New Space for New Medical Discoveries

Photo by Ester Fant

Celebrating the Aug. 2 opening of the new joint facility for the University Clinical Research Center (UCRC) and the Memorial Hermann Center for Clinical Innovation and Research are, from left, Juanita Romans, chief executive officer of Memorial Hermann Hospital (MHH)-Texas Medical Center; Pablo C. Okhuysen, M.D., professor of infectious diseases at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston; James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center at Houston; and Madelene J. Ottosen, nurse manager of the UCRC.

In operation for 20 years, the UCRC is one of only 80 in the United States. “These highly sophisticated units are the birthplace for many of the medical breakthroughs that have occurred during the past half of a century,” said Okhuysen, director of the UCRC. The new space on the third floor of the Robertson Pavilion, “which includes ample space for a variety of studies that are inpatient and outpatient based, as well as its ancillary support services, could not have become a reality without our close relationship and the financial support from MHH-Texas Medical Center,” he said. The UCRC is administered by the Medical School, funded through a grant from the National Institutes of Health, which recently was renewed for more than $9 million through 2011.