Mayfield honors physician father with $2.7M gift to Medical School

UT Health Science Center Development Board member Jack Mayfield Jr. wanted to find an appropriate way to honor the memory of his late physician father and namesake, Jack H. Mayfield, M.D.

Deciding that named endowments were the best way to create an enduring legacy, Mayfield and his wife, Susan, established a charitable lead trust and funded it with common stock in Riverway Bank of Houston in 1996. The gift was designed to create interest income for the couple during their lifetimes and fund several endowments upon their deaths. After two bank mergers, the market value of the stock grew to more than $2.7 million.

“After the assets of the charitable lead trust had experienced considerable appreciation, my wife, Susan, and I elected to terminate our future interest and distribute the proceeds to the Surgical Department of the Medical School during our lifetime,” Mayfield said.

The gift will establish the Jack H. Mayfield, M.D., Distinguished University Chair in Surgery; the Jack H. Mayfield, M.D., Chair in Surgery; and the Jack H. Mayfield, M.D., Distinguished Professorship in Surgery in the UT Medical School at Houston.

“Jack Mayfield and his family are major supporters of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston,” said President James T. Willerson, M.D. “We are deeply indebted to them for their generosity, their support of medical education and discovery, and their far-sighted vision.”

Jack Mayfield said that he and his wife chose the Medical School for their generosity because, “Inasmuch as my late father was an active participant in medical affairs and activities surrounding the early development of the Texas Medical Center, it seemed natural to me that endowments arising from this trust commemorate his devotion to the advancement of medical arts and sciences at the health science center and in the Texas Medical Center.”

The endowment agreement stipulates that the Distinguished University Chair be held by the chairperson of the Department of Surgery; therefore, Richard J. Andrassy, M.D., will be appointed the first holder of the endowed position.

“Jack Mayfield is one of the nicest and most down-to-earth people you will meet,” Andrassy said. “He has always been a true gentleman to be around. I truly mean it, and I have told him, I can’t thank him enough for his support and kindness, as well as his generosity.”

Andrassy said the three endowments will supplement research that, in turn, can attract grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He also noted that endowments allow faculty more freedom to not only teach but learn as well.

-W. Mohon  

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Dunn Research Foundation grant promotes children’s mental health

Recognizing the need for the promotion of collaborative efforts among children’s and adolescents’ mental health care providers, the John S. Dunn Research Foundation has announced a $115,000 grant to the UT Harris County Psychiatric Center (HCPC) to build a Mental Health Collaborative for Children and Adolescents in Harris County.

The funds will be used to identify the community agencies and service providers within the South Region of the Houston Independent School District, an area serving more than 25,000 pre-school through high school age students. The purpose is to eliminate decentralization of services so that each community service provider has a clear understanding of and commitment to each other’s roles and responsibilities with regards to providing for children’s mental health needs.

“While a number of local community and health care agencies have mental or behavioral health care programs and projects in the Houston area, there is a fragmentation in terms of understanding what programs are available in specific neighborhoods,” said Lois Moore, HCPC chief administrator. “The purpose of this grant is to maximize the services available to children and adolescents in the Houston area by identifying models of care and building a collaboration of identification and treatment services available to children in need of mental or behavioral health care.”

Steve Dunn, president of the John S. Dunn Research Foundation, and Dunn Research Foundation board member Dan Wilford, former president and CEO of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, presented the check to Moore.

“The Dunn Foundation prides itself on bringing together collaborations in order to focus on and provide for better community services,” Dunn said.

Moore said the funds will do more than identify agencies already providing mental health services for children.

“Additionally, we will attempt to identify the gaps in services and the barriers to the access to care that already exist. This will allow us to hopefully promote an interagency system of care model and develop a long-term strategic plan for the identification and treatment of children who need mental health services,” she explained.

“This grant provides HCPC an opportunity to continue our outreach efforts in the community and will allow us to work toward helping the mental health community provide for a continuum of mental health clinical services and education for children, adolescents, and families residing in Houston/Harris County,” added HCPC Executive Director Dr. Robert Guynn, who also is professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

-G. Konigsberg

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Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology celebrate summer

The Departments of Pediatrics and Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences celebrated summer last week with an outdoor picnic on Webber Plaza. These two departments had been getting ready for summer during the preceding weeks with a door decorating contest – bringing the fun of summer activities to the third floor of the Medical School halls.

“This was the first time we’ve had a summer door decorating contest,” said Joannie Miller, administrative services officer, departments of ob/gyn and pediatrics. “We recently formed an activities committee to facilitate employee appreciation,- and this was one of our first events.”

Doors could be decorated by individuals or by teams up to three. Because these departments have employees officed off-site, from LBJ Hospital to UCT and the UT Professional Building, Miller said employees were allowed to “adopt” a door on the third floor for decorating purposes.

“We wanted all of the decorated doors in one place,” she said. “And we were pleased with the participation – we had 14 entries.”

The first prize winner was a drive-in “Shrek the Third” movie theme, complete with twinkling stars and a concession stand, created by Beverly Harris, Patti Tate, and Georgia McDavid, from Pediatric’s Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine.

Second place was a tiki aloha theme, including bathing suits and torches, decorated by Dana Dusek and Krystal Garcia, from oOb/gGyn.

Check out the doors before summer slips away!

-D. Brown

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