IQuESt

This is IQuESt!
We are proud to be the largest Health Services Research Center in the Southwest USA. IQuESt is the home to 200 faculty, post-doctoral fellows, trainees, and research staff in the Texas Medical Center. We are a combined Baylor College of Medicine Section in the Department of Medicine and a VA Health Systems Research Center of Innovation (the latter funded by a center grant from the VA).

On April 9–11, several IQuESt faculty attended the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, contributing to national conversations on advancing mental health care.

⭐ Darius B. Dawson, Ph.D. presented a poster titled "The Role of Barriers to Accessing Care in Longitudinal Anxiety Symptom Presentation"
⭐ Alexandra Caloudas, PhD presented a symposium titled "Leveraging Technology to Transform Mental Health Care for Veterans: Innovations in Depression, Suicide, and Anxiety"
⭐ Ynhi Thomas, MD, MPH, MSc, presented a poster titled "Short-Term Lithium Modulates Cortical Excitation-Inhibition Balance in Survivors of Medically Severe Suicide Attempts"

In addition, Dr. Thomas was recognized as a recipient of the 2026 Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Program (CDLP), Research Track Award.

On April 15th, our Administrative and Operations team had the opportunity to represent Baylor College of Medicine Department of Medicine, section Health Services Research while serving at the Gulf Coast Community Services Association, Inc. Food Pantry.🤝🛒🍞🍎

Our team supported a variety of roles to help ensure a smooth and welcoming experience for community members, including stocking shelves, pre-bagging items, greeting customers, and assisting individuals throughout their shopping experience.

We are grateful for the opportunity to give back and support an organization that plays such an important role in serving the Houston community.

On March 25th, IQuESt hosted our annual Spring Fling, complete with a festive egg hunt for the team and special mystery egg prizes! Events like these remind the team how important community, connection, and laughter are in the workplace.

#officeculture #researchadministration #veteranresearch #springtime

On February 25, The Periwinkle Foundation joined IQuESt for Crayon Club. Team members spent the afternoon creating colorful, letter-shaped crayons that will be shared with pediatric patients at Texas Children's Hospital Cancer Center and writing postcards to Periwinkle’s Making A Mark® artists, sharing words of encouragement. It was a meaningful afternoon of service, creativity, and connection in support of children and families served by Periwinkle. 🎗️💜🎨🖍️

Crayon Club is an ongoing initiative of Periwinkle’s Arts In Medicine Program, designed to bring creativity and joy to children receiving treatment through fun, unique crayon kits that brighten the hospital experience.