The annual Compassion and the Art of Medicine lecture series is under way. It is sponsored by the department of family and community medicine with additional support from the Alan Lambert Family Medicine Endowment.  The series is directed by Dr. Kenya Steele, associate professor of family and community medicine. Lectures are open to the BCM community. All presentations begin at 12:10 p.m.

Sept. 12

“Community Driven Health Care”

Dr. Sherri Onyiego

Kleberg Auditorium

Onyiego is an assistant professor in Baylor’s department of family and community medicine. She currently serves as the medical director and serves on the board of directors at San Jose Clinic, a community health center for the underserved. She also provides medical services at the Thomas Street Health Center, a freestanding comprehensive HIV/AIDS clinic, where she serves as a preceptor to medical students, residents and nurse practitioners. Screening HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C in at-risk populations are major interests for Onyiego as well as the integrated multidisciplinary team treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Onyiego and her husband, Leonid, a native of Kenya, recently formed a nonprofit organization called MAJI 4 Life (“maji” means water in Kiswahili), which provides clean water to resource limited areas in Kenya.

Sept. 19

“Practicing Medicine With a Disability”

Dr. Sally Holmes

Cullen Auditorium

Holmes is an associate professor in Baylor’s department of physical medicine and rehabilitation. She is the Spinal Cord Injury Care Line executive at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and program director for the BCM SCI Fellowship. She also serves on the BCM Medical Student Admissions Committee. She has a rare congenital muscle disorder and will describe her experiences as a patient, medical student, resident and practicing physician with a disability.

Oct. 10

“Jackson Can Walk”

Leon Pierce and Dr. Torri Pierce

Kleberg Auditorium

Jackson Wesley Pierce was born Feb. 26, 2010, with an extremely rare birth defect known as Tibial Hemimelia. At that time many doctors believed that Jackson would not crawl or walk without both legs being amputated and fit for prosthetics. After about a year he defied one odd by teaching himself to crawl, and now he is defying the odds by walking with his own legs. Jackson’s parents, Leon Pierce and Dr. Torri Pierce, will speak about Jackson’s determination and extraordinary journey.

Oct. 17

“9 Millimeter”

Dr. Richard Lyn-Cook

Cullen Auditorium

Lyn-Cook is an assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine at Baylor. He is board certified in both internal medicine and pediatrics and is the current medical director of the School Based Clinics and Troubleshooters Mobile Program of the Harris Health System. He serves on the board of the Children’s Health Fund and is involved in the implementation of the Patient Centered Medical Home initiative for Harris County Hospital District.

Oct. 24

“Global Health Collaborations to Improve Health Outcomes and Promote Understanding”

Dr. David Hilmers

Cullen Auditorium

Dr. Hilmers is an associate professor in the departments of internal medicine and pediatrics at Baylor. In addition to teaching medical students and residents, his clinical pursuits have included international HIV, pediatrics special needs, emergency medicine, tropical medicine, international nutrition and inpatient internal medicine. His research interests in nutrition include micronutrient deficiencies, food fortification programs, metabolic syndrome, and the influence of malnutrition on diseases such as HIV, malaria, and rickets. He has worked with a number of international research agencies and devotes a great deal of his time to international and local volunteer service and disaster relief. Prior to going to medical school he was a Marine Corps colonel, aviator and electrical engineer, and served as a NASA astronaut on four space shuttle missions, including the first mission after the Challenger accident.

Nov. 7:

“The Street Level Prostitute: No Pretty Woman Here”

Dr. Andrea Link

Cullen Auditorium

Link, a clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine, worked as a pediatrician with Texas Children’s Hospital for several years before shifting her clinical interests and spending three years on the Jail Inreach Project with Healthcare for the Homeless Houston, where she worked with incarcerated women at the Harris County Jail.

From her experiences working with these women, she developed “Healthy and Whole” an innovative and multi-modal program to help women recovering from prostitution and human trafficking. The program, a collaboration between Healthcare for the Homeless Houston and Angela House, features wellness, health education, healing through the arts, peer support, employment counseling and psycho-educational programming. A unique feature of “Healthy and Whole” is the use of medical, pharmacy and social work students to provide many of the services. Link also researches the psychosocial and medical issues involved in street-level prostitution.

Nov. 14

Dr. Nathaniel Comfort

Cullen Auditorium

Co-sponsored with the department of molecular and human genetics

Comfort is an historian specializing in the history of biology. He has worked as a professor at the Institute of the History of Medicine at John Hopkins University and in the history department at George Washington University. He is interested in heredity and health in 20th century America. His recent book The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes became the Heart of American Medicine, examines the growth an evolution of medical genetics. He has written two additional books and has authored multiple presentations on the history of medicine and genetics.