The Rice Thresher

Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/news/2004/01/23/texas_medical_center

January 23, 2004 > News > Rice joins Texas Medical Center

Rice joins Texas Medical Center

By Katherine Corley | Thresher staff

Rice formalized four decades of collaboration with the Texas Medical Center by becoming its 43rd member institution and ninth university system Dec. 17. Provost Eugene Levy said becoming a member of TMC will allow for greater collaboration between Rice and other TMC institutions.

“It has become increasingly clear to us that with this huge medical center across the street, it is advantageous to both of us to have closer communication and closer relationships,” Levy said. “It makes a lot of sense for us to be thinking about our common problems and our common potentials.”

Bioengineering Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou said most bioengineering faculty members already collaborate with researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and other TMC institutions.

“[Membership] is a tremendous decision for [Rice] because this could prove to be the catalyst of us truly becoming one of the top three or four [bioengineering] departments in the nation,” Athanasiou said.

Bioengineering Professor Michael Deem said a connection with TMC will also increase Rice’s ability to attract students interested in the biosciences.

“Membership highlights Rice’s biological sciences to prospective graduate and undergraduate students and helps with student recruitment,” Deem said.

Another reason for joining TMC is Rice’s tentative plan to build a research tower that would be occupied by both Rice and TMC employees at the corner of University Blvd. and Main St. The bioengineering department, which is

currently split between Keck and George R. Brown Halls, would move to the new tower.

“The idea is to create an area where both ourselves as well as participating institutions from the TMC can meet up and work on various collaborative projects,” Athanasiou said.

The bioengineering department has always maintained close ties to TMC, Bioengineering Department Chair David Hellums said.

“We have had a very close interface with the medical center for many years,” Hellums said. “In fact, the [Rice] bioengineering department was initiated by Dr. Michael DeBakey, the esteemed surgeon at Baylor College of Medicine. In a certain sense, we have been part of the med center since our inception.”

In addition to building a research alliance, Rice’s membership in TMC may help solve long-standing practical problems.

“We know we have a lot of academic commonalities — research, teaching, grant competition and so forth — but we also share issues related to traffic and transportation, development, security, human resources and energy savings,” Assistant to the President Mark Scheid said.

President Malcolm Gillis agreed.

“We deal with many of the same sets of governmental relations that TMC does,” Gillis said.

Rice was a member of TMC in the 1960s, but the membership apparently expired, Gillis said.

TMC Vice President Mary Schiflett said the membership renewal reaffirms the continuing relationship between Rice and TMC.

“This is just to recognize that [Rice and TMC] had been working together for so long,” Schiflett said.

Rice already has more than 80 joint programs with TMC, including the Rice/Baylor Medical Scholars Program for pre-med students. Bioengineering Professor Rebekah Drezek said Rice’s membership in TMC will result in more opportunities for students to do research.

“Students will benefit from significantly increased research opportunities and increased course offerings and clinical interactions,” Drezek said. “Even a lot of strengths where you might not think are areas for potential collaborations — the business school, public policy, medical ethics — there are all sorts of things going on at Rice that can be done in an even better way in collaboration with the TMC.”

Some students said they think the new development is a positive step.

“Since I’m pre-med, that’s a really great opportunity, so that’s exciting,” Baker freshman DerZen Fan said.

TMC is the largest employer in Houston and the largest medical center in the world. Other TMC member institutions include the Texas A&M University System, Texas Southern University, Texas Women’s University, and the University of Houston.

End of article

Back to top