Watch Sen. Cornyn, UNTHSC on local news for reducing backlog of rape kits

September 18, 2012

Watch the Channel 8 and Channel 11 segments featuring U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, as he highlighted the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry (SAFER) Act at a press conference held at the UNT Health Science Center September 17.

The bipartisan legislation is designed to eliminate the massive national backlog of an estimated 400,000 untested rape kits waiting in law enforcement agency closets across the U.S. Sen. Cornyn’s legislation is expected to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 20. The UNTHSC Center for Human Identification will handle the DNA testing of the backlogged rape kits.

Victim advocate and sexual assault survivor Lavinia Masters shared her story at today’s meeting. Masters was raped in Dallas in 1985 at the age of 13. Masters’ rape kit sat untested for more than 20 years until it was finally tested in 2006. The DNA profile from her kit was linked to a serial rapist who had committed multiple sexual assaults, including the rape of an elderly woman.

UNTHSC’s Dr. Arthur J. Eisenberg, Dr. Scott Ransom and Fort Worth law enforcement representatives also were on hand.

Dr. Michael Clearfield the inaugural winner of the Beyer, Everett, and Luibel Memorial Medal

For more than two decades, Dr. Michael B. Clearfield, DO, MACOI, FACP, has developed the Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine into one of the largest and most productive academically in the osteopathic profession, serving as the chair from 1982-...

Our People

|Sep 28, 2023

HSC’s Dr. Kari Northeim and Parker County collaborators awarded SAMHSA grant for rural EMS training and education

Dr. Kari Northeim, School of Public Health assistant professor of population and community health at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, has been awarded the SAMHSA Rural EMS Training and Education grant in conjunction with HSC community partners, Parker County Hospi...

Research

|Sep 28, 2023

SBS researchers publish innovative study in Nature Scientific Reports

People with leg amputations, including those with diabetes, run the risk of overuse injuries like osteoarthritis, muscle atrophy or bone breaks in their intact limbs. Now, new research is quantifying the impacts of amputations and diabetes, a leading cause of amputation, on those overuse ...

On Campus

|Sep 28, 2023

HSC’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine to host symposium on ‘Creating Change in Health Care Delivery’

Americans have soured on the U.S. health care system, according to a Gallup poll taken earlier this year. Most of those surveyed rate health care quality as subpar, including 31% saying it is “only fair” and 21% — a new high — calling it “poor.” The U.S. ranked nearly last compared w...

Newsroom