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UTHSCSA
DEAN’S MESSAGE

Continued from page 31 taking place within our various programs, responses range from sur-
prise to astonishment that such developments are underway here in
recently reported in the journal Brain by Steenwijk2, a discovery San Antonio. The BrainMap is an excellent example of that. It’s also
substantiated in an as-yet-unpublished study by a medical student, yet another illustration of how faculty and facilities within the
who confirmed the cortical atrophy pattern using BrainMap and ex- School are shaping and advancing the world’s collective medical
tended this to identify the network connectivity patterns and be- knowledge.
havioral functions of these regions. These findings are being followed
up with clinical analyses by Dr. Rebecca Romero, a faculty member Francisco González-Scarano Dean, School of Med-
in the SOM Department of Neurology. icine Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs Uni-
versity of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio
The database is so accessible and efficient that it is used not only John P. Howe, III, MD, Distinguished Chair in
by senior neuroscientists, mathematicians and statisticians, but also Health Policy Professor of Neurology.
by students. For example, German medical school students are ex-
pected to conduct research projects. As a result, that country has the References:
most published papers using BrainMap meta-analysis. Goodkind et al., JAMA Psychiatry 72(4): 305-315 2015.
Cortical atrophy patterns in MS are non-random and clinically
While BrainMap is used by researchers across the globe, it is also
driving newly emerging treatments here at home. Led by Fox, re- relevant. Steenwijk et al., Brain 139:115-126 (2016)
searchers from the School are now creating partnerships with private
caregivers in San Antonio to roll out neuromodulatory treatments,
a development in its early stages that will continue to grow.

In the course of informing others of the research and advances

32 San Antonio Medicine • July 2016