Houston Research Institutions Awarded $18 Million

Exxon Mobil, the most traded international oil and gas company in the world, donates millions of dollars annually to community organizations that work with the sciences, health and education. The company, which has headquarters in both Irving and Houston, Texas, has a long history of helping out local Texas organizations. Keeping with its commitment to working in Texas, Exxon Mobil recently announced that it will donate $18 million to three research institutions located within the Texas Medical Center in Houston.                                            

• M.D. Anderson Cancer Center - $10 million
• Texas Heart Institute - $5 million 
• Texas Children's Hospital - $3 million

Why did Exxon Mobil choose to donate to these three institutions? Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation explained that “these world-renowned institutions are helping improve the health and lives of families in the greater Houston area and around the world, and we’re proud to support their important mission.”

   The largest award of $10 million will be given to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to support their Healthy Community Initiative. This initiative focuses on developing strategies to lower the risk of people developing cancer and chronic diseases in the Houston area.

   The Texas Heart Institute will receive $5 million to continue researching heart diseases and developing new technologies to help with cardiovascular problems.

   The remaining $3 million will be given to the Texas Children's Hospital to help treat children with disorders such as autism, severe liver disease, and behavioral and developmental problems.

The Texas Medical Center located in Houston is the largest medical complex in the world, consisting of 21 hospitals, 13 support organizations, 8 academic and research institutions, 6 nursing programs, 3 public health organizations, 3 medical schools, 2 universities, 2 pharmacy schools, and 1 dental school. The grants and awards TMC receives come from a wide variety of public and private institutions that give to researchers in all aspects of the life sciences. 

• 2012 Life Science R & D Expenditures: 
  - University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 13th Ranked = $614,604,000
  - Baylor College of Medicine, 22nd Ranked = $474,700,000
  - University of Texas Southwestern Medical, 23rd Ranked = $435,085,000
• 2013 NIH Funding: 
  - Baylor College of Medicine: 29th Ranked = $179,371,102
  - University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: 38th Ranked = $145,779,509
  - University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center: 43rd Ranked = $129,582,281
• The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is constructing a $198 million 185,000 expansion to their hospital, expected to be completed in 2015.   
• The National Human Genome Research Institute awarded Baylor College of Medicine an $8.4 million, four-year grant.
• The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine has received a $6.25 million five-year grant from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to extend their work with T-Cell immunotherapies.

View of the Texas Medical Center (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia)

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If you are a life science researcher interested in attending the Texas Medical Center BioResearch Product Faire™ event, please visit the link below for registration information: