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Staking the Future of Baylor College of Medicineby Dana Benson  (from left) Margaret Alkek Williams, Charles Brunicardi, M.D., Michael S. Stevens, William T. Butler, M.D., Jay Stein, M.D., Peter G. Traber, M.D., Corbin Robertson, Jr., Dan L. Duncan and Lester H. Smith In a gesture representing the team work that is the backbone of Baylor College of Medicine, College leaders, faculty, staff and trainees took part in staking the "Future Home of the Baylor Clinic and Hospital" sign into the ground at a May 23 ceremony held on the site of the new health care campus. Every swing of the hammer and shovel of dirt moved the College closer to realizing its blueprint for the future—a plan that includes an adult hospital, outpatient clinics, faculty offices and research space. The fully integrated health care facility, which will focus on personalized, gene-based medicine, will open in 2010, and be led by Donna K. Sollenberger, who was named Chief Executive Officer of the Baylor Clinic and Hospital and Executive Vice President of BCM on July 31. Sollenberger, a nationally recognized leader in health care administration, currently serves as President and CEO of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. Her appointment at BCM is effective Oct. 22. 
Donna K. Sollenberger, Chief Executive Officer of the Baylor Clinic and Hospital and Executive Vice President of BCM. "Donna Sollenberger's background in health care leadership and strong ties to the Houston community will ensure the successful implementation of our vision for the future—delivering personalized medicine through the Baylor Clinic and Hospital," said Peter G. Traber, M.D., BCM President and CEO. "Donna will add her expertise to the outstanding cadre of faculty, staff, and trainees here at BCM. Baylor is a top-ranked medical school because of what each individual contributes on a daily basis, which is why we had representatives from each of these groups participate in the groundbreaking celebration. We have staked our future and it's a good one—for our institution, for Houston and for the nation." 
The entire BCM family celebrated the ceremonial start of construction of the College's new clinic and hospital, as all faculty, staff and trainees enjoyed a picnic on campus. The groundbreaking was preceded by an announcement of the $1 billion Best Minds Best Medicine campaign for clinical, research and education priorities and followed by a celebratory picnic on the Baylor College of Medicine campus for more than 9,000 staff, faculty and students. They were treated to Goode Co. Barbecue, Blue Bell ice cream, BCM Best Minds Best Medicine t-shirts and live music from the fittingly monikored Collaboration Band. The campaign started with a silent phase three years ago and has now raised more than $520 million, according to Corbin J. Robertson, Jr., BCM Trustee and Chair of the fundraising effort. 
Several of BCM's best wielded shovels as part of the onsite ceremony, which was attended by members of BCM's Board of Trustees, College leaders and other members of the community. "Baylor College of Medicine is one of the central spokes of the Texas Medical Center because of the great philanthropy that we've experienced here in the city of Houston and around the state," Robertson said. "Baylor's campaign is shaping up to be one of the biggest campaigns in the history of Texas and is the biggest campaign in Houston." The new Baylor Clinic and Hospital marks the first time in this region that a facility has been built from the ground up on a platform of digital technology, commented Traber. 
Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., and Shankar Gopinath, M.D. "This will provide enormous opportunities for improving patient care and safety, and for integrating our programs so that we deliver the type of care that we really want to, which is personalized and at the same time focused on the most recent advances in medicine," he said. Surgery chair F. Charles Brunicardi, M.D., who participated in the groundbreaking, is enthusiastic about the health care campus. He said the faculty's "collective intellect" will enable the College "to realize the vision of genomic medicine, to discover the human genome of health and disease and to translate that knowledge into the creation of new and exciting genomic diagnostics and genomic therapies for our patients in the Baylor Clinic." The hospital, which will be located on a 35-acre tree-lined property within a mile of the main campus, is an historic first for BCM, which has never had its own inpatient facility. "We're doing what we must do, which is to build a hospital that we control and to pursue a different level of excellence," said Robert H. "Bob" Allen, Chair of the Board of Trustees. "Our obligation to the community is to deliver the best medicine, and building the hospital will permit us to meet that obligation." |
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Tailoring Technology to Benefit You, the Patient
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Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 2007 |
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