence-Based Dentistry Section

The American Dental Association has invited Cynthia Trajtenberg, D.D.S., assistant professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials, to serve as a reviewer in the new section for evidence-based dentistry. Trajtenberg will work with other professors throughout the country in the evaluation of published scientific evidence on a particular topic to provide practical applications of scientific information.

Evidence-based clinical recommendations will be developed to assist dentists in clinical decision-making. The recommendations will be developed through comprehensive, best-available scientific evidence that will be assessed objectively and used to develop clinical recommendations based on current science.

Foosball in the basement
Third-year dental students (from left) Brian Oribello, Thai Le, Joseph Tan and Mark Grant trade the pressures of dental school for the pressures of foosball in the Student Lounge in the Dental Branch basement. The lounge was furnished by the UT Dental Branch Parents' Association.

The UTDBeflash! is a weekly publication produced by the UT Dental Branch at Houston. Send items for consideration to dbnewsdesk@uth.tmc.edu.