want to help others; teammates

need to feel comfortable

enough to provide feedback to

the other members and the

leader.

Thinking like a team is the founda-

tion for success and every leader

needs to be prepared to not only

lead but also

be a team

member. At

ASFHG the

Fellows are

developing

skills to do

both though

their individual

projects, group activities, group

projects and preparing for future

collaborations. Without great

teamwork, strong collaborations,

and interdisciplinary partnerships

the social and human services sec-

tor will not be able to provide the

ever growing need for service and

service providers. .

To learn more about the impor-

tance of and tips to better team-

work click here.

Jennifer Cook, ASFHG Staff

The Chill Spot ASFHG Project:

Raghu Puttagunta & Lisa Thoyaku-

lathu

Thinking like a team is criti-

cal for long term staying-

power in an organization.

Even turn over will not set

back a strong team with the

same vision. Thinking like a

team includes high trust, com-

mitment, and accountability

to each

other’s suc-

cess and the

success of

the team.

One of the

biggest

problems

that manag-

ers and team leaders face is

finding team players. People

that can not only perform the

skills needed but also fit in

with the culture of the work-

place and team. In Jim

Collin’s book, “Good to

Great,” he argues that great

leaders understand three sim-

ple truths:

If you begin with “who”

rather than “what,” you

can more easily adapt to

a changing world.

If you have the right peo-

ple, the problem of how

to motivate and manage

people largely goes away.

If you have the wrong

people, it doesn’t matter

whether you discover the

right direction. You still

won’t have a great com-

pany.

At ASFHG we look at team-

work in many different ways.

The Fellows act and work as a

team throughout the Fellow-

ship year, so they learn and

develop skills in the process:

interdisciplinary communica-

tion and the value of other

perspectives. They also

work with their project teams

that include project partners,

mentors, clients, community

members, etc. Here they

really see the importance of

including all stakeholders at

the table and that everyone’s

dedication is important for

success. We also focus a lot

on leadership. Leading a

team is being part of that

team. A weak leader will not

have a strong team.

Thinking in the future at the

various leadership positions

ASFHG Fellows will hold

what are things they need to

keep in mind?

Teammates need to have

harmonious skills. As

the leader one needs to be

able to recognize team

members’ and their own

strengths and weaknesses

All teammates need to be

committed to the mission

Everyone needs to agree

upon the components of

the project

All members need to hold

each other accountable.

To feel like a team, it’s

not enough to simply

Think Like a Team Act Like a Team

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Teamwork 1

Meet the Fellows 2

Dr. Kushner 2

Meet the Board 3

Star of the South 3

Save the Dates and

Donate

4

Albert Schweitzer Fellowship—

Houston Galveston F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 7 V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 2

ASFHG Board of Directors

David S. Buck, MD, MPH

Board Chair

Carlie Brown, MPH

Healthcare for the Homeless –

Houston

R. Andrew Harper, MD

Medical Director, UT Health Science

Center

Harris County Psychiatric Center

David Kahne, JD

Private Law Firm

Robert Sanborn, Ed.D

Executive Director, Children at Risk

Linda K. May

Executive Director, The Simmons

Foundation

Jean Raphael, MD, MPH*

Baylor College of Medicine

David Savage*

UT Medical School

Andrea Link, MD

Healthcare for the Homeless—

Houston

Alexandra Nolen, PhD, MPH

Director of the Center to Eliminate

Health Disparities, UTMB

Ben Chandler, MS, CPA

Occidental Petroleum Corporation

David J. Dilger

John L. Wortham & Son, L.P.

Roger Zoorob, MD, MPH

Baylor College of Medicine

* Fellow For Life

P A G E 2

“The greatest thing is to

give thanks for

everything. He who has

learned this knows what

it means to live. He has

penetrated the whole

mystery of life: giving

thanks for everything

”—Albert Schweitzer

Jaden Schupp

Dr. Kushner @ TCH Dr. Jake Kushner is leading the

efforts in Diabetes and Endocri-

nology at Texas Children's Hos-

pital. Dr. Kushner is a McNair

Medical Institute Scholar at the

Baylor College of Medicine. As

the Chief of Pediatric Diabetes

and Endocrinology at Baylor

College of Medicine, he is a ma-

jor thought leader in type 1 dia-

betes care and research. His

overarching career goal is to help

children and young adults with

diabetes and other endocrine

disorders live long, healthy lives.

His administrative priorities fo-

cus upon developing and pro-

moting innovative new models

of patient-centered care, educa-

tion, and cutting edge re-

search.

Dr. Kushner's research is fo-

cused upon of the insulin-

secreting beta cells of the

pancreas. A major theme of

the Kushner lab includes

studies to understand the ori-

gins of adult beta cell growth

and regeneration. Until re-

cently it was not clear exactly

where adult beta cells came

from during postnatal life. Dr.

Kushner and colleagues have

carried out studies in adult

mice with a variety of ad-

vanced tools. In contrast to

the dominant views, they do

not observe any contribution

to beta cell growth in adult

mice from "tissue stem cells".

Instead, they find that beta

cells expand by simple divi-

sion "self-renewal". Dr.

Kushner and colleagues are

currently extending this work,

with the goal of studying beta

cell regeneration under a vari-

ety of normal and disease con-

ditions.

Thus, reproductive health edu-

cation and promoting tight glu-

cose control during the repro-

ductive years is imperative for

helping these vulnerable women

& their children live a healthy

life.

The state of Texas has the 3rd

highest rate of teen pregnancy

and the 3rd highest rate of teen

births in the United States. The

exact incidence of pregnancy

among all adolescents with dia-

betes is unknown, but the pro-

portion of those pregnancies that

are unplanned is likely very

high, which puts Texas teens

with diabetes at risk of serious

complications of unplanned

pregnancy.

My Albert Schweitzer Fellow-

ship project grew out of the

need to provide reproductive

health education for adolescent

girls with diabetes – this was

currently a vast unmet need in

this population. In collaboration

with the Texas Children’s Hos-

pital Diabetes & Endocrinology

clinic, I am piloting an interven-

tion supported by the American

Diabetes Association called

READY-Girls, which provides

reproductive health education to

Nearly two-thirds

of pregnancies in

all women with

diabetes are un-

planned. During

a pregnancy with

pre-existing dia-

betes, both the

mother and the

baby are at a

profound risk for a variety of

adverse outcomes. The mother

is at an increased risk for hy-

poglycemia, high blood pres-

sure, pre-eclampsia, diabetic

ketoacidosis, urinary tract in-

fections, and accelerated reti-

nopathy, neuropathy, & neph-

ropathy. The fetus is at in-

creased risk for major congeni-

tal abnormalities (including

neural tube defects and con-

genital heart disease), sudden

death in utero, preterm birth,

and macrosomia (large size at

birth). The severity of compli-

cations is proportional to the

mother’s glucose control, and

the majority of congenital

anomalies occur during fetal

organ development before the

8th week of pregnancy, which

is often before the woman

even knows she is pregnant.

girls with diabetes. Using the

ADA READY-Girls booklet,

we discuss the basics of pu-

berty & pregnancy, and how

these are impacted by diabe-

tes, as well as the importance

of pre-conception counseling

(planning and preparing for

pregnancy with one’s health-

care team) and pregnancy

prevention. The discussions

occur with one adolescent &

her parent. The girls and

their parents have had many

questions and have expressed

gratitude for the education,

stating that they feel more

prepared for a lifetime of

living healthily with their

diabetes & more positive

about having healthy children

in the future. We are cur-

rently working on developing

ways to incorporate this edu-

cation as a part of the regular

clinical care for all adolescent

girls with diabetes who re-

ceive care at Texas Chil-

dren’s.

- Jaden Schupp, MS2 Baylor

College of Medicine, 2014-

2015 ASF Fellow

H O U S T O N - G A L V E S T O N

Meet the Board– Dr. Andrea Link

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 2

Dr. Andrea Link did her medical training

and residency in pediatrics at Stanford

University School of Medicine. After sev-

eral years as a pediatrician with Texas

Children's Hospital, she had a shift in her

clinical interests and spent three years

working with incarcerated women at Harris

County Jail as part of Healthcare for the

Homeless Houston’s Jail Inreach Program.

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, which is a collaboration between

Healthcare for the Homeless Houston

and Angela House, was started as a

pilot in January of 2013. The program

features wellness, health education,

healing through the arts, peer support,

employment counseling and psycho-

educational programming. It is the

first program in the country for

women exiting prostitution that was

developed as a partnership between a

medical school-affiliated homeless

clinic and an existing residential pro-

gram.

Dr. Link also researches the psychoso-

cial and medical issues involved in

street-level prostitution, and is a

Clinical Assistant Professor of

Family and Community Medicine

at the Baylor College of Medicine.

Star of the South—Brittany & Alejandro

2014/15 Fellows, Brittany Gillard and

Alejandro Barrera, presented their

ASFHG Project with Bering Omega

Dental Clinic at the 2015 Star of the

South dental exhibition. Not only did

they present their project, but they

were nominated for and subse-

quently awarded the award for Eth-

ics and Professionalism at the 2015

Star of the South Dental Meeting .

We are very proud of both of them

and agree that they both could not

be better examples of servant lead-

ers with strong ethics and a passion

for service. UT Dental, ASFHG,

and the dental profession are lucky

to have such dedicated young pro-

fessionals.

Congratulations Brittany and

Alejandro!!

For more information of Brittany

and Alex’s project.

ALBERT SCHWEITZER FELLOWSHIP—HOUSTON GALVESTON

The mission of ASF is improving the health of vulnerable people

now and for the future by developing a corps of Leaders in

Service—professionals skilled in creating positive change with

and in our communities, our health and human service systems,

and our world.

ASFHG has four overall goals:

Develop Leaders in Service who are educated, experienced, and committed to

addressing unmet health needs;

Improve community health by providing direct service to individuals and

strengthening the capacity of community-based organizations;

Expand educational opportunities in partnering schools while raising awareness

of the needs of underserved communities; and

Maintain a growing and vibrant community of Schweitzer Fellowship alumni

(Fellows for Life) committed to lives of service.

You can contact Jennifer Cook, Director for more information at

Jennifer.cook@schweitzerfellowship.org

H O U S T O N - G A L V E S T O N

Save the Dates: Fellows Meeting, March 8, 2015 1pm

Healthcare for the Homeless, Heart and Harmony, February 26

6pm

FFL Reconnect, Punks Simple Southern Food, 5:30 pm Look for other events and volunteer

opportunities on Facebook and email

announcements

ASFHG Funders

The Simmons Foundation

University of Texas—Health

Science Center

Frees Foundation

Houston Endowment

University of Houston—Graduate College of Social Work & The

Law Center

Rice University

Texas Children’s Hospital

Baylor College of Medicine

To give to ASFHG using

PayPal please follow this

link:

Make sure you choose the

Houston-Galveston tab or

mail a check to the ad-

dress below.

Albert Schweitzer Fellowship—

Houston Galveston 3701 Kirby Dr.

Suite 600

Houston, TX 77098

Thank you to all of our

P A G E 4 Edited by: Jennifer Cook