Center for Clinical & Translational Sciences
Announces Two Executive Appointments
David McPherson, M.D., chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
HOUSTON – (Nov. 3, 2008) - The Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston today announced the appointment of David McPherson, M.D., as executive director and Roberta Ness, M.D., as co-director. McPherson is the chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and Ness is the dean of The University of Texas School of Public Health.
The CCTS was created in 2006 with a $36 million, 5-year-grant from the National Institutes of Health to transform how clinical and translational research is conducted and to ultimately enable researchers to provide new treatments more efficiently and quickly to patients. The center is operated by the UT Health Science Center at Houston, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.
“We are delighted that two outstanding translational researchers - Drs. McPherson and Ness – have agreed to accept the responsibility for leading the program,” said Peter Davies, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president for research at the health science center. “Dr. McPherson’s broad experience in cardiology research and biomedical engineering qualify him as an outstanding leader. Dr. Ness is a nationally-recognized leader in women’s health issues.” McPherson’s appointment began on Sept. 1 and Ness’ appointment on Nov. 1. They will be joining the third member of the CCTS senior management team, co-director Razelle Kurzrock, M.D., professor of medicine and chair of the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Clinical Trials Program) at the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Roberta Ness, M.D., dean of The University of Texas School of Public Health.
McPherson and Ness are filling positions formerly held by internists Frank Arnett Jr., M.D., and Pablo Okhuysen, M.D., who stepped down this fall to devote more time to research in their laboratories. “They were both instrumental in UT winning the NIH grant. Once we received the grant, they helped shape the foundation of an outstanding program,” Davies said.
“It is exciting that we now have the talents of Dr. McPherson and Dr. Ness at the CCTS,” said Okhuysen, an associate professor of infectious diseases at the UT Medical School. “Their leadership will help advance the CCTS to the next step in its mission which is to take research being done at laboratory benches to the bedside and into the community.”
The CCTS is part of a national consortium of 38 academic health centers. The CCTS was one of only 12 centers established during the initial round of NIH funding and the only one in Texas. Centers were subsequently established at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.
"The development of the national consortium represents the first systematic change in our approach to clinical research in 50 years,” former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D., said. “Working together, these sites will serve as discovery engines that will improve medical care by applying new scientific advances to real world practice."
The CCTS operates clinical research units in Memorial Hermann – TMC, the UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston and The University of Texas School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus. These units provide researchers with opportunities to conduct patient studies on a variety of common diseases including cancer and diabetes.
“Our work with M. D. Anderson and our research unit along the Texas-Mexico border differentiates us from other translational research programs across the country,” said McPherson, a long-time, NIH-funded researcher and a leader in the field of cardiology focusing on targeted molecular imaging and drug and gene delivery.
“Translational research takes scientific discovery from the bench to populations. Public health scientists will work hand-in-hand with basic scientists in learning the best ways to implement new discoveries on a large scale. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with the CCTS as I believe it will enhance our work in improving the health of the public,” Ness said.
The CCTS has assisted individual investigators and large research programs, including a grassroots effort to address the obesity epidemic among school children called “CAN DO Houston,” an injury research center that is working on new ways to treat trauma and a national children’s study to identify genetic and environmental factors that contribute to health disorders.
McPherson earned his medical degree at the University of Alberta in Canada and completed his internship, residency and fellowship at Dalhousie University in Canada. McPherson, who is board certified in cardiovascular disease, internal medicine and echocardiography, completed an additional fellowship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Before joining the faculty at the UT Medical School at Houston in 2006, he was the director of cardiology research at Northwestern University for 17 years. He is president of the board of directors of the American Heart Association’s Houston Division, medical director of the Memorial Hermann Heart and Vascular Institute -Texas Medical Center, director of the Division of Cardiology at the UT Medical School and the chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the UT Medical School.
Ness earned her medical degree from Cornell University and her master of public health degree in epidemiology at Columbia University School of Public Health. She taught at Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania before joining the faculty in 1993 at the University of Pittsburgh. She was named chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in 2003. She is the president-elect of the American College of Epidemiology and the Society for General Internal Medicine’s 2008 Distinguished Professor of Women’s Health.
More information on the CCTS is available at its Website (http://ccts.uth.tmc.edu/) or by calling 713-500-7900.