The Texas Medical Center has become a growing hub for innovation, with major investments from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and the Texas Cancer Prevention Institute, said Greater Houston Partnership President and Chief Executive Officer CEO Steve Keene said in a Texas Medical Center report. Event on November 14th.
“We’re good at health care. We’re good at patient care. We’re good at research. We’re always producing more researchers. We’re always producing more researchers. We’re producing doctors,” Keene said. “But we’re like No. 12 in the life sciences space…But things are starting to change, and these companies are tackling the most pressing medical challenges of our time.”
According to TMC, the Houston area is home to approximately 1,100 life science and biotechnology companies conducting cancer research and developing life-saving innovations.
These companies range from Seripoint Bioservices, which opened a 76,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and headquarters in The Woodlands in March of this year, to Castle Biosciences, a molecular diagnostics company that broke ground on a new headquarters in Friendswood this fall. It has become famous throughout the Houston metropolitan area.
In terms of numbers
With a total of 9,200 patient beds and more than 120,000 employees, TMC is the largest medical complex in the world. The Houston-based center has 50 million square feet of development space and an additional $3 billion in construction projects underway.
Each year TMC does the following:
10 million patient encounters 180,000 surgeries performed 750,000 emergency room visits What’s going on?
TMC President and CEO Bill McKeon said TMC is growing with at least 10,000 job openings every day.
“We are building the most comprehensive and efficient life sciences ecosystem in the world,” McKeon said at the Nov. 14 event. “We already have the world’s largest psychological infrastructure, doctors, nurses, technicians and clinical care on one campus.”
TMC is nationally recognized for its commitment to innovation. TMC Innovation, which supports healthcare startups, has won the 2024 Prix Galien USA award, the life sciences sector’s highest honor, McKeon said.
He highlighted some recent achievements of TMC partner institutions.
Houston Methodist University has performed the first successful heart valve replacement surgery on a pregnant woman. Memorial Hermann Health System has partnered with Aldine ISD to launch a Health Education and Learning High School to prepare students for high-paying health care jobs. Rice University received $18. A million dollars has been awarded by the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency for tumor analysis research in breast, head and neck cancers. The University of Houston has developed a vaccine that prevents fentanyl from entering the brain and plans to enter clinical trials in the coming months. Baylor College of Medicine received $44.2 million to partner with the University of Houston to establish the Translational Precision Health Consortium. The Texas Heart Institute installed the first BiVACOR artificial heart, and Harris Health System began a $1.6 billion effort to develop a new Level I trauma device. The hospital is located on the campus of Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital. Texas A&M University is 3D printing a drug to treat parasitic infections in pediatric patients. The University of Texas Medical Branch received a $46.8 million grant for three years of vaccine development. Learn more about the innovations taking place. TMC here.
