Houston Methodist joins the Gulf Coast Consortia

The Houston Methodist Research Institute has joined the Gulf Coast Consortia. The GCC is a Houston-Galveston-based organization that is one of the largest inter-institutional academic cooperatives in the nation focused on building strong, collaborative, biomedical research groups and interdisciplinary training opportunities for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows. Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, University of Houston, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Institute of Biosciences and Technology of Texas A&M University also are members. The core strength of the Houston Methodist research tradition lies in its collaborative, translational commitment and focus on solving clinician-driven challenges. This driving force is kindred to the GCC’s mission to integrate its member institutions' strengths to build an interdisciplinary, collaborative research infrastructure and training environment that surpasses the capability of any single institution. The Houston Methodist Research Institute was always intended to be collaborative rather than competitive in order to focus exclusively on multi-disciplinary, translational research at the intersection of fields. The Research Institute is designed to form the bridge between traditional disciplines to develop treatments with ready applicability to human disease – using its physical connection to the hospital and technological expertise in FDA approval pathways to streamline the process of translating laboratory research into treatments and cures for patients. Its approach bridging disciplines with clinical needs and developing new technologies. The Research Institute focuses on shepherding innovations through preclinical and clinical development, clinical trials, FDA approval and commercialization. It is not degree granting, rather, it partners with programs seeking a translational or clinical perspective to its educational curriculum. The Research Institute training programs follow a traditional path – from graduate programs in clinical translation to professional level training in skills acquisition, advanced technology and biomedical research. Houston Methodist’s learners and leaders come from premier institutions around the world. The Research Institute’s strengths in cancer, regenerative medicine, infectious disease, neuroscience and translational imaging technologies fit well with GCC’s existing and anticipated scientific endeavors, said Kathleen Matthews, Ph.D., a founder and chair emeritus of the GCC and Stewart Memorial Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology Emerita, Rice University. “We are delighted that the Houston Methodist Research Institute has become the eighth member of the GCC, and we look forward to further engaging its faculty, researchers, postdoctoral fellows and staff in the many GCC research and training enterprises,” Matthews said. “Over the years, the Research Institute has greatly valued our collaborations with institutions that are members of the GCC,” said Edward A. Jones, President and CEO of the Houston Methodist Research Institute. “Research synergies among GCC institutions create a culture of creativity that opens new opportunities for discoveries that positively impact human health. Membership in the GCC now provides a wonderful opportunity to add our many strengths to the consortium, including world-class research in cancer, heart and cardiovascular medicine, immunobiology, and nanomedicine, and more than twenty core facilities that provide our investigators and external researchers access to exceptional scientific technology.”