Earlier this week, the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Institute for Translational Sciences (ITS) and its partners met with the Greater Houston Partnership, the region's largest chamber of commerce, to discuss ways to measure the impact of an innovative translational science collaboration on the region's biomedical ecosystem.

The ITS is collaborating with three Houston-area academic and medical institutions to improve the health of greater gulf coast communities. The four partners—Houston Methodist, Texas Southern University (TSU), the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL), and UTMB—each bring unique strengths to the multi-institutional cross-disciplinary translational team (MCTT). An MCTT is a collaboration model for translational science developed by ITS team science experts and is based on established multi-system team models.

MCTTs support boundary-crossing innovations to address health and wellness. The UTMB, TSU, UHCL, and Houston Methodist MCTT is working to reduce health disparities and maximize improvements in community health. The MCTT will develop programs to help train a diverse biomedical workforce, facilitate the translation of research discoveries into equitable community health benefits, and drive regional economic expansion through innovation in the biomedical ecosystem. 

Pictured left to right:

Rashid Mosavin, RPh, PhD, MBA, Dean and Professor, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Texas Southern University

Glenn Sanford, JD, PhD, Dean, College of Human Sciences and Humanities, University of Houston-Clear Lake

Kevin Wooten, PhD, Professor of Management, University of Houston-Clear Lake, and Consulting Director for Evaluation and Lead Team Science Consultant for the Institute for Translational Sciences at UTMB

Verena Kallhoff, PhD, MBA, Senior Director of Global Life Sciences, Greater Houston Partnership

Randall J. Urban, MD, Director of the Institute for Translational Sciences, Chief Research Officer and Vice President of Research at UTMB.

Edward A. Jones, MBA, President and CEO, Houston Methodist Research Institute