Women Leading the Way
Dr. Carmen Escalante, 
Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of General Internal Medicine, Ambulatory Treatment and Emergency Care, graduated summa cum laude in chemistry from Nicholls State University and then attended Louisiana State University Health Science Center in New Orleans, completing her M.D. degree in 1985. She completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and joined The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1988. Dr. Escalante was recently honored as an outstanding alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences at Nicholls State University.
During Dr. Escalante's early medical career, she devoted the majority of her time to patient care, seeing patients in a number of venues that include the Emergency Center, both inpatient and outpatient consultations, supervision of patients in the Ambulatory Treatment Center, as an attending on the GIM inpatient service, in a long-term outpatient panel of patients and in specialty clinics including the Internal Medicine Perioperative Assessment Clinic (IMPAC) and the Cancer Related Fatigue Clinic. Dr. Escalante has always enjoyed direct patient care and although her responsibilities over the years have changed, she has always found time to continue to participate in clinical activities.
Dr. Escalante with Dr. Stephen T. Hulbert, Nicholls State University President (left) and Dr. Badiollah Asrabadi, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (right)
As her career developed, Dr. Escalante was initially appointed to institutional committees. Little did she know at that time how invested she would become in service to the institution through these activities. She has served as Vice-Chair and Chair on a multitude of important medical staff committees. These include Chair of the Transfusion Committee, Chair and Vice-Chair of Medical Practice, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Credentials Committee of the Medical Staff and Chair and Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff. She has just completed her 3 year term as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff. She has also served as Vice-Chair of the Clinical Faculty Review Committee and is currently the Chair of this committee. These experiences have offered her insight into development, implementation and enforcement of institutional policies and have presented additional opportunities for career growth as well as allowed her to meet others from the institution that she may not have interacted with on a regular basis.
Dr. Escalante manages a large department with 37 faculty and 5 sections including Sections of General Internal Medicine, Emergency Care, Hospital Care, Rheumatology and Nephrology. She enjoys building programs and has been successful in building the IMPAC program, initiating one of the first Cancer-Related Fatigue Clinics in the country, initiating a hospitalist program, starting institution based programs in both rheumatology and nephrology that previously depended upon outside consultants for all services.
Although her department was initially formed as a section in 1986 primarily for clinical services, Dr. Escalante started building a robust research program when she was appointed Chair of the Department in 2005. They now have two basic scientists, a number of successful clinical faculty focused on research pursuits and a General Internal Medicine fellowship program that educates fellows in clinical research techniques. The department has had significant growth in research funding with $8 million in direct cost ($2.4 million annually) since 2005. Dr. Escalante's main research focus has centered on cancer-related fatigue and venous thromboembolism in cancer patients.
Dr. Escalante along with her husband, Ramon, and three young children, Damaso (10.5 years old), Isabella (8 years old) and Carolina (5 years old)
In addition to the many hours Dr. Escalante dedicates to her professional life, her true love is her family. She has three young children, Damaso (10.5 years old), Isabella (8 years old) and Carolina (5 years old) who will always be thought of as the baby. Her husband, Ramon, is an attorney and home builder, and together they share the home and child care responsibilities along with a full time nanny/housekeeper. On weekends you will find the family running between the children's sporting events of the season, ballet classes, piano lessons, and birthday parties. Throughout it all is the love and nourishment of family.
Multitasking is second nature to Dr. Escalante. If you ask her if she has hobbies, Dr. Escalante is sure to answer that presently her hobby is being chauffeur, cheer leader, school homework coordinator and home traffic police to the family. These are more than enough for her now but as the children grow and resume more responsibilities she will transfer her "free time" to things like studying fine arts, resume playing the piano, and visiting antique stores. Those are voluntarily on hold for now.
If you ask Dr. Escalante for any advice in her success, she will tell you to always look for opportunities to grow. She continues to move her career forward as well as the careers of many others with continued enthusiasm and focus on the future. Whatever Dr. Escalante does is "all about the patient."