ScopeAROUND THE UNIVERSITY
Digital image display of a dark cadet blue colored pyramid shaped diagram illustrating a multi-step process for new tools targeting rural health; The base, the largest section, states - Conduct household surveys to define the depth and breadth of undiagnosed and untreated community members; The next level up reads - Implement household-level health solutions utilizing self-monitoring and participant feedback, using data to assess cancer screening needs. Track improvements over 6 to 12 months, and share bimonthly progress updates with the community through public forums; The third level up states - Track participants' self-monitoring progress and offer voluntary community health worker support, providing feedback on biomedical needs and adding access to mental health resources as needed; The top of the pyramid, the smallest section, reads - Identify community primary care needs; deliver via mobile clinics.
The Healthy Communities model begins at the community level, utilizing a client-centered approach and real-time data to impact health outcomes.

New Tools Target Rural Health

Many health issues are treatable and manageable if detected early. However, a lack of access to health care and routine health screenings in underserved areas is contributing to a widening gap in preventable deaths between rural and urban populations. To address this, TTUHSC established Healthy Communities in 2024, aiming to reduce chronic conditions, such as prediabetes, hypertension and obesity in rural populations. Deborah Birx, MD, TTUHSC presidential advisor, and Irum Zaidi, executive director of Healthy Communities, co-lead the program.

The program focuses on increasing awareness of personal health status and supporting behavior change through the use of self-monitoring tools. In August 2024, TTUHSC conducted a door-to-door baseline health survey in Crane, Texas, a town of approximately 3,300 residents located in Crane County, a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area.

Findings revealed that almost 60% of the people surveyed had elevated HbA1c levels (a measure of blood sugar), more than 60% had high blood pressure and nearly half had a body mass index (BMI) over 30. The National Institutes of Health categorizes a normal BMI as between 19 and 24. Most residents were unaware of their conditions; those who knew were struggling to access quality care.

The Healthy Communities Program is now returning to Crane, and over 18 months, will implement solutions including providing tools to individuals with elevated results to see their own data. If people can see real-time health trends, they can better understand how diet and activity impact their well-being and are more likely to make positive, lasting changes, Zaidi explains.

TTUHSC plans to conduct the survey again in two years to measure changes in health outcomes.

Three’s Company

For the third consecutive year, TTUHSC and its counterpart in the Texas Tech University System, TTUHSC El Paso, have been ranked by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Both were among the Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted Utility Patents for 2024, placing 75th. The academy’s list ranks institutions throughout the U.S. to highlight their roles in innovation advancement through secured intellectual property patents.

“Our sustained, three-year rise in the NAI rankings is clear evidence of the global impact of our scientists and supporting staff, including the Office of Research Commercialization team led by Cameron Smith, JD,” says Lance McMahon, PhD, TTUHSC’s executive vice president for research and innovation and interim dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

In the past year, the academy has also honored two TTUHSC faculty members: Nadia German, PhD, director of the Medicinal Chemistry Program at TTUHSC Amarillo Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, was inducted as a senior member; Hiranmoy Das, PhD, a pharmaceutical sciences professor, was selected as a Fellow (read more about Das here).

Portrait orientation photograph close-up view of a young woman in a light blue colored lab coat and bright blue colored gloves focused on her work in a laboratory, holding a pipette to transfer liquid into a small container
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