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CultureMap and ABC13 KTRK-TV announce new partnership

CultureMap and ABC13 KTRK are joining forces in a new partnership to share and cross promote content.

ABC13/CultureMap

Gow Media, owner of CultureMap.com, the leading digital provider of lifestyle content in Texas, and ABC13 KTRK-TV, the leading news provider in Houston, are joining forces in a new partnership to share and cross promote content. The partnership will allow both companies to leverage additional resources, and reach a wider, complementary audience.

“This is an exciting opportunity for us,” said Gow Media CEO David Gow. “We have long respected ABC13’s leading voice in our market, and are delighted to add their content to our site. We are also excited to have our CultureMap stories featured on ABC13.com, which will undoubtedly enable us to reach new audiences.”

“CultureMap is a leader in covering restaurants, events and the many exciting cultural developments in our city,” said Henry Florsheim, president and general manager of ABC13. “We think their stories are a good fit for our TV viewers as well as our digital audiences on the ABC13 news app and ABC13.com. We also see the partnership as a great opportunity for ABC13 stories to get in front of new audiences on CultureMap.com.”

In addition to CultureMap.com, Gow Media owns two sports radio stations in Houston, KFNC 97.5 FM and KGOW 1560 AM, and one of the country’s largest national sports radio networks, SB Nation Radio.

GowMedia aquired CultureMap in February, and shortly thereafter, the company hired Ken Hoffman, the popular columnist from the Houston Chronicle. Hoffman's well-liked features, including Drive-Thru Gourmet, Pethouse Pet of the Week, and other topical columns, appear several times a week on CultureMap. Hoffman also appears as a regular guest on sports talks shows on the Gow stations.

“We are committed to providing market-leading sports and lifestyle content,” Gow said.

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the future of surgery

Houston hospital performs first fully robotic heart transplant in the U.S.

Baylor College of Medicine Robotic Heart Transplant

Courtesy of Baylor College of Medicine

Dr. Kenneth Liao and a team at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center used a surgical robot to implant a new heart in a patient.

A team at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, led by Dr. Kenneth Liao, successfully performed the first fully robotic heart transplant in the United States earlier this year, the Houston hospital recently shared.

Liao, a professor and chief of cardiothoracic transplantation and circulatory support at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of cardiothoracic transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, used a surgical robot to implant a new heart in a 45-year-old male patient through preperitoneal space in the abdomen by making small incisions.

The robotic technology allowed the medical team to avoid opening the chest and breaking the breast bone, which reduces the risk of infection, blood transfusions and excessive bleeding. It also leads to an easier recovery, according to Liao.

"Opening the chest and spreading the breastbone can affect wound healing and delay rehabilitation and prolong the patient's recovery, especially in heart transplant patients who take immunosuppressants," Liao said in a news release. "With the robotic approach, we preserve the integrity of the chest wall, which reduces the risk of infection and helps with early mobility, respiratory function and overall recovery."

The patient received the heart transplant in March, after spending about four months in the hospital due to advanced heart failure. According to Baylor, he was discharged home after recovering from the surgery in the hospital for a month without complications.

"This transplant shows what is possible when innovation and surgical experience come together to improve patient care," Liao added in the release. "Our goal is to offer patients the safest, most effective and least invasive procedures, and robotic technology allows us to do that in extraordinary ways."

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This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

medical research baylor college of medicine