Search Distinctions

 

• Current Distinctions Issue
• Archive
• Submit News
• About Distinctions
• Distinctions Home

 

Luncheon Honors Outstanding Young Researchers

 

Two internal medicine residents at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1965 discovered the value of research when results of their clinical research changed the procedures for screening blood for transfusions and patients for open heart surgery.

One of those residents – James T. Willerson, M.D. – praised the critical importance of research at a recent luncheon to honor Outstanding Young Investigators at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Honorees were nominated by their schools and selected by the health science center’s Research Council. “You just can’t separate research and discovery from education or service,” said Willerson, president of the health science center.

“You can’t have excellent education in an environment where there’s not excellent discovery. You can’t teach the groundbreaking information or the things that really might make a difference in people’s lives.

“It’s my conviction,” he said, “that I can’t be a good doctor or a good educator without being very involved in discovery. It makes many things easier. I can read the literature and be critical. I can use that background when the knowledge isn’t available about a specific clinical question. I can sometimes make a pretty good decision about what I should do even when there’s no precedent and no established body of information.

“As a doctor I take care of one patient at a time. The impact of that activity, while great on the individual, is small in terms of populations compared to a discovery that changes medicine,” Willerson said.

“If you pursue research and are persistent and dedicated, and if you’re just a little bit lucky, you’ll have a lifelong career that’s very important, not only to you, but possibly to thousands of people,” he said. “The sense of fulfillment that comes from that is absolutely enormous.”

Joining Willerson to recognize the young investigators were Peter Davies, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president for research, and Michael McKinney, M.D., senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, along with deans of the health science center’s six schools and members of the Research Council.

The Research Council brings together both the leaders and many participants from the research community on a regular basis to explore ways to promote, foster and support research activities within the health science center.

Speaking on behalf of the council, Davies said, “We thought this event should be focused on the research accomplishments of our younger faculty – those of you who are going through the grueling process of establishing and developing a research program. The Research Council views this as an excellent opportunity to bring together some of the faculty who are engaged in this process, both to express our appreciation to them for their achievements and to provide them an opportunity to get to know one another.

“One of the features of developing a research program is that it’s a very concentrated effort,” Davies said. “Each scientist works in his or her own particular area, a sort of sub-community within the UT Health Science Center. There is often little opportunity to meet and to interact with colleagues from other schools or other areas of research facing similar challenges. We hope that this event will provide our young investigators with the opportunity to get to know one another and to build bridges to other corners of our diverse research community.”

McKinney told the Outstanding Young Investigators, “I really appreciate your work, your efforts and your perseverance.”

McKinney and Davies have been hosting a series of lunches with researchers over the past six months in order to keep the university’s leadership more up to date on the health science center’s research enterprise and the issues of concern to its researchers.

“Research is a top priority of the university,” McKinney said, and the administration is making some changes to provide better support. Among the changes are assistance in learning to write grant proposals and provision of bridge funds to support promising research projects between external funding cycles. The

Outstanding Young Investigators luncheon was hosted by the offices of the President, Research and Public Affairs.

Many of those attending the luncheon hold faculty appointments in the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.

For additional photographs click here.

By Ina Fried, Public Affairs