91 years ago
The Texas Medical Center took the first steps toward becoming the world’s largest medical complex.
Since then, TMC has pioneered medical innovations bordering on the impossible. Many of these advancements continue to change people’s lives. This timeline celebrates our milestones and breakthroughs, and the profound impact they’ve made across the entire spectrum of patient care.
Download PDF1925
Hermann Hospital opens to the public and admits its first patient.
Photo courtesy of Texas Medical Center.
1936
Monroe Anderson and trustees establish MD Anderson Foundation with $300,000.
1942
The University of Texas creates MD Anderson Hospital of Cancer and Research of The University of Texas, the first member institution of the Texas Medical Center.
Photo courtesy of the John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center at the Texas Medical Center Library.
1943
The City of Houston provides 134 acres next to Hermann Hospital to establish a hospital district.
Baylor University College of Medicine moves from Dallas to Houston and becomes a member of the Texas Medical Center.
Photo courtesy of Texas Medical Center.
1944
President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the acquisition of a 118-acre site on the corner of Old Spanish Trail and Almeda to be used as naval hospital. The hospital located on the property is now known as Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.
The facility was transferred to the Veterans Administration and renamed the United States Veterans Administration Hospital, and was designated as a teaching hospital, affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. Over the years, surgeon Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., played a major role in the hospital and in developing care for veterans, and the name was officially changed to the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in 2003.
1950
Leopold Meyer starts building a three-story, 106-bed Texas Children’s Hospital.
Photo courtesy of the John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center at the Texas Medical Center Library.
1964
Dr. Michael DeBakey performs world’s first coronary artery bypass procedure at The Methodist Hospital.
Photo courtesy of the John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center at the Texas Medical Center Library.
1968
Dr. Denton Cooley performs one of the first heart transplants in the U.S. at Texas Heart Institute.
Photo courtesy of the John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center at the Texas Medical Center Library.
1971
Texas Children’s Hospital collaborates with NASA to construct plastic isolator bubble for boy born with severe immune disorder.
Photo courtesy of Texas Medical Center.
1976
Hermann Hospital launches Life Flight, the first private hospital air ambulance service.
Photo courtesy of the John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center at the Texas Medical Center Library.
1991
Texas Heart Institute releases first patient in the world with an electric, portable, battery-powered heart pump.
Photo courtesy of Texas Medical Center.
2011
Researchers from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine discover a way to grow blood vessels and capillaries.
Photo courtesy of Texas Medical Center.
2012
Texas Children’s Hospital delivers Perkins sextuplets—the only surviving sextuplets in Texas—at 30 weeks.
Photo courtesy of Texas Medical Center.
2014
Over 150 member and community leaders gather to discuss the future of the Texas Medical Center and position it as the world’s leader in life sciences.
Photo courtesy of Texas Medical Center.
2014
TMC launches the Innovation Institute, the first of five institutes, developed to foster collaboration across the member institutions.
2015
The Health Policy Institute is launched in 2015. TMC Health Policy is the second of five collaborative programs created by the Texas Medical Center to elevate the collective resources of its member institutions on a national and global scale.
2018