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Team UT Takes Collaboration on the Road
Team UT members Drew Fossum, second from left, and UT Health Science Center at Houston Development Board member David Koogler, far right, arrive in LaGrange. Photo by Dustin Childers
From the flat land of west Houston to the Texas Hill Country, stroke-by-stroke and hill-by-hill the 95 riders of Team UT pedaled their bikes from Houston to Austin April 16-17 in the 21st Annual BP MS150 - the largest MS150 in the country with more than 12,000 cyclists.
Team UT doubled in size from previous years with a fund-raising effort that exceeded $46,000 to support multiple sclerosis (MS) research and patient care. The team consisted of faculty, students and staff from three University of Texas institutions - the UT Health Science Center at Houston, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and UT Medical Branch at Galveston.
UT Health Science Center Development Board member David Koogler rode with Team UT for the first time this year. "The Team UT effort, the volunteers, the tent, the food, the massages, the jerseys, and the riders were all first class," he said. "This was my third year in a row to ride the MS 150, and it was the most enjoyable."
George Stancel, Ph.D., dean of the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, was one of the first 10 riders into LaGrange. Photo by Bill Olive
The first rider into the Team UT tent at the halfway point in LaGrange was multiple sclerosis researcher William Lindsey, Ph.D., associate professor of neurology at the UT Medical School at Houston and the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.
The riders pedaled into Austin Sunday to huge crowds of MS patients, friends, family and other citizens cheering as riders entered the grounds of the State Capitol.
The Office of Public Affairs organized Team UT, along with support from Auxiliary Enterprises. The Medical School's MS Research Group helped fund the team by recruiting sponsors Betaseron, Biogen Idec, Curative, Serono and Teva Neuroscience.
By Dawna Jarvis, Public Affairs