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Separated by the glass barrier of the neonatal incubator, Aisha Atkinson watched over her newborn son, Aries, longing to hold him, to touch him, to love him. Entangled by tubes and wires, he fought for his life while an orchestra of machines whirred in the background.
The thought of a surgeon cutting into your child’s brain is enough to send any parent spiraling. Tawny McAnally knows the feeling all too well. Her daughter, Morgan Layton, was diagnosed at age 13 with intractable epilepsy, a neurological disorder causing seizures that cannot be managed using medication.
A developing brain holds extraordinary untapped potential—neural networks and pathways form rapidly as children grow and experience the world around them. For victims of neonatal arterial ischemic stroke, a condition that occurs when an infant’s brain loses blood supply, this plasticity offers profound benefits.
Chelsea Wehr, DDS, asked herself the same question that has sparked scientific progress throughout the ages: Is there a better way? With all the new developments in digital dentistry, she knew there had to be a better way to of correct cleft lip and palate in newborns.
Young people often bounce from one idea to another as they consider their career aspirations. But for Anita Khetan, MD ’95, the answer was always simple: doctor.
The headlines scroll endlessly across our screens as digital trackers race to keep pace with COVID-19 cases and deaths. But in the wake of this turbulent health crisis, some of the most vulnerable members of our community are fighting a concurrent economic pandemic with enormous stakes: falling behind financially and facing a deadly disease.
For children, poor oral health can spark harmful consequences that may affect the entire course of their lives—from pain that impairs concentration in school to discolored teeth that might impact their confidence.
As quarantines and lockdowns rippled through our communities at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shreela V. Sharma, PhD, RD, recognized an opportunity to help families address mounting health and social needs through Brighter Bites, a nonprofit organization she cofounded in 2012. With help from School of Public Health students, they are compiling resources to ensure families have access to the help they need.
When COVID-19 cases began spiking in early 2020, Liz De Macedo, RN, stood alongside her fellow nurses to care for the critically ill patients inundating Houston hospitals. She put off her routine health care so she could continue providing care for her patients. In September, she managed to squeeze in an appointment with her gynecologist. What started out as a routine exam turned upside down when her physician found a lump in Liz’s breast.
Micaela Sandoval’s passion for science took root at an early age, fostered by summers volunteering at the zoo and days dreaming of working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, Tristen Tellman nurtured birthday wishes for chemistry sets and microscopes so she could explore her world.
If you had to pick a superhero to describe your path in dentistry, which superhero would you choose? Peggy O’Neill, PhD ’74, DDS ’90, contemplated the seemingly odd question. Then an answer came to mind—one that would honor her fellow panelists and other women in oral health care.
As Victoria Q. Cisneros, DDS, balanced classes, labs, and clinics with family life, the women of UTHealth School of Dentistry proved themselves to be much more than classmates and faculty members.
The grocery store poses a familiar challenge to parents of young children. Aisles of unhealthy food sit right at a child’s eye level, dazzling them with eye-catching packaging and promises of sugar-filled delights. With such readily available junk food and decreased activity levels across the United States, children as young as one face the rising threat of obesity.
Between day care closures and social distancing measures, children’s lives have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. But if there is a silver lining for parents during this health crisis, it is that children seem to be less susceptible to the most dangerous effects of the virus.
School has looked a little different over the past year. As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, living rooms quickly turned into classrooms, and parents transformed into teacher aides. For our youngest learners in their formative years, transitioning from learning in the classroom to learning at home can be difficult. Faculty and staff at the Children’s Learning Institute at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth have made it their mission to help teachers and families navigate this arduous terrain as they nurture these promising seedlings.