Prism Health North Texas will be one of the largest US sites for IMPOWER 22, a study for a new form of PrEP medication designed for women and transgender men. In collaboration with Merck and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the study will have large numbers of participants in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and girls are at extremely high risk of contracting HIV. 

While there are currently two PrEP drugs on the market (Truvada and Descovy), Descovy has not been studied in large-scale clinical trials in women or transgender men, limiting them to one option for a pre-exposure prophylaxis treatment. The medication, islatravir, is a once-monthly oral tablet. Through funding provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this study will focus on women and adolescent girls at high risk for acquiring HIV. The study was designed with the goal of ending the global HIV epidemic in mind. The women of sub-Saharan Africa specifically are an important target for new and improved drugs for PrEP as more than half of new HIV diagnoses in the world originate in this region. While the study will have a significant percentage of participants who are women in sub-Saharan Africa, Dallas-based PHNTX will be one of the largest sites testing participants in the United States.  

“PHNTX serves a large population of women who are either living with HIV or are at risk for acquiring HIV,” said Katie Mulosia, LMSW and senior clinical research study coordinator at PHNTX. “Our research unit has been very involved with the studies that have led to the approval of current options for HIV prevention, but many of these options have focused on prevention efforts in men.”

Prism Health North Texas hopes to empower North Texas women to make decisions regarding their health, contribute to scientific discovery, and to help end the HIV epidemic through participation in the study.

So, who can participate? 

Cisgender women aged 18-45 who do not have HIV, have been sexually active with at least one male partner in the past 30 days, are not in a mutually monogamous relationship with a recently tested HIV-negative partner, and meet at least one of the following criteria are candidates for this study:

• Infrequent use of condoms during sex with one or more partners of unknown HIV status who are bisexual men or men who use intraveneous drugs.

• In an ongoing sexual relationship with an HIV-positive partner.

• Diagnosed with syphilis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia in the past six months. 

Participants will be compensated for their time and all study medication and study-related tests will be provided at no cost.  Learn more at phntx.org/research.

PHNTX encourages Dallas-area women to volunteer for the study as part of efforts to study new treatments to end the HIV epidemic by expanding preventative treatment for women. Through participating, women are empowered to make decisions regarding their health, to contribute to scientific discovery, and to see if they qualify for clinical studies investigating the prevention of HIV. 

“Many of our clients and members of the community have asked us, ‘when will you do a PrEP study that focuses on women?’,” Mulosla added. “My colleagues and I are excited that we now can offer them an opportunity to participate in this clinical trial.”

The Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center, positioned in the center of Shops at Legacy, announces the completion of the $3.6 million renovation with Roch Capital of its state-of-the-art meeting spaces. The newly refreshed ballrooms and meeting spaces are now available for business and special events.  

Designed by C+TC Design Studio, the ultramodern development pays homage to the rich history of the beloved city of Plano. The word Plano is Spanish for "flat," and references a landscape with vast open spaces of its bygone times. The meeting space redesign highlights the transformation from raw agriculture to today's active cityscape. The design can be seen and felt in all elements from the carpet pattern to the lighting. 

The meeting rooms are equipped with TV wall elevations, bronze mirror accents, glass entryways and sliding millwork panels. Keeping comfort and productivity in mind, the pre-function room provides multi-piece seating that can be broken apart or placed together for those who prefer to work alone or with a group—all allowing or safe distancing with an intimate feel. Movable TV screens, flex consoles and communal tables allow attendees to transform the working space to meet their needs. 

The updated grand spiral staircase leads into the pre-function corridor, offering a spectacular photo opportunity for brides, grooms or anyone needing an ideal backdrop. The pre-function space also features stunning wall art that showcases prominent local landmarks. 

"The newly renovated space puts us on the map in North Texas as a true state-of-the-art meeting destination," said Jason Sojka, Area Sales Leader of Marriott Dallas/Plano at Legacy Town Center. "The ability to continue the hotel's long-standing reputation of outstanding customer service in this beautiful setting positions the hotel well moving into 2021 and beyond."

Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center is the largest hotel in Plano, accommodating 417 guest rooms and 35,000 square feet of event space. The hotel boasts a 24-hour fitness room and a gorgeous pool. Business travelers will enjoy the hotel’s amenities that will surely ignite productivity. 

Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center is located within the Shops at Legacy Town Center development and steps away from unique shopping, award-winning restaurants and lounges at 7121 Bishop Rd, Plano, TX 75024. For more information, please visit the website. 

 Images can be found here.

Friday, March 19th, marks the one year anniversary of Get Shift Done, a non-profit initiative that was launched in response to COVID-19 to pay a living wage to newly unemployed hospitality workers to fill the gap of volunteer shifts in hunger relief organizations, such as food banks, food pantries, and school systems. Created and in action in four days by serial entrepreneurs Patrick Brandt and Anurag Jain, the program rapidly expanded across the country with over 28,000 workers, 12 regions, and 110 non-profit agencies. In just one year, workers have completed almost one million shifts, served 60 million meals, and have been paid nearly $15 million wages for their work. Get Shift Done was ranked No. 1 under the Not-for-Profit category in Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2021. The initiative was also named No. 28 in their World’s Top 50 Most Innovative Companies list. It was a milestone first year by any industry standard. 

The initiative’s ramp-up period was short, beginning with a phone call on March 14, 2020 between Patrick Brandt, Co-founder of Get Shift Done and President and Co-founder of Shiftsmart, and Anurag Jain, Co-founder of Get Shift Done and Chairman of AccessHealthcare. At the time, Jain was serving as Board Chairman of the North Texas Food Bank and concerned about the non-profit’s loss of volunteers due to COVID-19 health safety concerns just as the demand for food distribution to their underserved communities was spiking. Through Shiftsmart, a labor management platform serving the modern workforce, Brandt saw hospitality and service workers losing shifts due to capacity limitations imposed on restaurants and hotels. Together, Jain and Brandt devised a plan to staff charitable organizations dedicated to hunger relief with unemployed hospitality workers by utilizing Shiftsmart’s technology. 

“I will never forget that week in March. From Anurag’s phone call on Sunday afternoon to the first shift on Thursday, we were in a full sprint for four days,” said Brandt. “In less than a week there were workers at North Texas Food Bank earning supplemental income packing food boxes to be placed on the tables of North Texans in need. It is inspiring to be part of such a powerful collaboration of community organizations, philanthropists, businesses, and hunger relief providers who all mobilized quickly to impact so many negatively affected by the pandemic.”

As workers were arriving at North Texas Food Bank for the first day of shifts, Shiftsmart’s Founder and CEO, Aakash Kumar, was on the floor of the food bank’s warehouse managing the Shiftsmart platform to ensure all was running smoothly to register and schedule additional shifts. At the same time, North Texas Food Bank was working to implement all CDC health protocols to screen every Get Shift Done worker that arrived at the food bank.

Within days of the initial North Texas commencement, other municipalities were contacting Get Shift Done requesting assistance in meeting the needs of the food insecure in their areas. The organization began identifying strong partners in those communities to direct them to food relief providers with solid infrastructures in order to scale the model nationally. Get Shift Done for North America was soon launched to partner with regions beyond Dallas and Fort Worth. The program expanded to Austin, Central Arkansas, El Paso, Houston, New Orleans, Northwest Arkansas, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio and Washington D.C./Maryland/Virginia. 

“What a year it has been. We never dreamed that what we thought would be needed for 10-12 weeks in North Texas would grow to an entire year and reach thousands of Americans,” said Jain. “ 'How will I feed people?' was my immediate concern when the government mandated stay-at-home requirements and I was serving as Board Chairman of the North Texas Food Bank. Get Shift Done allowed us to quickly provide meals to vulnerable populations. It has been an honor to help serve our neighbors in need through this initiative.”

Get Shift Done was able to help bring stabilization to economies by putting skilled workers back to work in their communities. Matching the workers with the food access providers was accomplished using the Shiftsmart platform, which was provided at no cost to the non-profit groups. Shiftsmart’s operations team, leveraging its technology platform, wasinstrumental in launching the inspired program in multiple regions among more than 110 hunger relief organizations by managing the entire program end-to-end including onboarding, matching, scheduling, dispatching, routing and paying workers to perform shifts with the various non-profits. The initiative has surpassed its mission by not only providing income for adversely affected hourly workers in the hospitality industry but also a sense of purpose and community for those displaced from their jobs.

“The beauty of this initiative is the alliance of communities and the unity of working toward the common good,” said Jain. “Two groups of people needed one another: the displaced workers and those who manage the food banks and pantries.” 

Get Shift Done was launched with the help of founding supporters that include AccessHealthcare, Communities Foundation of Texas, Mark Cuban, Craig and Kathryn Hall, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, Margot Perot and Family, Sarah and Ross Perot Jr. Foundation, Katherine Perot Reeves and Eric Reeves, Shiftsmart and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas who were soon joined by national supporters Capital One and When I Work. 

What’s on the horizon for Get Shift Done? With hopes that the pandemic will soon begin to trend downward, and food access providers can return to their pre-COVID-19 volunteer schedules, organizers see this model as an ongoing solution to future community needs. The dramatic and sudden decrease in volunteers at non-profits during the coronavirus crisis created an opportunity to reassess if that structure is sustainable through the near future and future generations. 

“This movement marked a fundamental change in community service and was built to provide economic stabilization for workers and to support food insecure populations. We have been humbled daily by those who worked in the food banks and by those who financially supported the initiative. We hope to see the Get Shift Done model continue to offer assistance to hunger relief in our nation,” said Brandt.  

Wear your green and head over to Open Palette, inside Sheraton Dallas Hotel, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day today, Wednesday, March 17, with green beer and shepherd’s pie as special menu items for the holiday. Open Palette is open from 4-10pm and is located inside Sheraton Dallas Hotel in downtown Dallas. 

The green beer options are Four Corners Brewing Co.’s El Grito and Rahr & Sons Brewing Company’s Dadgum IPA and will be available for purchase at $5. The shepherd’s pie is $15.

Open Palette is the hotel's signature restaurant and bar and offers modern American cuisine with a bold spin on flavors.

Sheraton Dallas Hotel is the largest hotel in North Texas with 1,840 guest rooms and 230,000 square feet of flexible meeting and convention spaces and is located in Downtown Dallas, right off the DART Pearl/Arts District station. The hotel's address is 400 N Olive St., Dallas, TX 75201.

Looking for a destination for a weekend getaway or spring staycation with friends or family? Sheraton Dallas Hotel is offering a Spring Break package for guests to enjoy time with their family during the break from school or just to get away with friends. The rate includes a welcome amenity, two adult CityPASS tickets to explore the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Reunion Tower GeO-Deck, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza and the Dallas Zoo. The offer is valid now through April 30, 2021 based upon availability with a minimum of a two-night stay. Spring Break rooms can be booked online here with the code MAJ.

Texans Can Academies announces the retirement of Richard Marquez as CEO and president. Starting in 2007, Marquez led the organization’s expanded efforts to promote literacy and thinking as well as to provide direct services to students in need. Texans Can is extremely grateful for his years of tireless dedication and service.

Following Marquez’s retirement, Dr. James Ponce, Superintendent of Texans Can, assumes responsibility for all areas of School District operations. A veteran educator and administrator, Ponce brings nearly 28 years of experience to the dropout recovery school, which offers education solutions to nearly 5,000 students at its fourteen locations statewide.  

Since joining Texans Can in 2016 as Chief of Schools and as part of the organization’s succession plan, Ponce has been responsible for all academic strategy, staff and instructional implementation in the district. He has also directed the management of the district’s facilities and instructional budgets.

Prior to joining Texans Can, Ponce was superintendent of schools for the McAllen, Texas, school district. While with McAllen, Ponce was honored as a Top Five State Finalist in the 2013 Texas Association of Superintendents’ State of Texas Superintendent of the Year award. Before becoming a superintendent, he held positions as a teacher, principal, area superintendent and deputy chief of staff in the Dallas Independent School District. 

More recently, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ponce led the design and management of the district’s virtual learning and safety program. He and his team worked tirelessly to implement academic programs and place crucial technology in students’ hands. An urban educator, Ponce recognized customized software solutions, innovative instructional plans, and methods of connection called for immediate development and deployment to keep students engaged and learning.

Texans Can looks forward to the future under Dr. Ponce’s leadership.