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| Vol. 23, No. 9 |
| May 15, 2001 |
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Texas Medical Center Receives 2001 City Builder Award The South Main Center Association recognized the Texas Medical Center with the City Builder Award at SMCA's 25th anniversary luncheon April 23. Gov. Rick Perry shared his perspectives about the importance of health care and the contributions of the Texas Medical Center. "Honoring a place that has given substantially more than it's taken - that is what today is all about," the governor said. "I happen to think the Texas Medical Center provides the finest medical care in the world." Gov. Perry said that if one of his loved ones was in need of medical care, he would want them to be in the Texas Medical Center. "This is an incredible place. It is the largest medical center of its type in the world and is the home of numerous renowned medical institutions. Great breakthroughs in cardiac medicine, such as the first coronary bypass, the first successful heart transplant and the first artificial heart implantation in the United States have all occurred within the confines of this great center," he said. "The South Main Center Association has truly chosen a worthy recipient for the City Builder honor." Houston Chronicle chairman, and immediate past chairman and 24-year member of the Texas Medical Center board, Richard J.V. Johnson, said he is proud of the corridor that links the now vibrant downtown to the South Main area. The South Main Center Association has played a magnificent part in turning the dream of the Texas Medical Center into a reality, said Johnson. "On behalf of the Texas Medical Center, I am so honored to have been chosen to respond for the Medical Center," Johnson said. "To those tens-of-thousands of people who work in the Texas Medical Center, and to the skills of dedicated physicians, scientists and academicians, we thank you, and are honored by this occasion, which also honors you, the South Main Center Association." Johnson said Houston is justifiably proud and known worldwide for medical innovation and quality of health care. "I am reminded of what Dr. Richard Wainerdi, president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center said in 1985, soon after he became president," Johnson said. "`You should not say that the Texas Medical Center is there,' he said pointing from his office window. `The Texas Medical Center is an idea and an inspiration. If a medical team from the Texas Medical Center goes to a foreign country to treat a patient, that is where the Texas Medical Center is at that time.'" Virgil Waggoner, a Houston businessman who is active on several Texas Medical Center institutions' boards of directors, chaired the event. "The South Main Center Association is a truly unique Texas place," Waggoner said. "We Houstonians are certainly very, very privileged to have the Texas Medical Center in our town." South Main Center Association Chairman E. Ashley Smith, who is also president of TIRR Systems, said SMCA's goal was to make this award showcase the Texas Medical Center as a vital component of the history and future of Houston's economy and urban fabric. "With the City Builder Award, we recognize the extraordinary vision, generosity and tenacity that have built the 43 member institutions of the Texas Medical Center into the world's largest medical center and Houston's largest single-site employer," stated SMCA President Susan Young. Past recipients of the Houston City Builder Award include the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the Houston Endowment Inc., Dr. John P. McGovern, Mrs. Wesley West, former Houston Mayor Bob and Elyse Lanier, and Dominique de Menil.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/May_15_01/page_03.html |