Mega Doctor News
It took a long time for South Texas to attract professionals in medicine of any kind. For decades, it became a stagnate situation and felt that no one was putting an effort to change the status quo hurting the entire Valley population.
Patients and their families had to travel miles to the north to consult with a specialist, and often times hospitalized in Houston, Dallas or other cities outside the state of Texas.
Even though the situation has changed for the better, there is still lots of work to be done.
I would say that in the last ten years, I have seen a real change in the medical field. We have physicians from all over the world moving to south Texas to fill a void, providing diagnose and care for the local population.
Today, I am proud to have met Dr. Daniel Romanelli, a board-certified physician in both Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, treating everything from tendon and labral tears in shoulders to ACL, meniscus and cartilage injuries in your knees.
His dual certification enables him to assess, diagnose, and treat to heal musculoskeletal conditions with such complexity as a shoulder and knee injury. “I do arthroscopic reconstructions of shoulders and knees mainly, but I work on any sports injury to include elbow, hand, ankle, and foot,” he said.
In this issue, get to know him better, he is a unique physician that you can talk to. He is what I call a down to earth human in medicine. I welcome him to the Valley, please do the same.
Pancreatic Cancer in Remission! Whaaat! Yes, these indeed great news. I was watching Maria Bartiromo, the TV host in the morning for FOX Business news. She interviewed Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who stated that his pancreatic cancer is in remission after an experimental treatment aimed at helping his immune system fight the disease.
During the same show, Bartiromo interviewed biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who invented the drug Abraxane, which is used to treat pancreatic and some other forms of cancer.
Reid said he has received an experimental therapy from Soon-Shiong on a “compassionate use” basis usually reserved for people who have run out of options and are willing to take a chance on an unproven treatment. This sounds and looks very promising.
MORE GOOD NEWS: For over a month, DHR Health patient, Matias Rios, 51, battled a life-threatening COVID-19 infection while admitted in the Serious Infectious Disease Unit (SIDU). Upon arrival to DHR Health, he presented with bilateral pneumonia and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. After being placed on a ventilator for two weeks with minimal improvement, a consent was obtained from his authorized guardian, allowing Mr. Rios to receive transfusion of Convalescent Plasma. More in this issue.
More good news: Valley Baptist Health System announced that the successful implementation of COVID-19 SAFETY STANDARDS at its facilities will permit certain loosening of visitation at its facilities. More in this issue.
On another area, the University of Texas System Board of Regents has approved a degree proposal for a doctorate in Human Genetics at the UTRGV School of Medicine.
The next step is for the Board of Regents to submit the proposal to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for review of criteria and appropriate action by fall. If approved, the doctoral program will admit seven students per cohort starting fall 2021. Complete story inside this issue.
Enjoy!
