FEATURE
Texans win: Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor Scott & White Health collaborate on biomedical research
Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor Scott & White Health have entered into an agreement to expand biomedical research in North and Central Texas. Baylor College of Medicine is one of the nation’ s top health sciences universities and research institutions.
“ With this joint operating agreement, we bring together the strengths of both institutions, which no doubt will result in more research of the highest quality,” said Paul Klotman, M. D., president and CEO of Baylor College of Medicine.“ The clear winners are the residents of Texas, who will see an acceleration of efforts to provide new therapies.”
“ This collaboration is a great opportunity to begin the journey of reconnecting Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor Scott & White Health,” said John McWhorter, COO of Baylor Scott & White Health.
John explained that Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine actually traces its roots back to Dallas. In 1903, Baylor College of Medicine became affiliated with Baylor University and continued to grow in Dallas until the 1940s. In 1943, the medical school was enticed to move to Houston to join the nascent Texas Medical Center, where it thrives today as a“ Top 10” research center in terms of federal research funding.
“ This collaboration is exciting for many reasons, the most important of which is the positive impact we expect it will have on patient care as we’ re able to translate findings from the laboratory to the bedside,” said Joel T. Allison, president and CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health.“ It’ s gratifying to see two strong Baylor brands coming together to advance biomedical research.”
Baylor Scott & White Research Institute collaborates with the medical industry to develop its technology and intellectual property to bring novel treatments to patients. Baylor Scott & White Research Institute has a more than $ 100 million operating budget, conducting 2,000 research studies in more than 60 medical specialties.
“ We’ re proud of the research we’ ve done to provide advanced treatment options to our patients, and are thrilled to take those efforts to the next level by collaborating with one of the largest, most respected biomedical research programs in the United States,” said Michael A. E. Ramsay, M. D., president of Baylor Scott & White
Research Institute.“ This collaboration raises our profile in the research community and will ultimately mean we’ re able to positively impact even more lives.”
A search committee is now being established to recruit a chief scientific officer, who will oversee the collaborative effort and serve as a section chief in the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Medicine. The leader will report to Adam Kuspa, M. D., senior vice president of Baylor College of Medicine, dean of research and dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and will work closely with the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute.
The collaboration will be governed by a Research Oversight Council, composed of eight members, equally representing both institutions.
For more information on innovative research initiatives, please contact Sarah Burdi at 214.820.4721 or Sarah. Burdi @ BSWHealth. org.
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