FROM THE PRESIDENT

The Texas Medical Center is pleased to welcome Texas Southern University’s College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences as the newest of the 42 institutions.

With the addition of this fine school, the Texas Medical Center now has seven collegiate affiliations across the 700-acre campus, including TSU, Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Texas System, Texas A&M University System, University of Houston, Texas Woman’s University, and the Houston Community College System.

The former Nabisco building at 2450 Holcombe, which the Texas Medical Center purchased in 2000, will become home to some of the university’s teaching, research and service activities this fall. Currently on the Texas Medical Center campus, 85 TSU students are already participating in advanced pharmacy practice, medical technology, respiratory therapy and health administration rotations at several institutions.

The mission of the college is to produce quality health care professionals, especially African-Americans and other minorities, who are competent and competitive in pharmacy and the health sciences. The program’s numbers speak volumes about this mission – 84 percent of African-American pharmacy majors are enrolled at TSU, as well as 12 percent of the black and 8 percent of the total number of enrolled minority pharmacy students nationwide.

The various committees and councils of the Texas Medical Center welcome a close, working relationship with TSU faculty and staff. We’re glad they could join us.

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Also worth noting, last month the South Main Center Association launched a community awareness campaign to distinguish and highlight the diverse elements that make up the South Main corridor. This campaign, called the H.E.A.R.T. of Houston, encompasses the elements of health, education, art, recreation, and technology.

In recognition of the importance of the Texas Medical Center’s membership in the South Main Center Association, the H.E.A.R.T. of Houston campaign was introduced at the new Denton A. Cooley Building, home of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, which resides in the heart of the Texas Medical Center.

In addition to the 42 Texas Medical Center member institutions, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the Museum District museums, Miller Outdoor Theater, and Hermann Park, all members of the South Main Center Association, 21 area churches, also members, offer diverse ways to worship and serve the community. The boards of this consortium of organizations are guided by 3,000 Houston leaders, and annually guided by more than 100,000 volunteers and members who support these groups’ missions.

The 27-year-old South Main Center Association serves its members by protecting and enhancing the area in which these institutions and neighborhoods change and grow. The association’s goal is an area that is a haven for people of different backgrounds to live, work, learn, heal, play and worship – a special and uniquely Texas place that is valued here and recognized worldwide. This is a unique community, and there are many people working hard to make it a very attractive place to live and work.

E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/03_15_02/page_23.html