Yet, it’s in the messy middle that new ideas are born; new collaborations occur. The stories in this issue are a testament to that. In the middle of this mess, we know as the COVID-19 pandemic, the future of health care and TTUHSC is taking shape.

Our faculty and staff have delivered exceptional health care education online for many years. COVID-19 brought an opportunity for innovation in delivering virtual experiences in simulation and gross anatomy as well as other areas.

Through survey responses, we have learned a great deal about our magazine and how to produce the best product for the readership. If you wish to be involved in the process of what goes in your magazine, please make sure to respond to the survey.

As always, if you have a story idea, please submit it to pulse@ttuhsc.edu.

As COVID-19 continues to make history, TTUHSC students have stepped up to do their part. Cynthia Reinoso Webb, PhD, (Biomedical Sciences ’17) is the biological threat coordinator and general manager of the Texas Tech University Bioterrorism Response Laboratory (TTU BRL) at the Institute of Environmental and Human Health. She received inquiries about volunteering from over 50 TTUHSC students within the first few days of establishing a COVID-19 test processing site as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Laboratory Response Network. The TTU BRL was the first in the state to process COVID-19 tests.

Josue Enriquez was one of those 50 students. “It just seemed like the right thing to do,” said Enriquez, a PhD student in the Department of Immunology and Molecular Microbiology. He was one of the first students to volunteer to help in the TTU BRL. He works for seven to nine hours screening test samples until the next round of volunteers come in. The lab processes samples seven days a week.

The TTU BRL serves Lubbock County and 66 others in the region as a reference laboratory for biological threats and emerging diseases. COVID-19 test results are provided within 24 hours. After swab samples are submitted to the lab from hospitals and clinics, they are processed and analyzed for traces of the coronavirus using the CDC real-time RT-PCR test. The results are then interpreted by highly trained personnel and reported to federal, state, regional and local health agencies.

As of press time, the TTU/TTUHSC COVID-19 testing team can process over 350 samples each day. More than 5,000 samples have been tested so far. – Caroline Wahl

wo years ago, Tobi Saliu walked into her medical school interview at TTUHSC not sure what to expect.

West Texas was unfamiliar to this Dallasite, but she was open to exploring new possibilities. Her determination to find the right place resulted in interviews at multiple medical schools. This due diligence led Saliu to Lubbock and eating breakfast with then TTUHSC President Tedd L. Mitchell, MD.

This is weird, she thought. I didn’t even approach the deans at the other medical schools, and here the president not only greeted every candidate, I’m eating breakfast with him.

This campus had a vibe she couldn’t quite place, but it felt like home.

In her first interview, Saliu listened to Mimi Zumwalt, MD, (Resident ‘96) professor in the School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, introduce her to a fourth-year medical student. “I didn’t have to say anything,” Saliu added. “She knew my whole story.” The interview itself was a personable conversation about hobbies and interests as much as it was academics.

Her second interview went much the same way as Saliu found herself discussing her favorite food with Shaughn Nunez, MD, (Resident ’14; Medicine ’11) assistant professor in the School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. While Saliu’s qualifications were meticulously reviewed, she never felt the stress that had accompanied her to other medical school interviews.

She’s not the only one. Many students report a family-friendly atmosphere when they walk on campus for the first time. At all five campuses, TTUHSC connects first — it’s the principle cultivated from the very beginning of employment or academic acceptance.

That connection just grew stronger as the COVID-19 pandemic moved closer to home.

’m not trying to complain or make excuses, I hate that I even have to ask, but I’m not able to make the deadline on this assignment,” Kenny Lam wrote in an email to Tammy Scott late one night in March. “I’ve just got a lot going on and am a little stressed out. I hate to do this, but I’m requesting an extension if possible.”

As Scott, PhD, RN, BC, assistant professor in the School of Nursing, reads Lam’s email, the words written aren’t necessarily alarming, but the tone seems off. She’s board-certified in psychiatric mental health and feels the need to reach out, even though it would be easier to just reply to the email and grant the extension. She requests a phone call and Lam, a student in the RN to BSN program, calls her immediately.

Scott learned he was working 50-plus hours a week in the medical intensive care unit caring for COVID-19 patients at UMC Health System in Lubbock.

ive hours by car separates the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex from Lubbock, Texas. In terms of significant health care settings, it’s a next-door neighbor. So, when the first case of Ebola was diagnosed in September 2014 — in Dallas — that was a little too close to home for Steph Hoelscher, DNP, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS (Nursing ’19, ’15, ’95).

At the time, she was the chief clinical analyst for the School of Medicine Office of Clinical Transformation. Steph managed the electronic health records (EHR) system for the TTUHSC medical clinics.

That could have easily been us, Steph thought.

The case brought scrutiny from the public and the health care community. How could the hospital have admitted a man from Liberia twice within three days without diagnosing him with the deadly Ebola virus? The man died two weeks later, and subsequent contact tracing later revealed numerous exposures before the diagnosis, including two nurses in direct contact who became infected but fully recovered.

Nursing Graduate: 2019

Stetson Smitherman, BSN, RN, took quite the journey in searching for his dream job. A job where he could help others and make a difference in the world. Teaching, event planning and working for a nonprofit organization were all jobs that Smitherman enjoyed, but none of them really fulfilled his ultimate goal. He had always been inspired by nurses but intimidated by nursing school. Smitherman decided to “take a leap of faith” and attend TTUHSC nursing school where he discovered a career that would achieve his dreams.

Graduate: 1985

After treatment for a knee injury she suffered as a high school cheerleader, Cassie Lackey, PT, ATC-r, CPT, knew she wanted to become a physical therapist. Lackey said she should have been able to fully recover from her injury. “Improper exercises and techniques during therapy caused permanent damage to my knee,” she added. Lackey never cheered again and still struggles with knee problems to this day.

In Room 150 of the Academic Classroom Building, a larger than life portrait of Lorenz “Laurie” Lutherer, MD, PhD, (Medicine ’77) rests next to the lectern. You could almost hear his boisterous laugh as fond memories of him were shared by those who called him colleague, mentor and friend.

Lutherer died Feb. 5, 2020. He joined the School of Medicine in 1972 as a founding faculty member to teach physiology and concurrently pursued his medical degree, with many of his students becoming his classmates. He worked as passionately at developing governance and representation for the faculty as he did in teaching. Luther began a second career at TTUHSC in 2010 as the founding director of the Clinical Research Institute and served as its executive director until his retirement in 2017.