TMC experiences unprecedented growth
The Texas Medical Center, already the largest medical center in the world, is experiencing billions of dollars of unprecedented growth with construction projects planned now through 2014 to keep pace with the city of Houston and Harris County’s population growth, according to a recent TMC survey. Planned projects total more than $7 billion in building new hospitals, clinics, research, and other office space by Texas Medical Center institutions along with city, county, state, and federal investment for infrastructure, including flood control, new roads, and bridges.
The Texas Medical Center recently compared gross square footage of the buildings on TMC campuses to the gross square footage of buildings in major downtown districts. TMC’s current size is about 28.3 million gross square feet, not counting parking facilities. That is greater than the total square footage of the downtowns of San Antonio, El Paso and Ft. Worth combined. That data also shows that TMC would rank 17th among the nation’s top business districts, only slightly below downtown Los Angeles at 28.5 million gross square feet. TMC’s projected growth is from its current 28.3 million gross square feet to 40 million gross square feet in 2014, excluding parking; a figure that, among today’s downtowns, would rank 7th in the nation. This expansion does not include the satellite facilities planned or under construction throughout the Houston metropolitan region by TMC member institutions, such as Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, The Methodist Hospital System, Texas Children’s Hospital, St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Overall expansion includes adding another 23,480 parking spaces by 2014, bringing the total to at least 72,181 spaces. All the additional growth would also spark the need for more employees for a workforce estimated to exceed 100,000 from the current 73,000.
-TMC sources
Leadership award deadline Dec. 14
Faculty and staff around the UT Health Science Center are urged to nominate a deserving colleague for the Third Annual Michael J. Jimenez Leadership in Action Award by Dec. 14. The first two winners were Dr. Bob Emery, in 2005 and Dr. Paul Darlington, in 2006. The ongoing award honors the memory of the late Mike Jimenez, former vice president and chief human resources officer. The third annual award will be presented in February 2008 at The STAR Awards luncheon – the annual occasion honoring personnel on multiples of five-year service anniversaries.
“Eligible persons are those individuals among our faculty, A&P and classified staff who have demonstrated the traits that we so admired in Mike,” explained Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D. “The award is a great honor for a deserving campus leader.”
Willerson added that a $5,000 cash prize underscores the importance of leadership within the health science center community. E-mail nominations to: sam.hester@uth.tmc.edu
Art for Art Wall’s sake
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The Art Wall raised more than $4,700 for its endowment fund thanks to generous Medical School community artists who donated their work for the annual Silent Art Auction and the generous art patrons who purchased it.
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