Global health hub in Houston

Home to over 49 Institutions

Louis Cutaia, Aug 30, 11.

With over 49 Institutions in the health community and such notable places as The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, Houston’s Texas Medical Center is emerging as the next great global hot spot according to a journalist for the UN Dispatch - a United Nations Foundations blog, noted in the Houston Chronicle Medblog:

Just as Geneva has the World Health Organization and Seattle has the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s emphasis on international health, Houston’s Texas Medical Center of 49 institutions is drawing more attention from the global health community, Washington, D.C., area journalist Jaclyn Schiff writes in this recent story.

The man she credits for improving our local health pedigree, Dr. Peter Hotez, was snagged this summer by Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine to lead a new tropical disease research center. The noted vaccine expert is “an international force of nature,” Schiff writes.

“If we didn’t land him, there’s not another person worldwide who can do what he does,” Dr. Mark Kline, physician-in-chief at Texas Children’s and head of pediatrics at Baylor, told the Chronicle in this June story about Hotez.

Schiff also praises The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Texas Children’s Center for Global Health and the highly regarded Baylor International Pediatric AIDS initiative, founded in 1996 by Kline, and “its leading role in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.”

What do you think? Are we the next global health hub?