Willerson Announces Tributes to IMM Fundraising Leaders

At the annual meeting of the UT Health Science Center at Houston Development Board, Brad Howell, chair of the board, and his wife, Sara, visit with Nancy Willerson, wife of UT Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D. Sara Howell is a former chair of PARTNERS, community support group for the UT School of Nursing at Houston.

Photo by Kim Coffman

An enthusiastic crowd of 200 community and business leaders attended the Jan. 12 Development Board dinner during which James T. Willerson, M.D., president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, announced three tributes to community leaders instrumental in fundraising for the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM).

Willerson announced that in the new IMM building currently under construction, the first floor auditorium will be named for Beth Robertson, chair of the successful $200 million New Frontiers capital campaign. The lobby outside the auditorium will be named for campaign co-chair Ben Love. Also, in tribute to the couple who led the initial fundraising efforts that created the IMM, the faculty lounge will be named in honor of Rodney and Judy Margolis.

In his remarks, Willerson described the university's shifting focus from the New Frontiers campaign for the IMM to an emphasis on the priority goals of the health science center's six schools and the UT Harris County Psychiatric Center.