Construction begins on the Research Institute facility

Breaking Ground to Further Medical Discovery

More than 250 dignitaries, community leaders and employees gathered on Jan. 31 to commemorate the breaking ground on The Methodist Hospital Research Institute facility. The 420,000-square-foot facility will face Bertner Avenue and will be attached to the Main Building of the hospital.

It will house approximately 90 principal investigators and the Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation and Education (MITIE) — a first-of-its-kind training center in the United States. One of MITIE’s components will be a state-of-the-art surgical training and virtual hospital facility that will set standards for technical skill acquisition and demonstration of competency for primary and advanced training in multiple surgical disciplines.

Core laboratory facilities will enhance interdisciplinary studies, prepare new biological agents and small molecules for clinical trials, and contain advanced imaging equipment and a special lab for infectious disease research.

Goals The New Building

❖ 420,000 gross square feet ❖ 6 laboratory floors – 90 laboratory modules ❖ State-of-the-art imaging facility (MRI, PET, etc.) ❖ Good Manufacturing

Processes (GMP) facility ❖ Surgical training and virtual hospital facility

The Methodist Hospital Research Institute was initiated to develop better treatments and cures for patients in Houston and around the world. Its goal is to make the latest laboratory findings available to patients as rapidly as possible in the form of new treatments and clinical trials. The Research Institute is committed to moving the latest discoveries in the laboratory to the bedside in order to provide a new standard of care for its patients and those in other parts of the country. More than 650 active clinical trials and protocols currently are under way at the institute.