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Sarofim Building Opens New Frontiers
of Molecular Medicine
Ribbon-cutting celebrates vision of world-class institute seeking causes of human diseases
The culmination of the $230 million New Frontiers Campaign was celebrated May 16 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building, the new home of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM).
Ribbons are enticing for little girls, and 4-year-old
Louisa
Sarofim is no different. She is with her father,
Christopher
Sarofim, right, and UT Health Science
Center at Houston
President James T. Willerson, M.D.,
at the ribbon-cutting
for the new $120 million Fayez S.
Sarofim Research
Building, named for her grandfather.
Photos by Bruce Bennett
James T. Willerson, M.D., president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, presided over the event attended by local dignitaries, donors, Development Board members and many of the scientists, who on May 19 began setting up their offices and labs in the new seven-story, 223,000-square-foot facility.
The eye-catching structure is located at 1825 Pressler Street adjacent to the University Center Tower.
“We could not have accomplished this without one of the best development boards in the city and the wonderful generosity of our supporters,” said Willerson, whose vision it has been since the 1980s to attract the brightest stars in molecular medicine with a world-class home in the internationally renowned Texas Medical Center.
The IMM is a research institute that seeks to investigatethe causes of human diseases at the cellular and molecular levels using DNA and protein technologies to reveal disease mechanisms.
The New Frontiers Campaign, chaired by
Development Board member Beth Robertson and cochaired
by the late Ben Love, has raised funds to build
and equip the IMM’s new home and to recruit some of
the world’s finest scientists.
Lining up in front of the new Sarofim Building as they snip the UT-orange ribbon
are,
from left:
Larry
Margolis; Irma Gigli, M.D.; Peter J. A. Davies,
M.D., Ph.D.;
James T.
Willerson, M.D.;
Phil Conway;
C. Thomas Caskey, M.D.; Wilhelmina
Smith; Ferid
Murad, M.D., Ph.D.;
Christopher
Sarofim;
and
Louisa Sarofim.
Helping Willerson cut the ribbon to officially open
the building were Phil Conway, immediate past president
of the Development Board, and Wilhelmina
Smith, mother of Beth Robertson, who was unable to
attend the event.
Also participating in the ceremony were: Larry
Margolis, son of initial IMM fund-raisers Judy and Rodney Margolis; Irma Gigli, M.D., IMM deputy
director; Peter J. A. Davies, M.D., Ph.D., UT Health
Science Center executive vice president for research; C.
Thomas Caskey, M.D., IMM chief operating officer,
director- and CEO-elect; 1998 Nobel laureate Ferid
Murad, M.D., Ph.D., IMM director; and Chris and Louisa Sarofim, son and granddaughter of Houston
philanthropist Fayez S. Sarofim.
Largest Gift Ever
The $120 million facility is named for Fayez S. Sarofim, founder and owner of the investment firm Fayez Sarofim & Co. In March 2004, Sarofim gave the UT Health Science Center the largest gift it has ever received – $25 million to advance stem cell research. He and Willerson have been friends for about 10 years.
James T. Willerson, M.D., greets Wilhelmina Smith,
who
represented her daughter Beth Robertson, co-chair
of the New Frontiers campaign.
“Mr. Sarofim is clearly concerned about his fellow
man, and as he came to learn about stem cells, he
wanted to be helpful,” Willerson said when the UT
System Board of Regents approved naming of the building at their Feb. 10, 2005, meeting. “His most generous
gift came at a critical time to help us establish the new
research center in stem cell biology.”
At the ribbon-cutting, Willerson introduced two new scientists who will lead cutting-edge research projects at the IMM. Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., is a professor of nanotechnology and president of the Alliance for NanoHealth, a collaboration of seven Houston-area research institutions focused on medical applications on a nanometer (one billionth of a meter) scale. Paul Simmons, Ph.D., recently joined the IMM and will lead the stem cell research efforts at the facility.
“We are actively recruiting some of the world’s best scientists in neuroscience, stem cell research, inflammation, metabolism, obesity, diabetes, genetic and proteomic discovery,” Willerson said. “We expect to have some 125 scientists working in the new building in the years to come, working collaboratively with basic and clinical scientists at all of our schools and working with scientists at academic institutions and hospitals throughout the Texas Medical Center, including Rice University and the University of Houston.”
Ribbon-cutting guests explore the atrium.
Much-Needed Research Space
The Sarofim Research Building provides much-needed research space and houses core research laboratories, administrative offices, a 200-seat auditorium and a large atrium for public events. The building also features a faculty conference suite and a room especially designed for collaborative discussion of scientific ideas.
The new building comprises two wings — one for technology and administrative offices, and another for core research. The ground level of the building is open to allow pedestrians to come and go under the facility, and a central atrium links the laboratory and office wings.
The design — by the Missouri-based firm Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Architects and Pennsylvania-based Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates — features energy-efficient innovations, such as sun screens. The two-wing structure also will contribute to a lower energy cost for climate control. Vaughn Construction is the contractor.