Houston Methodist 2012 Foundation Magazine by Houston Methodist Professional Publications

THE

Methodist Hospital F O U N D AT I O N

2012

CELEBRATING THE METHODIST HOSPITAL’S

TRANSFORMATION INTO A LEADING ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTER

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Table of Contents

THE WONDERS OF TRANSPLANT MEDICINE Inspiring stories of generosity

A D VA N C E S I N NEUROLOGY The benefactors and doctors who are making progress in treatment for Alzheimer’s, ALS and stroke

WOMEN ON THE CUTTING EDGE Four surgeons who are at the pinnacle of their profession

VISIONARY LEADERSHIP 4 TRANSFORMATION 6 WONG 10 FAMILY TIES 20 HEART CENTER 26 HONORING LEADERS 32 TOWERING TRIBUTE 34 CPAM 38 EVENTS 46 BOARDS 62 ENDOWED CHAIRS

RESEARCH INSTITUTE

LEAVING A LEGACY

63 64

BE NCH TO BE D SIDE MethodistHealth.com/Foundation

M Boom, M.D. Marc PPresident Chief Executive Officer C TThe Methodist Hospital System

Since The Method dist Hospiital waas fou unded almost 95 years ago, its mission has allways been to

the

com mmun nityy by healin ng th hose who are sick. This unyiiellding focu us on keepiing ou ur patieents at the centter of whatt we do has leed to substan ntial ad dvancements in patien nt carre, reesearrch and edu ucattion n. W e haa ve su u c cee ssff u llyy

i n to a l e ad d i ngg acc ad d e m ic

mediccal cen nterr th hat is makin ng a signiďŹ ďŹ cant impactt on the futu ure of mediicin ne and sccien nce.. Thee Leeadiing Meddicinee. Givingg Hoope. camp paign helped d us reallize th his in nstiitutiionaal trran nsfoorm matiion n, and d I mustt crred dit ourr foorwaard d-thiinkin ng and

phillan nth hrop picc

com mmun nityy foor expaand dingg thee boound dariees of what we thooughtt poossibble. I am m espeeciaally graateeful to Joh hn Boookoout an nd Daviid Und derw wood, whosse leaderrship and contrribu ution ns durringg th he cam mpaaign n haave beeen insstru umen ntall and d

. We ap pprecciatee all whoo gaave durin ng th he

campaiign and d arre grratefful for th heir viision, generrosiity and faith in n ourr misssion n.

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E Ewing Werlein, Jr. Chair BBoard of Directors The Methodist Hospital System

The Meth h o d i s t H o s p i t a l’’ s coo m mitment to

i s a h a l l m ark

o f i tss t raa d i t i on n . M ethoo d ist’s j o u r ney d urii ngg t h e last d ecad d e exx em m p l i f iee s t hi s p urss u it off e xcellence, creatt i n g forr Hou u stoo n a l e ad d in ng acc a d em m ic mee dicaa l cee nter wh h i l e further stt r engthen n ing ourr faii th h -bb asee d s pii ritt uaa l e nvirr onm m ent off

. O n beh h alf o f th h e b oaa rd d off

d irr ecc tors, I waant too salutt e the physicians, employeess , scien n tistt s, volu u ntee err s, an d c om mu u n ity l ea d ers wh ho have acc cee lerr atee d M eth h odii s t’s proo g ress as a global

in meediccin ne.

Toggeth herr, wee aree creatting a world of better health for tod day and d for the futu ure.

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ISI

ONARY LEADERSHIP T H E S UC C E S S O F T H E L E A D I N G M E D I C I N E . G I V I N G H O P E . C A M PA I G N WA S D U E T O T H E F O R E S I G H T A N D G E N E R O S I T Y O F M A N Y P E O P L E .

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M R . J O H N B O O KO U T

M R . DAV I D M . U N D E R W O O D

John Bookout, retired president and CEO of Shell Oil in Houston, serves as Senior Chair of The Methodist Hospital System Board and also chairs The Methodist Hospital Foundation Board.

David Underwood is a member of one of Houston’s most philanthropic families, the Fondrens. He has been on The Methodist Hospital System Board of Directors for nearly 50 years, and served as chairman of the Leading Medicine. Giving Hope. campaign.

“Methodist is an institution of great excitement and creativity. Today, renowned and dedicated professionals are collaborating to advance new methods of patient care and to pioneer breakthroughs in treating illness. I want to express my deepest gratitude to the thousands of individuals who value our eﬀorts and give generously to Methodist. With the continued support of the community, this vital work will be greatly accelerated.”

“Over the last eight years, The Methodist Hospital has evolved at a pace and in a manner I don’t think has ever been achieved before. Its transformation from an excellent community hospital into a nationally recognized Academic Medical Center is nothing short of extraordinary.”

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SNART TRANS

MROF FORM

NOITA ATION

Photo by Jim Aker, KPS

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IN 2004, THE METHODIST HOSPITAL SET THE LOFTY AND RATHER UNPRECEDENTED GOAL TO BECOME A WORLD-CLASS ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTER.

THE METAMORPHOSIS REQUIRED VISION, DETERMINATION, TALENT, LEADERSHIP AND $ 200 MILLION IN FUNDRAISING.

When The Methodist Hospital opened its first, modest building 93 years ago, it offered healing to the people of Houston and promised the latest medical breakthroughs. Nearly a full century later, that mission has been sustained by the vision of “Leading Medicine. Giving Hope.” But while the mission remains the same, much else has changed. Since the inception of the Leading Medicine. Giving Hope. campaign in 2004, The Methodist Hospital System® has undergone an enormous transformation. What was previously a highly respected patient care facility with a longstanding reputation for innovative heart and vascular care has evolved into a leading Academic Medical Center, where scientists, clinicians and patients benefit from the translational “bench to bedside” research approach that is at the core of the hospital’s mission. The changes have occurred so rapidly that

Methodist is now widely ranked among the nation’s elite academic hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts General Hospital. Philanthropic contributions have helped make it possible for Methodist to invest in better technology, pursue cuttingedge research and treat those who otherwise might have been untreatable. As a result of the success of the Leading Medicine. Giving Hope. campaign and the partnership with Weill Cornell Medical College, The Methodist Hospital now boasts 26 endowed chairs and professorships; 27 annual fellowships, awards and scholarships; and seven Centers of Excellence operating under the umbrella of The Methodist Hospital System. What follows is a close-up look at some of these exciting new programs, as well as interviews with the visionary leaders and benefactors who have made them possible.

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HIGHLIGHTS

A FEW

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RESEARCHING

SHARING

Dr. Carol Ashton, holder of the John F., Jr. and Carolyn Bookout Professorship in Surgical Quality and Outcomes Science, has an extensive record of scholarship in health services. As a senior member of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Ashton identiﬁed an important grant opportunity to advance the work of Methodist researchers in combating sepsis, a potentially deadly bacterial infection of the blood. Nurse-led sepsis identiﬁcation and treatment protocols developed by Ashton’s colleague Dr. Stephen L. Jones and his team have had phenomenal results at Methodist. The protocols, known as SERRI (Sepsis Early Recognition and Response Initiative), have saved an estimated 300 or more lives since their inception. Ashton helped secure a $14.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to replicate this program and place dozens of SERRItrained nurses in health care facilities across the region. The Bookout Professorship gave Ashton protected time and resources to pursue the sepsis project and ultimately obtain the funding needed for the program to progress.

Philanthropy in Houston is alive and well, but the giving spirit of Texans extends far beyond the city limits. Methodist, in partnership with the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, has founded two groundbreaking projects aimed at saving lives and enhancing heart and stroke care in East Texas, located in what is often referred to as the “stroke belt.” Through the East Texas Stroke Initiative and the East Texas Heart & Vascular Initiative, Methodist’s specialists are assisting their colleagues at Memorial Medical Center–Lufkin in advancing care for the area’s residents. With Methodist’s guidance and counsel, as well as enhanced staﬀ training on the most advanced stroke treatment protocols, Memorial earned Joint Commission accreditation as a Primary Stroke Center and has greatly enhanced the hospital’s administration of the life-saving, clot-busting stroke drug, tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) to stroke victims. The Stroke Initiative also includes an in-depth community outreach program to raise awareness about stroke in the region. It serves as a model for its newer counterpart, the East Texas Heart & Vascular Initiative, which is already advancing cardiovascular care provided in the area. Both projects are generously funded by the Temple Foundation, which supports community improvement, health and medicine, education and human services, primarily in the East Texas region.

LEARNING

HEALING

CARING

The Swadesh Khurana Healing Garden (shown above) reflects one family’s efforts to bring world-class stroke care to Houston’s Willowbrook area. In 2007, Swadesh Khurana – a mental health professional and family matriarch – suffered a fatal stroke at her northwest Houston home. She was rushed to the Texas Medical Center, but by the time she reached the operating room, it was too late. Thanks in part to an endowment from the Khurana family, Methodist Willowbrook Hospital is now certified as a Primary Stroke Center, offering advanced care for stroke victims. The endowment supports a fellowship to be awarded annually to an internal applicant based on his or her unique plan to advance stroke care.

Supported by a generous gift from ConocoPhillips, the Methodist Care Navigator program is designed to assist patients and their doctors and nurses with coordinating their plans of care, to ensure that patients are receiving the right care in the right setting at the right time. Care Navigator nurses maintain detailed documentation of each encounter with a patient, and of any interventions and referrals provided to the patient. The program is designed to make health care more eﬃcient and eﬀective and to reduce overall costs. It is especially valuable for those with major illnesses, such as cancer or diabetes, where navigating the health care system can be confusing for patients and their families.

Dyer Fellowships, made possible through the support of the Constance M. and Byron F. Dyer Endowment Fund, were awarded to two outstanding recipients in 2012: Dr. Sherilyn Gordon Burroughs, Department of Surgery, and Dr. Basel Ramlawi, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery. Gordon Burroughs will use her fellowship to develop an intestinal transplant program at Methodist, a novel procedure for patients with intestinal failure who develop life-threatening complications from receiving nutrition through a catheter or needle. Ramlawi will use the fellowship to travel to Italy to observe percutaneous mitral (MitraClip) procedures. This experience is part of a larger eﬀort to develop a strong program in transcatheter mitral repair interventions at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, and to position Methodist as a national leader in catheter-based valve repair.

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THE MANY MINDS OF

STEPHEN WONG

AS A RESEARCHER, PROFESSOR, BIOENGINEER A N D S C I E N T I S T, S T E P H E N W O N G W O R K S I N FA S C I N AT I N G WAY S .

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A PAGING STEPHEN WONG Stephen Wong is the founding director of the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for BRAIN (Bioinformatics Research and Imaging for Neurosciences). He also holds the John S. Dunn Sr. Distinguished Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering and is the founding chair of the Systems Medicine and Bioengineering research program at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute. Wong is a Professor of Computer Science and Bioengineering in Radiology, Neuroscience, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

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t The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, one brilliant idea man is searching for breakthrough therapeutic solutions the way anyone else might look for an interesting new restaurant to try: by surfing the Internet. It would be a mistake to question his methods. Stephen Wong, Ph.D., P.E., has a track record of producing game-changing innovations along a criss-crossing career path that is unique in every way. Early on, as an engineer in the computer industry, he was part of the original teams to automate production of the first inkjet printer and the first VLSI 1MB computer chip. He was also the only U.S. scientist ever invited by the Japanese government to conduct long-term research in their decade-long, billion-dollar national artificial intelligence supercomputing project.

e followed those feats by contributing to the country’s first hospitalwide digital radiology imagemanagement system for academic medical centers. He then moved to the medical imaging industry where he led product development for Philips Medical Systems, including the implementation of one of the largest radiology information systems in Europe, and later to the financial industry, where he directed the development of the first and largest online brokerage trading system. Wong clearly has a handle on creative thinking. As a researcher at Harvard, this internationally

AS PART OF HIS RESEARCH, WONG USES LIGHT TO ACTIVATE NEURONS FOR REGENERATION. HIS TOOL IS THE INTRAVITAL TWO-PROTON MICROSCOPE.

acclaimed bioengineer focused with great success on imaging and drug screening of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease, which now affects more than 5.4 million individuals in the United States. He also directed the functional and molecular imaging center and set up the ﬁrst cyclotron at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. When a colleague enticed him to come to Houston in 2007, Wong found himself compelled to join an academic institution that was open to his unconventional, forward-thinking ideas. One of his latest formidable goals, and he has many, is to ﬁnd a treatment for progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. He intends to do this in his lifetime, and he sees his realm of opportunity on the Web – a vast database he believes other medical researchers should more seriously embrace.

ong is not interested in ﬁnding new drugs, a process he sees as too timeconsuming and cost-prohibitive. “It takes $2 billion and 17 years to discover a new drug – if we are lucky. That’s ridiculous,” he says, eager to prove his point with well-memorized data he summons instantly on his MacBook Air laptop. Instead, Wong focuses primarily on drug repurposing. He and his teams use high-throughput screening and supercomputing to analyze known drugs, including FDA-approved drugs, experimental drugs and even failed drugs that have passed high failure Phase I trials for safety. His goal is to repurpose these drugs for other uses, accelerating the lengthy drug discovery process. His research team has established a technical platform that allows them to speed-mine through petabytes of data, performing millions of chemical, genetic and pharmaceutical tests to understand what aﬀects a particular biomolecular pathway. Working with the Methodist Cancer Center, they already applied this platform to speed-reposition breast cancer drugs into Phase II trials and are now attempting to apply the same technology to Alzheimer’s and rare cancer.

methods or optimizing its chemical structure.” If he ﬁnds a winner in his quest to cure Alzheimer’s, Wong will save eight to 10 years of development time and billions of dollars. More important, he will potentially change the lives of an alarming number of people suﬀering from a disease that steals their memory and is fast becoming an epidemic.

espite its eﬃciency, his work requires funding. Enter the family of Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao. When this remarkable and philanthropic family met Wong, they were intrigued, convinced he was on to something big. In honor of their parents, the Chao family provided the support for Wong’s work with a major gift through their family’s foundation to form The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong

Chao Center for Bioinformatics Research and Imaging for Neurosciences (BRAIN). Wong is now deep into many studies that are on track with his goal of halting or reversing neurodegeneration, including the use of cell regeneration and optogenetics, also known as light therapy, as alternatives to drugs.

s for the future, Wong believes Houston needs more people doing what he does, and he views sharing as essential. He has visions of a well-equipped community facility where all researchers are welcome, on the condition that they share what they discover. It is another amazing idea, and it will take more special funding to make it a reality. But Wong has his ways of making amazing things happen.

is playing ﬁeld is vast, and Wong loves it. “There are 1 4,000 known drugs and 23,000 known diseases. That’s a lot of matchmaking,” he says, obviously thrilled by the possibilities. “And once a drug is identiﬁed as usable for another disease, we can further improve its performance by reformulation, better delivery MethodistHealth.com/Foundation

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SHARING A LIFE WELL LIVED The Methodist J. C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center is one of the largest and fastest-growing transplant centers in the country, thanks to the generous financial support of a grateful organ recipient’s family members and the visionary direction of an extraordinary transplantation specialist.

Given the gift of life when all seems lost, transplant patients and their families are bound to be appreciative. The J. C. Walter Jr. family has been monumentally so. They have given The Methodist Hospital and its patients many gifts of life in gratitude for their father’s. The Walter family has been instrumental in shaping the future of Methodist for decades. Joseph C. Walter Jr. was a devoted hospital board member for over 30 years. Joe’s son, J. C. “Rusty” Walter III, now a board member himself, works in earnest to fill his father’s rather large shoes at Methodist and at the helm of the Walter Oil and Gas Corporation his father founded back in 1981.

Joe Walter was a classic wildcatter more inspired by the adventure of his work than the money. Family, friends and associates agree, Joe put his all into everything he loved. “My father was never one to sit still,” Rusty says, remembering a statement his father made about competing with major oil companies to prove his point. “Dad would say, ‘They may have better resources, more people, more capital and better technology, but we can outwork them.’” Ironically, the only thing that ever slowed Rusty’s father down was the heart he so kindly shared with others.

JOSEPH C. “RUSTY ” WALTER III, PAULA WALTER, CAROLE WALTER LOOKE, JIM LOOKE AND ELIZABETH WALTER (SEATED).

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THE WALTER FAMILY TRADITION LIVES ON,HEART AND SOUL.

THE

Joe had a heart attack in 1978, followed by two bypasses within the next eight years. In 1990, with Joe’s life on the line, he received a successful heart transplant at Methodist and in the process, he and his family formed relationships with many of the hospital’s wonderful physicians, including surgeon Dr. Jimmy Howell. Elizabeth Walter credits the transplant and care he received at Methodist for adding seven years to her husband’s life. Having those extra years allowed Joe to get to know all of his grandchildren. Carole Walter Looke and her husband, Jim, were especially grateful. She gave birth to eight of Joe’s grandchildren, all at Methodist, with the grandfatherto-be pacing in the waiting room each time. Following in the elder Walter’s footsteps, this close-knit family continues to share their time and their financial resources with Methodist. In 2010, they committed a significant gift to establish the Methodist

J. C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center in their father’s memory. The idea came after a serendipitous meeting with Dr. Osama Gaber, Methodist’s director of transplantation. Rusty and his wife, Paula, were thoroughly impressed by his vision to create an integrated, end-stage organ failure management program. Proud to help fast-forward the process, the family also funded a distinguished endowed chair in their father’s name, which Gaber holds. Under Gaber’s direction, the Center is now garnering national acclaim for exciting new transplantation inventions and techniques, and driving the growth of the hospital both academically and clinically. The family also established the Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter and Carole Walter Looke Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Disease Research, which promises to continue the big-hearted Walter family legacy for generations to come.

TRANSPLANT ADDED

7 YEARS TO HIS LIFE ALLOWING HIM TO

KNOW ALL OF HIS

GRANDCHILDREN

EMILY HERRMANN INSPIRED A GIFT THAT IS MAKING TRANSFORMATIONAL CANCER RESEARCH POSSIBLE. Rusty and Carole’s philanthropy also established the Emily Herrmann Cancer Research Laboratory at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in honor of their beloved friend and colleague, a Methodist patient who in 2007 lost her 10-year battle with breast cancer. Emily Herrmann began working at Walter Oil and Gas Corporation three years after Joe opened its doors. She happily remained there for more than 25 years. On the fourth anniversary of Herrmann’s 16

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death, nearly 150 friends and family members gathered to celebrate her life. As a result of their generosity, $1.5 million in philanthropic support has been secured to establish the Emily Herrmann Cancer Research Laboratory Fund – a fitting tribute to a tenacious woman who inspired so many people in her lifetime. This vital fund enables researchers to experiment with revolutionary tools and potential cures for cancer that otherwise might not see the light of day.

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AND

FOR

GIVING FROM

THE HEART

Years ago, transplant patients on the waiting list for organs had to remain hospitalized. John L. Hern spent his time, more than eight months, getting to know his fellow patients. As a result, he became determined to help ease their ﬁnancial burden. Today, his daughter and her husband quietly carry the torch.

John L. Hern understood hard times. He grew up in a small rural Kansas town just after the Great Depression, worked his way up from the oil ﬁelds, and ultimately created a successful oil and gas business. He cherished the idea of chasing a dream, and he happily supported friends, employees and acquaintances with promising business plans of their own. Because of a virus suﬀered years earlier, Hern required a heart transplant in 1996. During a 252-day hospital stay awaiting a suitable organ, he befriended others on the transplant waiting lists – learning that many could not afford the costs associated with such serious treatment. Hern was moved by this, and made clear his intentions to find a way to help. Despite a successful transplant, he died less than one year later after anti-rejection medications failed.

Honoring his wishes, his only daughter, Paula Hern, and her husband, Tom Barbour, established the JLH Foundation in his name. Initially, the foundation provided financial assistance for heart transplant patients and their families. Since its inception, the JLH Foundation has continued to honor Hern’s generous spirit, expanding its gift to support all organ transplant patients. Through a partnership with the Houston Astros, the foundation also promotes awareness of the critical need for more organ donors. Most recently, the JLH Foundation made a lead gift to fund the construction of Nora’s Home, a comfortable house near the Texas Medical Center that promises to oﬀer 3,000 room nights per year for traveling transplant patients and their families.

PAULA HERN AND TOM BARBOUR

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GIFT

NORA’S

A beautiful little girl’s untimely death could have been the end of her story. Instead, Nora Gaber lives on, through the ultimate gift of love and through the foundation she inspired. Nora’s Gift Foundation will soon open the doors to Nora’s Home, a very special place for transplant patients and their families.

In a cruel blow, fate turned the tables on Methodist transplant surgeon Dr. Osama Gaber and his wife Lillian, a renowned transplant pathologist, taking their precious daughter Nora in a car accident. At once, these transplantation experts and adoring parents understood the significance and the pain of deciding to honor Nora’s selfless spirit by donating her organs to critically ill children. Also in her honor, they created Nora’s Gift Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee, where they lived at the time. The foundation helps fund vital research and education, along with the first Nora’s Home. Nora’s Home enables traveling transplant patients and their families, regardless of their finances, to find comfort and support as they follow their path, during and after surgery.

Their inspiration will soon take shape in Houston. A new, 16-bedroom Nora’s Home, featuring a family-style kitchen and communal living areas, is under construction on prime Methodist Hospital-owned property, thanks to the generous support of contributors and the enthusiastic involvement of the entire community. Dr. Lillian Gaber is deeply moved by the volunteers she has met along the way. “It just amazes me,” she says. “It’s almost like we don’t have to do anything. People come with their ideas, and they are wonderful.” Nora’s Home Houston is scheduled to open in 2013, and will serve the transplant patients of all hospitals within the Texas Medical Center, another gift to the world from a little girl who has continued to share far beyond her years.

NORA GABER MethodistHealth.com/Foundation

FA M I LY T I E S The Fondren familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generosity of time and resources has helped The Methodist Hospital grow from humble beginnings.

Walter W. Fondren, Sr.

David M. Underwood

Walter W. Fondren III

The Methodist Hospital Foundation

Ella F. Fondren

Walter Bryan Trammell, Jr.

Ann Gordon Trammell Thomas S. Trammell

The deep roots of The Methodist Hospital are forever intertwined with the Fondrens, including seven family members who have proudly served on the hospitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board. The more than 90-year history of the hospital is inseparable from the story of how Walter W. and Ella F. Fondren and their descendants have directly inďŹ&#x201A;uenced its course.

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WA L T E R W. F O N D R E N

and

THE

E A R LY D A Y S

THE METHODIST H O S P I TA L

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In the midst of the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918-19, Dr. Oscar Norsworthy of Houston offered his own 30-bed hospital to the Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Presiding church elder Robert W. Adams called together a committee of church and business leaders on December 9, 1919, to consider the offer. Walter W. Fondren was vice president of that committee. From that modest meeting, The Methodist Hospital and the Fondren family forged a relationship that continues through today. Walter was a self-made man who did well during the Texas oil industry boom. He and his wife Ella were devoted to their church and supported its programs. Over the years, Methodist became their favorite recipient of philanthropy. Several years later, Fondren was on the building committee when the hospital was completed in 1922, and he then continued on its board of directors. On more than one occasion, he made significant donations to Methodist – in some instances to keep the doors open, and in others to push it to greatness. Often, money was given so quietly that not even the family can truly say how much they have given over the past nine decades. Walter W. Fondren died of a heart attack in 1939 while attending a church meeting. However, Ella diligently continued her husband’s work when she was subsequently elected to the board of The Methodist Hospital. “After my husband was gone,” Ella recalled, “I had to take up some of the steps that he’d been traveling.”

ELLA FONDREN AND HER GRANDCHILDREN Pictured from left to right: Eleanor Ann Fondren, Mary Doris Fondren Lummis, Walter William Fondren III, Sue Trammell WhitďŹ eld, Peter Fondren Underwood, W. Bryan Trammell, Jr., Catherine Camille Fondren Habermacher and Ella F. Fondren

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ELLA FONDREN: CENTRAL TO THE H O S P I T A L’ S H I S T O R Y Ella has been referred to as the “Matriarch of Methodist.” That moniker seems quite fitting, considering that she spent more than 60 years of her life in service to the hospital. Time and time again, Ella was involved in key decisions concerning the hospital and contributed significantly to major milestones. She was on the building committee for the hospital’s new Texas Medical Center site, and was instrumental in optimistically pushing for a larger 300-bed facility at a time when such an endeavor was thought too financially risky by many on the board.

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When the new building opened on November 10, 1951, Ella was the only woman on the board. Due to her drive and inﬂuence, some of the men considered her a majority of one. The Fondren Foundation and Trusts helped ﬁnance a new west wing for the hospital, which opened on June 1, 1960. Present, as always, at the ribbon cutting was Ella Fondren. During her lifetime, no ceremony at Methodist was complete without her. She attended so many ribbon cuttings that she bought her own pair of sterling silver scissors for such occasions. On the heels of the new hospital, Ella spearheaded efforts for a cardiovascularorthopedic research center. She contributed generously to the construction of the Ella F. Fondren Building (later rededicated as the Ella F. & Walter W. Fondren Building). A simultaneous groundbreaking took place on October 27, 1964, of the Fondren and Brown Cardiovascular and Orthopedic Research Center. Thanks, once again, to the Fondren Foundation, six floors were later added to the Fondren Building. As the expansion continued, major contributors included the Catherine Fondren Underwood Trust and another gift from the Fondren Trusts in memory of Sue Fondren Trammell. Ella’s impact on The Methodist Hospital is best summed up by the words of former Chief Administrator Ted Bowen, who once quipped, “Running The Methodist Hospital was easy. Mrs. Fondren always told me what to do, and I did it.”

DAV I D U N D E R W O O D : E X P A N D I N G O N T H E FA M I LY T R A D I T I O N No family member ever instructed a young David Underwood to carry on the family’s support of The Methodist Hospital. Yet, as its longest-serving board member – 2013 will mark his ﬁftieth year on the board – that is precisely what he has done. “My grandparents and parents and I have been very blessed. We have all felt some requirement to give back,” acknowledges Underwood. “I enjoy working with Methodist. Always have.” Underwood was elected to the board in 1963 along with two of his cousins – Bryan Trammell and Walter W. Fondren, III. In the nearly 50 years since, he has helped to oversee the hospital’s dramatic growth and transformation from an excellent patient care institution into a renowned Academic Medical Center. The philanthropic giving of time and funds has not stopped with Mr. Underwood. He is proud of the continued involvement of his two sons. David M. Underwood, Jr., serves on the board of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, while Duncan K. Underwood and his wife, Sarah Cannon Underwood, began Methodist’s Young Leaders program. To others who might consider following his family’s footsteps in giving to The Methodist Hospital, Underwood says, “Every contribution, from five dollars to five million dollars, demonstrates an appreciation for good care and an interest in improving care for future generations.”

This story includes excerpts from The Methodist Hospital of Houston Serving the World by Marilyn McAdams Sibley (1989).

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TEACHER.

INNOVATOR.

LEGEND. FOR MORE THAN SIX DECADES, DR. MICHAEL E. DEBAKEY TRAINED THOUSANDS OF SURGEONS WHO NOW PRACTICE AROUND THE WORLD. HE INSTILLED IN THEM THE DESIRE T O C O N T I N UA L LY S T R I V E F O R E X C E L L E N C E , A N D TO S H A R E T H E I R E X P E RT I S E FO R THE BENEFIT OF HUMANKIND.

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“Dr. DeBakey was such a trailblazer for the world,” says John Bookout, retired CEO of Shell Oil Company in Houston and immediate-past chairman of The Methodist Hospital Board of Directors. “Methodist was his platform. We have a legacy from him that is well worth preserving, nurturing and building upon.” Recently ranked #12 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report, the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center (MDHVC) is one of the world’s foremost training centers for cardiovascular specialists. Its outstanding educational programs – the academic and clinical backbone of the MDHVC – are essential to optimal patient care and vital to Methodist’s transformation into an academic medical center.

Currently, the MDHVC oﬀers the most heart valve repair and replacement options of any hospital in the south-central United States, including a recently FDA-approved, minimally invasive technique called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement. Another of the Center’s most recent projects is the use of a new endovascular aortic graft, which can be implanted using minimally invasive surgery to repair complex aortic aneurysms. Patients also beneﬁt from four robotic da Vinci® Surgical Systems – more than any

hospital in the city – and two Hansen® Catheter Robots that enable Methodist’s surgeons to perform a number of complex and delicate procedures through very small incisions with unmatched precision.

Further illustrating the prominence of the center, Methodist cardiologist Dr. William Zoghbi, recently took over the helm as President of the American College of Cardiology, the world’s largest society of cardiologists. Many of the MDHVC’s innovations have been made possible through the philanthropy of generous contributors. Those supporters, along with the MDHVC’s dedicated physicians and staﬀ, are committed to ensuring that Dr. DeBakey’s vision of having a premier international benchmark heart center at Methodist is fulﬁlled. His amazing legacy lives on through them.

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Dr. Alan Lumsden calls it “one of the single most eﬀective donations” the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center (MDHVC) has ever received. He’s referring to the 2008 gift from self-made Louisiana businessman and philanthropist Bill Doré that led to the creation of the MDHVC’s Entrepreneurial Institute. As he admits, Lumsden might be a bit biased since, as medical director of the MDHVC, he oversees the Entrepreneurial Institute.

evaluate concepts, perform patent searches, facilitate prototyping and testing, and foster a much more robust intellectual property pipeline. One of those prototypes is the OmniScope®, a hand-held device that allows for imaging and testing of patients at the bedside. Igo describes it as “a cardiology clinic in your hand.” The OmniScope ® is the brainchild of Methodist cardiologist Dr. William Zoghbi. It combines the functions of a stethoscope,

campaign was not earmarked for a speciﬁc program, but he says he is extremely pleased with how his gift has been put to use. “To get where I am, I had to take a lot of chances,” says the retired Chairman/CEO of Global Industries, Inc., a worldwide marine construction firm. “The Entrepreneurial Institute definitely appealed to me. With philanthropy, my goal is to move from success to significance, and this donation gave me the opportunity to do that.”

Still, Lumsden declares, “It was the right gift at the right time for us. Doctors often have innovative ideas, usually when they’re doing a case involving a patient. You think about it for ten minutes, and then you go off to the next patient. We needed some way to hand these ideas off, so they don’t disappear.” Enter Stephen Igo. As director of the Entrepreneurial Institute and CardioDesign Laboratory at the MDHVC, his job is to

electrocardiogram and ultrasound machine into a single smart phone-sized device. “The Entrepreneurial Institute provides an essential platform and environment for innovation,” explained Zoghbi. “We are indebted to Mr. Doré for his contributions and strong support of the Institute as we blaze new trails in medical technology.” Doré’s initial contribution to Methodist’s Leading Medicine. Giving Hope. fundraising

Doré, who also supports a number of other causes, including improving education in his home state of Louisiana, believes it is important for philanthropists to make decisions based on their hearts as well as their heads. “I would like my philanthropy to assist the doctors, who are the entrepreneurs of medicine, with reaching their professional dreams and aspirations. If they achieve that, then the beneficiaries will be all of humanity. That would be my hope.”

INC N UBATOR FOR IDEAS FO

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WILLIAM J. DORÉ’S G I F T E STA B L I S H E D THE ENTREPRENEURIAL INSTITUTE AND IS LEADING TO CUTTINGEDGE PROTOTYPES LIKE T H E O M N I S C O P E ®. DR. WILLIAM ZOGHBI, INVENTOR OF THE O M N I S C O P E ®, H O L D S T H E WILLIAM L. WINTERS ENDOWED CHAIR IN C A R D I O VA S C U L A R I M AG I NG AT T H E METHODIST DEBAKEY H E A R T & VA S C U L A R C E NTE R AND IS DIRE C TO R OF THE C ARD IOVAS C U L A R IMAGING INSTITUTE AT T H E M E T H O D I ST H O S P I TA L .

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The parallels are so obvious, it’s surprising that no one has made a more systematic effort to connect the dots before. Both industries use imaging to direct a tube into a target. Both inject antibodies into tubes to ﬁght infections. Both use robots to ﬁx things. Both employ remote monitoring on operations that could be thousands of miles away. “We call them catheters, they call them drills,” says Dr. Alan Lumsden,

PUMPS &PIPE PES A SYMPOSIUM NOW ENTERING ITS SIXTH YEAR B R I NGS TOG ETHER R EP R ES E NTATIVE S F R OM THE F I ELDS OF O IL & GAS A ND CARDI OVA SCULA R ME D IC INE TO D I S CUS S CHALLENG ES,T RAD E IDE AS AND WORK TOGETHER TO DEV ELOP N EW TECHNOLOGY TO B EN EF I T B OTH WORL DS. in his rapid-fire Scottish brogue. “But it all basically involves taking a fluid and making sure it flows from Point A to Point B. Sometimes these tubes clog up, and you’ve got to unclog them. Sometimes they blow apart, and you’ve got to fix them.” Lumsden, who holds the Walter W. Fondren Distinguished Endowed Chair at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center (MHDVC) and 30

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who also serves as the center’s medical director and chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, is of course referring to Houston’s two best-known industries: energy and medicine. And thus was born Pumps & Pipes, under the auspices of the MDHVC’s Entrepreneurial Institute. “Houston has more petroleum engineers than you can shake a stick at,” Lumsden

the same thing – pumps and pipes. Lumsden was inspired to continue the conversation with Bill Kline, a drilling and subsurface manager for ExxonMobil. The ﬁrst symposium, co-sponsored by Methodist and ExxonMobil with the University of Houston, took place in 2007 and was attended by 100 professionals in the two industries. It has grown progressively larger each year.

Lumsden says medicine has much to learn from the oil industry’s breakthroughs in remote monitoring of oil platforms and data storage, while Kline sees parallels between doctors killing circulatory infections and the oil industry’s challenges in fighting pipeline corrosion. Lumsden also notes that the symposium is expanding to include aerospace engineers

says. “When you engage them in a clinical way, they really like it. That’s what Pumps & Pipes is all about – creating a platform where we can get in front of these guys.” The idea for the symposium originated in a chance conversation when Lumsden was seated next to an ExxonMobil drilling engineer on a flight. They discovered that, despite their different vocabularies, it all came down to

In 2011, the first International Pumps & Pipes Symposium took place in Doha, Qatar, and featured a live broadcast of open heart surgery from Methodist. “The image of neighbors talking over the fence is the concept behind Pumps & Pipes,” says Kline. “Our goal is to stimulate discussion, spark ideas and explore synergies between two industries that face similar challenges.”

for their robotics expertise. “I think it is a very good marriage,” says Bill Doré, whose gift helped launch the Entrepreneurial Institute. “I think getting the oil and gas community involved in advancing medicine is a smart move. That industry, as a group of individuals, tends to be among the most philanthropic in Houston.” MethodistHealth.com/Foundation MethodistHealth.com/Foundation3131

THE BROWN FOUNDATION, INC. has a long history of

philanthropy at Methodist, including support of the Nantz National Alzheimer Center. The foundation also provides an annual Outstanding Nurse Award, which recognizes nurses for exceptional service and commitment to patient care.

SPOTLIGHT ON

GIVING THE MARGARET AND JA M ES A. ELKI NS, J R. FOUNDATION, through

CONNIE AND BYRON DYER’S impactful investment in Methodist established the Connie and Byron Dyer Fellowship to support the hospital’s teaching and research mission. The Dyers are also committed advocates and supporters of the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center.

its generous philanthropy, supports the Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Methodist and helps advance prevention eﬀorts, as well as diagnosis, care and treatment for individuals with neurodegenerative disorders.

THE GIROTTO FAMILY FUND, established in honor of Methodist’s former president and CEO Ron Girotto and his wife Judy, supports Methodist’s employee assistance and recognition programs. The Fund has also allowed Methodist’s I CARE Awards to be expanded to managers and supervisors who lead by

example–justlikeRonandJudy.

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THE METHODIST HOSPITAL AUXILIARY, in addition to

THE HAMILL FOUNDAT I O N ’s g e n e r o s i t y h a s advanced the work of many Methodist programs and centers over the years, including Spiritual Care, Nursing, the Nantz National Alzheimer Center, the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, and the Methodist Breast Center.

AMY AND WADE ROSENBERG, M.D.’s inspired gift from the M.B. & Edna Zale Foundation honors a surgical pioneer who has made many contributions to the medical community. The Paul H. Jordan, Jr., M.D. Annual Lecture brings acclaimed surgeons to The Methodist Hospital to present leading-edge research and surgical advances.

devoting thousands of volunteer hours to The Methodist Hospital each year, contributes major gifts to support many of the hospital’s priorities, including the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment and other necessities.

THE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION provides critical funding in support of the Methodist Neurological Institute’s MDA-ALS Center, the ﬁrst multidisciplinary care center for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s

disease, in the United States.

VIVIAN L. SMITH FOUNDATION’s charitable giving

supports research innovation at Methodist, including musculoskeletal disease research, studies of nanomedical therapies for diabetes, and investigations in radiology to speed detection and advance treatment for a number of diseases.

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ON NOVEMBER 8,

2012 ,

THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION UNVEILED A 19 -FOOT TALL TESTAMENT TO THE GENEROSITY OF BENEFACTORS WHO HAVE MADE SO MANY ADVANCES IN MEDICINE POSSIBLE. THE WALL HONORS GIFTS OF $ 1 0,000 OR MORE (AS OF MAY 31, 2012 ) AND IS LOCATED IN THE CRAIN GARDEN OF THE METHODIST HOSPITAL’S DUNN TOWER.

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THE ART OF MEDICINE

C. RICHARD S TA S N E Y, M.D., F.A.C.S., FOUNDED THE METHODIST CENTER FOR PERFORMING A RTS M E D I C I N E .

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When it comes to the performing arts, very few metropolitan areas can upstage Houston. It’s one of only five cities with nationally known performing companies in all four disciplines: opera, ballet, orchestral music and theater. More than 10,000 performing artists make Houston the nation’s thirdlargest home to working artists. The Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM), established in 2000, helps preserve this rich artistic heritage by providing high-quality, accessible health care and health education to our community’s performing artists and to visiting artists from around the world. Methodist is the only institution of its kind to offer a comprehensive program designed specifically to meet the unique medical needs of performers, who rely on physical dexterity and mental acuity to entertain and inspire audiences. The revolutionary CPAM program combines the talents of more than 100 Methodist-affiliated clinicians and physician-scientists, along with nurses and other medical experts, to provide specialty and preventive care to artists and to lead research that seeks to improve human performance in the arts and to harness the potential of the arts in therapy and rehabilitation. This one-of-a-kind program is supported through philanthropic partnerships that help advance its comprehensive excellence. Benefactors include Mr. and Mrs. Jack S. Blanton, the Chao family, The Cockrell Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry E. Finger, Mr. and Mrs. Rodney H. Margolis, Mr. and Mrs. Michael E. Shannon, Mr. and Mrs. L.E. Simmons and many others. CPAM also works to integrate the arts into the hospital environment by providing an abundant repertoire of arts performances at Methodist for the enjoyment of staff, patients and visitors. One of the most current offerings, The 2013 Margaret Alkek Williams Crain Garden Performance Series, is generously underwritten by the Alkek and Williams Foundation and provides free concerts by an array of artists. “The show must go on” typifies the challenges inherent in treating artists who live to perform and perform for a living. With continued support, CPAM will ensure that the curtain never closes on Houston’s world-class performing arts.

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Living Proof

NOEL DENISON IS BENEFITTING FROM AN ADVANCED TREATMENT FOR BREAST CANCER.

THE TREATMENT WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT HELP FROM A CHAIN OF CARING PEOPLE COLLABORATING TO EXPEDITE PROMISING RESEARCH FROM THE LAB BENCH TO PATIENTS’ BEDSIDES.

THIS IS THE STORY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT HEALING – AND ONE PERSON WHOSE LIFE IS BETTER BECAUSE OF THEIR COMMITMENT. 40

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Chang

Denison REV. NOEL DENISON RETIRED METHODIST MINISTER AND CANCER PATIENT

In March 2012, Noel Denison – retired Methodist minister, wife, mother and grandmother – went in for a routine, if a bit overdue, mammogram. When the screening found a malignant tumor, a friend at The Methodist Hospital referred her to Dr. Jenny Chang, director of the Methodist Cancer Center. ADVANCED TREATMENT

At their ﬁrst consultation, Chang suggested that Denison could be a candidate for a Phase 1 clinical trial conducted within the Cockrell Center for Advanced Therapeutics, a new branch of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute devoted to early phase clinical trials in which research scientists and clinicians oﬀer advanced investigational therapies to patients. Denison agreed to be the initial 42

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DR. JENNY CHANG DIRECTOR, METHODIST CANCER CENTER

participant in a study of T-DM1, known as “Super Herceptin,” a drug designed for women whose breast cancers are fueled by overexpression of the HER2 receptor. Previous trials indicate that Super Herceptin may be eﬀective in cases where the cancer has spread, or metastasized. This trial is among the ﬁrst to assess the safety and tolerability of combining the drug docetaxel with T-DM1 for women with locally advanced as well as metastatic HER2 positive breast cancer. SUCCESS STORY

Denison was administered the drug combination through the clinical trial. By the time she received her ﬁnal chemotherapy treatment in September 2012, her tumor had

shrunk to the point of invisibility. Ecstatic with the results and optimistic about her future, she is extremely grateful to have participated in this groundbreaking study. Sitting at her kitchen table at home in Houston’s Memorial neighborhood, she reflects on her cancer journey and says, “I didn’t mind being one of the first test subjects to come along. Now I understand they have six patients, and space for more.” Denison, who received her care at the Methodist Cancer Center, feels that she has tolerated the treatment well. “I’m not used to being sick, and some days were worse than others, but I don’t really have any serious complaints. It was virtually stress-free, and the Methodist staff was incredibly helpful.”

Ferrari MAURO FERRARI PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE METHODIST HOSPITAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND THE ERNEST COCKRELL JR. DISTINGUISHED ENDOWED CHAIR

EARLY RESULTS

Chang, a member of the Research Institute and a professor of medicine with Methodist’s primary academic partner, Weill Cornell Medical College, is pleased with the initial results she is seeing from the Super Herceptin trial. “It is a very promising drug,” she says. “HER2 used to be the worst, most aggressive form of breast cancer. You knew in three or four years that it would metastasize, and there was nothing we could do. Now, when we catch it early enough, there is a potential for a cure. And for some women, perhaps for most women with metastatic disease, it should be considered a chronic disease that can be treated.” Chang explains that T-DM1 works by linking the Herceptin antibody to

a potent drug called emtansine in a way that delivers a powerful punch directly to the cancer cells while reducing side eﬀects. If the current study indicates that docetaxel, a proven chemotherapy agent, can be safely added to the mix, it could be even more powerful. The next challenge, says Chang, is to ﬁnd targeted therapies for other forms of breast cancer, such as the rare and highly aggressive Triple Negative, where the hormone receptors estrogen, progesterone and HER2 are all negative, and estrogen-blocker drugs such as tamoxifen don’t work. “We are extremely proud to be leading this very critical study, because it can potentially help so many women,” Chang concludes. “It’s a very exciting time.”

CLINICAL TRIALS

Mauro Ferrari, the president and CEO of the Research Institute, points out that the Super Herceptin study is just one of about 700 clinical trials currently under way within The Methodist Hospital System. “Most clinical trials originate through pharmaceutical companies who ask us to test their drugs, and we are happy to do that,” Ferrari says. “But we are dramatically increasing the number of ideas that are generated in-house. Our clinicians identify medical problems that need to be solved, then collaborate with researchers here. Together, the development starts to take place.” “The Cockrell Center is the catalyst for this process,” he adds. MethodistHealth.com/Foundation

Cockrell MR. ERNEST COCKRELL JR. CHAIRMAN AND DIRECTOR OF THE COCKRELL FOUNDATION

THE METHODIST HOSPITAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Mr. Ernest H. Cockrell, longtime Methodist supporter and a life member of the hospital’s board of directors, was instrumental in bringing the Research Institute to life. The Cockrell family, through the Cockrell Foundation, created the distinguished endowed chair for the president and CEO, ﬁrst held by Dr. Michael Lieberman and now by Ferrari, and was a key player in the Research Institute’s inception. When asked about its miraculous development over the past eight years, Cockrell shares that he is not at all surprised that a world-class academic research institute was conceived at Methodist. “When you think about it, I don’t know where else this could have 44

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happened. What other institution had the financial wherewithal to do it, or the ability to attract the country’s top medical researchers? What other institution had a history of outstanding governance, both on the hospital level and on the board level? What other institution has a presence and the potential for collaboration offered by the Texas Medical Center? You simply can’t find one.” ADVANCING PATIENT CARE

The Research Institute was founded in 2004 for the sole purpose of supporting, managing and conducting clinical and translational research for the advancement of patient care. As such, it is carrying on the tremendous legacy of Dr. Michael DeBakey, the world-renowned

cardiovascular surgeon and medical educator who, during his long tenure at Methodist, developed a great many innovations that are still regarded as the gold standard in heart and vascular medicine. In 2010, the Research Institute opened the newly constructed, stateof-the-art, 440,000 square foot building adjacent to The Methodist Hospital. This expanded the dedicated research space at Methodist to 560,000 square feet for the 1,500 researchers working on translational platform technologies, including nanomedicine, systems medicine, bioengineering and imaging with applications in cancer, neurosciences, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease and infectious diseases, among others. The Cockrell Center

for Advanced Therapeutics, which was recently launched to oversee clinical research trials, is located in the heart of the main campus, bridging the Research Institute building to the main hospital. COLLABORATION IS KEY

“We bring physicians, scientists and patients together,” says Edward Jones, vice president and chief operating officer for the Research Institute. “To me, that’s the only way you can really have ‘bench to bedside’ translational research. I am not aware of any institution that does it as thoughtfully as we do.” Ferrari believes that the Research Institute’s interdisciplinary structure gives it an advantage over more narrowly focused medical research institutions. “The philosophy here is diﬀerent from others,” he says passionately. “Why have we not cured cancer? It’s because we have always looked at it with the same approaches, under the same group of sciences. To make big breakthroughs against metastatic disease, I am deeply convinced that we need oncologists and biologists together with physicists and engineers and mathematicians and chemists. That’s how new approaches come up. That’s how the new frontiers are discovered. And that’s how we are doing it here.” LEADING THE CHARGE

Ferrari, who joined the Research Institute in 2010 following the retirement of founding CEO Lieberman, is a living illustration of this philosophy. Trained in mathematics and engineering, he

was working as a tenured professor at Ohio State University before enrolling in medical school at age 43. “Here, I can collaborate with the best clinicians and biologists there are in cancer, certainly, but also in all the major ﬁelds – neurology, heart, transplant and immunobiology, orthopedics and diabetes and other metabolic disorders,” he says. “That’s how ideas arise – by bringing people of diﬀerent skill sets together.” Cockrell agrees and adds that the Research Institute has developed as he and others envisioned but much more rapidly than expected. He encourages potential contributors to consider Methodist a wise investment of their philanthropic dollars. ALL THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS

“With Methodist’s track record and the capabilities it has, one can have confidence that this is an institution that husbands its resources well,” says Cockrell. “Secondly, it has the size and critical mass to accomplish things today. The science and clinical care are advancing so rapidly, it takes considerable muscle and focus to be successful. Third, and most important, the Research Institute has the brain power to do this.” “There’s the confidence in what you have here – stability, sound management, governance, financial strength and the people to do it. You have the ingredients to make something happen. Benefactors and investors can rest easy in knowing that every dollar is not only well used, but that it will have the maximum impact on finding cures and better treatments for today’s most pressing health concerns.”

“WITH METHODIST’S TRACK RECORD, AND THE CAPABILITIES IT HAS, YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT THIS IS AN INSTITUTION THAT HUSBANDS ITS RESOURCES WELL.”

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special events

CNN talk show host, Larry King, interviewed the former President of Poland and Nobel Laureate, Lech Walesa, and former U.S. Congressman, the late Charlie Wilson (both pictured), at Leading Hearts, The Methodist Hospital’s inaugural gala. Former President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush served as honorary co-chairs for this event where more than $1.1 million was raised for the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center.

Celebrating Excellence announced The Methodist Hospital System’s inaugural fundraising campaign. Emceed by legendary sports commentator Jim Nantz, the evening paid tribute to Methodist’s longstanding history of excellence in education, research and patient care.

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Members of The Cockrell Foundation board observe a cardiovascular surgery through the dome at Leadership Grand Rounds, an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. Methodist has hosted 57 Leadership Grand Rounds, providing more than 800 guests with the opportunity to visit hightech research laboratories, view innovative surgical procedures and witness ﬁrst-hand how Methodist is leading medicine.

More than 3,500 people participated in Methodist’s 2012 annual S tride4Stroke 5K Run & Walk, supporting stroke education and awareness in the Greater Houston area. Next year’s race will take place on March 2, 2013.

Dr. Dick Stasney welcomes guests to the home of Cam and Rod Canion at Methodist’s Peak Performances in Aspen, Colorado. Leading physician-scientists in surgery, translational research, cardiology and performing arts medicine shared the latest in their respective fields as it relates to achieving and maintaining the human body’s peak performance.

Committee members Kathryn Childers, Karen Walker and Gina Andrews smile for the camera at Methodist’s Just What the Doctor Ordered. Hosted by Young Leaders for Medicine, the evening included a reception, private auction and dinner with “on-call” Methodist physicians. Davis Havens makes contact at Methodist’s VIP Batting Practice at Minute Maid Park. Participants had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to swing for the fences and meet Houston Astros legends.

HeARTifacts, hosted by Debi and Ray Davis and co-chaired by Bill King, Cynthia PickettStevenson and Eva Farha, honored Dr. William Zoghbi as the new president of the American College of Cardiology. The day’s festivities included brunch and a private showing of the Davis family’s extensive art and artifact collection.

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JIM NANTZ ENDOWED THE NANTZ NATIONAL ALZHEIMER CENTER TO HONOR HIS FATHER.

DR. GUSTAVO ROMÁN DIRECTOR, NANTZ NATIONAL ALZHEIMER CENTER, METHODIST NEUROLOGICAL INSTITUTE

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PEGGY AND GARY EDWARDS ENDOWED THE CHAIR AT THE METHODIST HOSPITAL’S DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGY TO FIGHT ALS.

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERIE OF OUR BRAINS ONE IN FIVE AMERICANS IS AFFECTED BY NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS. OUR BENEFACTORS AND DOCTORS HAVE TEAMED UP TO FOSTER DISCOVERY AND HOPE.

DR. STANLEY APPEL PEGGY AND GARY EDWARDS DISTINGUISHED ENDOWED CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGY, THE METHODIST HOSPITAL MethodistHealth.com/Foundation

STANLEY H. APPEL, M.D., director of the Methodist Neurological Institute, has a passion to cure ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). “That passion comes from our ALS patients here at the institute,” he says. “Every day I see these tough, courageous people and how they fight.” ALS is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. “It used to be about three years from diagnosis to death,” Appel explains. “Today, even without a cure, life expectancy has doubled to five or six years. It’s because our multidisciplinary team approach can help improve breathing and nutrition, and maintain mobility in our ALS patients. Most especially, it’s about giving hope to these remarkably courageous people.” Appel holds the Peggy and Gary Edwards Distinguished Chair for the Treatment and Research of ALS, established in honor of Gary Edwards’ mother, Sonja Edwards, who suffered from the disease. Appel was her physician. “I can’t say enough good things about Peggy and Gary and their generosity to the Neurological Institute. With philanthropic support, we are able to take an idea that would never be funded by an agency, and turn it into hope for quality of life.”

ALS

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GARY AND PEGGY EDWARDS have made philanthropy a family affair. Both of their daughters, and now their five grandsons, are invited to make recommendations for their family foundation’s giving. One of their largest gifts was used to fund the Peggy and Gary Edwards Distinguished Endowed Chair for the Treatment and Research of ALS at the Neurological Institute, held by Appel. “My first experience with Methodist was when my mother came to Houston to be treated for ALS by Dr. Appel. I was very impressed by the work he was doing and the care he provided,” says Edwards. “My next experience with Methodist was when I was asked to consider going on the Board of Directors in 2003.” He has been on it ever since. “Methodist has embarked on a strategic plan to become a true academic medical center, and that requires philanthropy in order to continue meaningful discoveries. The hope is that, through all the research being done, we’ll find a cure for these diseases. We have been very blessed in many ways, and it’s a privilege and an honor to do our part.”

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GUSTAVO C. ROMÁN, M.D., is the director of the Nantz National Alzheimer Center and the Jack S. Blanton Distinguished Chair at the Methodist Neurological Institute. A native of Colombia, his education and subsequent work have taken him around the globe several times when expert diagnoses and treatment were needed. “I am inspired by history,” he says. “I ﬁrst became interested in Alzheimer’s when reading about Auguste Deter, a German woman with profound memory loss and dementia in the 1890s. Her doctor was Dr. Alois Alzheimer. After she died, the post-mortem showed her brain had atrophied.” Deter was the first diagnosed Alzheimer’s sufferer. Today, Román and his colleagues do not have to rely on post-mortems to accurately diagnose. They have the latest diagnostic equipment and methods, many ﬁnanced by the generosity of Methodist Hospital benefactors. “Jack Blanton and the Scurlock Foundation donated money for my endowed chair, which allows me to do research and treatment of the highest order,” Román explains. “Their donation is a continuation of the Scurlock and Blanton families’ long history of supporting this organization.”

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ALZ HEIM ER’S

SPORTS COMMENTATOR JIM NANTZ is the Emmy Awardwinning voice of CBS Sports. He currently serves as the lead play-by-play announcer for The NFL on CBS, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship and CBS’s golf coverage, including the Masters and PGA Championship. And he’s also the creator of the Nantz National Alzheimer Center (NNAC), in partnership with The Methodist Hospital. Nantz’ donation to fund the center was made in honor of his own father, Jim Nantz, Jr., who died in 2008 after suffering from Alzheimer’s for 13 years, and as a lasting tribute to his mother, Doris, and sister, Nancy, who represent the millions of people who have lived through the hardship of caregiving. The Nantz Center conducts cuttingedge research and provides state-of-theart training for physicians and health professionals related to Alzheimer’s disease and dementing illnesses. Its researchers are working with the Methodist Concussion Center to understand the potential of head injury as a causative factor in Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. In addition, the Center provides an environment for comprehensive care of Alzheimer’s patients and their families. MethodistHealth.com/Foundation

STROKE

DEREK LEONARD (left) was only 41 when he suﬀered a stroke in April 2011. He didn’t know he was having a stroke; he thought he slipped in his wife’s closet. She called 911, and he was admitted to Methodist’s ER. “I kept thinking it was funny there were all these people whizzing around me because I didn’t think anything was wrong with me.” He spent an entire month in the hospital and did 12 months of intensive therapy. “The treatment I received was phenomenal,” Leonard says. He has made a complete recovery and often shares his inspiring story in hopes of raising community awareness about stroke.

MATT KROHN (right) had a silent and subtle stroke at the end of 2010. His only symptom was a loss of balance, but the condition got worse. At the Methodist ER, he was diagnosed with a hemorrhagic stroke resulting from a leaky blood vessel in his brain. He was moved to the Eddy Scurlock Stroke Center for treatment and rehabilitation. “I was in great hands at Methodist,” he says. By March 2011, Krohn was walking in Methodist’s annual 5K Stride4Stroke event.

RE COV ERY

THE GREATEST CHANCE FOR RECOVERY FROM STROKE OCCURS WHEN EMERGENCY TREATMENT IS STARTED IMMEDIATELY.

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THE SCURLOCK, BLANTON A N D WA R E I N G FA M I L I E S have been generous benefactors of The Methodist Hospital since the 1940s. Among their many contributions over the years was a major gift in 2002 to establish the Methodist Neurological Institute Eddy Scurlock Stroke Center, the largest dedicated stroke unit in the Texas Medical Center. The center is named for the late Eddy Scurlock, a former Methodist trustee and, historically, one of its most loyal supporters. The current family patriarch is Scurlock’s son-in-law, Jack S. Blanton, Sr., who has faithfully served on the board for 45 years. Recently, Blanton and the Scurlock Foundation provided an additional gift to further advance the Stroke Center’s research and outreach initiatives. The family also supports other programs at Methodist, including the Nantz National Alzheimer Center, where Dr. Gustavo C. Román holds the Jack S. Blanton Distinguished Endowed Chair. “My family and I are extremely proud and grateful to support the wonderful work that is being accomplished by experts like Dr. Román at Methodist,” says Elizabeth Blanton Wareing, granddaughter of Eddy Scurlock and daughter of Jack Blanton, Sr. Wareing herself now serves on Methodist’s board, and her brothers, Jack Blanton, Jr. and Eddy Scurlock Blanton, are heavily involved as well – making them the third generation of a family truly devoted to investing in the future of leading medicine. “I see our family’s involvement continuing far into the future,” adds Wareing. “What we have has been given to us by God, and we have a responsibility to give back. I hope our support will inspire others to contribute as well.”

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DR. BARBARA BASS

The Methodist Hospital Foundation

IT‘ T‘S A WOMAN‘S WORLD Seven years ago, The Methodist Hospital Board of Directors embarked on an ambitious campaign to expand the legacy of renowned heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey and transform Methodist into a leading, independent academic medical center. In order to do this, Methodist had to recruit the best of the best academic medical leaders from throughout the world to infuse research and education into its already world-class clinical enterprise. Aiming high, they identified the then current chair of the American Board of Surgery as the worthy candidate to lead the effort in surgery – one of the most critical components of an academic medical center. After a persistent fourmonth recruitment process, Dr. Barbara Lee Bass accepted their offer. She is one of only two women ever to hold the prestigious chair position on the American Board of Surgery, and one of only seven women in the country ever to serve as chief of surgery of a major academic medical center. As part of that tiny early wave of women surgical leaders, Bass was one of a few who reached the rank of professor in the 1990s. She also served as principal investigator for a research program funded by the National Institutes of Health and Veterans Affairs Merit Review programs for 17 years, sat on the leading scientific review and editorial boards, led the Governors of the American College of Surgeons and served as president of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract. An accomplished trailblazer, Bass found the invitation to create the academic surgery department of her dreams irresistible. John F. Bookout, chairman of the Board at the time, was impressed from the start. “Our golden opportunity came when we found Dr. Bass,” he says. “She has the same vision and aspirations as Dr. DeBakey, and she is determined to provide Methodist patients with a new generation of skills.” Mr. Bookout laughs as he describes her first days at Methodist. “Barbara inherited a floor of empty offices, basically.” Since her arrival, she has reinvented the department, recruiting world-class surgeons, both male and female, and captivating onlookers and colleagues alike with her sparks of brilliance, including being the inspiration behind the extraordinary Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation and Education (MITIE). In the process, she also earned the John F. and Carolyn Bookout Distinguished Endowed Chair of Surgery. MethodistHealth.com/Foundation

an exceptional need in our health care environment for high-performance training centers to serve the educational needs of providers in practice.” MITIE also collaborates with national organizations to establish policies that ensure that health care professionals are trained to use modern technologies. MITIE’s research agenda is substantial as well, with funded initiatives DISTINGUISHED focused on the developENDOWED CHAIR ment of rigorous EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, METHODIST INSTITUTE educational curricula and FOR TECHNOLOGY, skill assessment tools, INNOVATION AND creation and implemenEDUCATION (MITIE) tation of tele-mentoring PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, WEILL CORNELL technologies, and design MEDICAL COLLEGE and application of and mentor in her role as efficient, non-patient-based novel devices. Moreover, MITIE programs allow a surgeon, educator, re- laboratory environment, searcher and pioneer. Build- surgeons can safely acquire Methodist to expand training opportunities to ing upon the existing clinical new skills in technologies health care providers from platform at Methodist, she that weren’t around when has developed an academic they started in practice. As smaller hospitals around department of surgery that is Bass notes, “Appropriately the state. The program has second to none, gaining rec- utilized by trained surgeons, garnered support from the philanthropic community, ognition and setting records these technologies make through the transplantation, surgery safer for our patients including one of the city’s foremost philanthropic surgical critical care, complex and foster more rapid foundations, Houston recovery after surgery. surgical oncology and Endowment. To date, more than thoracic surgery programs. With this support, MITIE 14,000 health care providers Just as exciting is her revolutionary MITIE concept. from around the city, the is able to provide a safe, virtual hospital environment state and the world have “ When I first saw this magnificent medical center,” participated in an education where practitioners can gain Bass explains, “it dawned program in MITIE, in virtu- confidence and learn new ally all surgical disciplines,” skills in a simulated envion me. Why not use this clinical platform, not only says Bass. “That’s an astonishing ronment – just as Bass and for delivery of high-quality number. Clearly, we have Bookout had envisioned.

ass knows just how slowly the wheels of progress have turned for women as surgeons. As a student in the late 1970s, she had no female role models. “I very clearly remember the ﬁrst woman surgeon I ever met,” she says, “and, BARBARA LEE BASS, years later, the second one.” M.D., F.A.C.S. Today, she sees the journey as less daunting for her FIRST CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY female peers, and she is JOHN F. BOOKOUT proud to serve as an example

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surgical care and the education of our residents, but also couple it to a new type of facility that would support the lifelong educational needs of surgeons in practice.” MITIE was specifically developed for that purpose: to provide an educational home for established health care providers to stay at the top of their performance curves. By giving surgeons in practice access to sophisticated hands-on training in an

ven by today’s standards, where moms routinely put in 15-hour days, Dr. Shanda Blackmon’s schedule is impressive. She’s up before dawn, at the hospital by 4 a.m., and somehow home in time for dinner with her family each night. In between, she has likely performed surgeries that no one else can in a city famed for its world-class medical expertise. Blackmon’s list of ﬁrsts at Methodist begins with her clinical specialty. She is the ﬁrst surgeon at Methodist to focus her practice solely on non-cardiac thoracic surgery, averaging more than 300

cases a year. Blackmon and her pioneering team have performed the hospital’s ﬁrst super-charged pedicled jejunal interposition esophageal reconstruction – a procedure that rebuilds the esophagus using the small bowel. She also spearheaded the ﬁrst robotic lobectomy at Methodist, using a robot to remove an entire lobe of the lung, a much less invasive method than traditional open lung surgery. Blackmon’s history-making list goes on, with her innovative procedures minimizing pain and vastly improving the quality of life for cancer patients. She is also dedicated to research and

education in esophageal reconstruction and pulmonary metastasectomy. “The biggest challenge in science is ﬁnding the funding for research,” she says. “More people die of lung cancer than breast, colon or prostate cancer combined, and yet the funding for those diseases is ten times what’s allocated to patients with lung or esophageal cancer.” Blackmon oversees monthly Esophagus Support Group meetings at Methodist’s Institute for Technology, Innovation and Education, where her team studies outcomes as they help patients learn to live with their disease. SHANDA H. BLACKMON, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S. ASSISTANT MEMBER, THE METHODIST HOSPITAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE ATTENDING PHYSICIAN, DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE

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SHERILYN GORDON BURROUGHS, M.D., F.A.C.S. GENERAL SURGERY AND ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION HOLDER OF THE CONNIE AND BYRON DYER FELLOWSHIP AT THE METHODIST HOSPITAL

ass’s colleagues readily acknowledge the value of her innovative spirit to their success. For Dr. Sherilyn Gordon Burroughs, a Methodist surgeon who specializes in liver transplants, the transformation of the surgery department since Bass’s arrival has been truly remarkable. Gordon Burroughs, one of very few African American liver transplant surgeons in the country, thrives in the transplant arena, citing instant gratification as one reason why.

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Given a fairly finite pool of possible donors in the community, the transplant program offering the best service and the best outcomes naturally stands to attract the most patient referrals, according to Gordon Burroughs. “That’s why it’s exciting to be at Methodist. We expect to triple our volume here soon,” she says. She sees this as a clear reflection of the hard work of Dr. A. Osama Gaber, the visionary surgeon who leads the Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center. Supported by the

leadership of Dr. R. Mark Ghobrial, the director of liver transplantation at Methodist, the liver program has not only grown in volume but has also achieved exceptional outcomes in national registry data. Gordon Burroughs, a visionary surgeon herself, has plans for an intestinal transplant program at Methodist. This novel procedure would give hope of a more normal life to patients who otherwise are saddled with pumps and IVs for taking in nutrition.

n stark contrast to other surgeons who say the profession chose them, Dr. Aldona J. Spiegel’s decision to become a plastic surgeon was all hers, and it was an early one. With undeniable artistic talents at the age of 13, she planned her future in plastic surgery, knowing it would allow her to do beautiful, meaningful work. Spiegel joined Methodist in 2005. She specializes in microsurgery for breast cancer patients at the Center for Breast Restoration in the hospital’s Institute for

Reconstructive Surgery. There, she dedicates her eﬀorts to helping her patients understand their options to achieve the most natural results possible. “My patients really inspire me,” she says. “To see these women go back to a totally regular life, even better in some cases, is very satisfying.” Spiegel loves the intricate technical and aesthetic details of her work, routinely striving not only to create the most pleasing look but to reconnect very small blood vessels microscopically, in the hopes of restoring sensation as well.

She believes in the innate qualities a woman brings to the table, namely, the ability to multi-task. In addition to maintaining a robust surgical practice, Spiegel is a highly requested speaker and presenter who travels the world sharing her expertise at professional meetings and conferences. As the mother of two sons and a daughter, ranging in age from two to seven years old, her days are long, but she happily juggles the demands – knowing that her efforts are making a huge difference in the lives of her patients. ALDONA J. SPIEGEL, M.D. MEMBER, THE METHODIST HOSPITAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR BREAST RESTORATION AT THE METHODIST INSTITUTE FOR RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE

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LEADERSHIP

THE METHODIST HOSPITAL SYSTEM BOARD OF DIRECTORS Morrie K. Abramson Carlton E. Baucum, Treasurer John F. Bookout, Senior Chair Marc L. Boom, M.D., President and CEO Emily A. Crosswell, Asst. Secretary Mary A. Daffin Connie M. Dyer Gary W. Edwards Victor Fainstein, M.D., President of the Medical Staff (Advisory) Eric J. Haufrect, M.D., President-Elect of the Medical Staff Mark Houser Lawrence W. Kellner Rev. Kenneth R. Levingston Vidal G. Martinez Robert K. Moses, Asst. Secretary Gregory V. Nelson, Secretary Thomas J. Pace III, D.Min. Keith O. Reeves, M.D, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie David M. Underwood, Sr., Vice Chair Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III D. Gibson Walton, Vice Chair Elizabeth Blanton Wareing Stephen P. Wende, D.Min. The Honorable Ewing Werlein, Jr., Chair Rev. B.T. Williamson (Advisory) Sandra Gayle Wright, Ed.D., R.N. Life Members Jack S. Blanton Ernest H. Cockrell James C. Dishman Charles W. Duncan, Jr. Isaac H. Kempner III Nat S. Rogers

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THE METHODIST HOSPITAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Morrie K. Abramson Edward R. Allen III Carin M. Barth Allen J. Becker Jack S. Blanton, Jr. John F. Bookout, Senior Chair Albert Y. Chao M. Scott Cone Mary A. Daﬃn Charles W. Duncan III Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D. Laurie H. Glimcher, M.D. Antonio Gotto, M.D., D.Phil., ex oﬃcio Renu Khator, Ph.D. John P. Kotts Leo E. Linbeck III Gregory V. Nelson, Chair L.E. Simmons C. Richard Stasney, M.D. David M. Underwood, Jr. Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III D. Gibson Walton Ewing Werlein, Jr.

THE METHODIST DEBAKEY HEART & VASCULAR CENTER COUNCIL Robert J. Allison, Jr. J. Denny Bartell Dixie D. Bartell Christopher R. Black John R. Butler, Jr. Philip J. Carroll Gerardo A. Chapa Mary A. Daﬃn Ray Davis Prof. Lois E. DeBakey, Ph.D. Prof. Selma DeBakey Denis A. DeBakey Joann P. DiGennaro William J. Doré, Jr. William J. Doré, Sr. Connie Dyer, Chair Eva K. Farha Linda C. Gill William E. Gipson Marc P. Gordon Miguel A. Hernandez Jo Ruth Kaplan William E. King George J. Kostas Carole E. Looke John M. McCormack Robert K. Moses, Jr. Frank D. Perez Cynthia Pickett-Stevenson, Co-Chair Douglas R. Quinn Valentina Ugolini, M.D. Elizabeth Walter

THE METHODIST HOSPITAL PHYSICIANS ORGANIZATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Stanley H. Appel, M.D. Barbara L. Bass, M.D., F.A.C.S. Marc L. Boom, M.D. Timothy B. Boone, M.D., Ph.D. E. Brian Butler, M.D. Stuart M. Dobbs, M.D. Victor Fainstein, M.D. Jaime Gateno, M.D., D.D.S. Robert G. Grossman, M.D. Alan L. Kaplan, M.D. Andrew G. Lee, M.D. Alan B. Lumsden, M.D. Kenneth B. Mathis, M.D. James M. Musser, M.D. Joseph J. Naples, M.D. Miguel A. Quiñones, M.D. Richard J. Robbins, M.D. Roberta L. Schwartz H. Dirk Sostman, M.D., Chair

THE METHODIST NEUROLOGICAL INSTITUTE NATIONAL COUNCIL Morrie K. Abramson James R. Bath Eddy S. Blanton Jack S. Blanton John F. Bookout Marc L. Boom, M.D. J. David Cabello Gary W. Edwards, Chair Thomas D. Friedkin Kate H. Gibson, Co-Chair S. Malcolm Gillis, Ph.D. Robert H. Graham Dorothy Jenkins Mary F. Johnston Thomas C. Knudson Gregory A. Kozmetsky Leon M. Payne Omar A. Sawaf Arthur A. Seeligson III Donna S. Stahlhut Henry J.N. “Kitch” Taub II Anne G. Thobae David M. Underwood Dancie Perugini Ware Elizabeth Blanton Wareing W. Temple Webber III

THE METHODIST CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS MEDICINE Bobby R. Alford, M.D. E. William Barnett Janice H. Barrow Sidney L. Berger, Ph.D. Jack S. Blanton Virginia Blanton Anthony K. Brandt, Ph.D. Philip J. Carroll Albert Y. Chao Evan D. Collins, M.D. Lavonne C. Cox James W. Crownover Francoise Djerejian Deborah K. Duncan Victor Fainstein, M.D. Jerry E. Finger Jeremy Finkelstein, M.D. Gina E. Fish J. Todd Frazier Robert Freeman, Ph.D. Elizabeth Ghrist Susanne M. Glasscock Richard L. Harper, M.D. Eric J. Haufrect, M.D. Patricia P. Hubbard Robert E. Jackson, M.D. Christof Karmonik, Ph.D. Tom Krouskop, Ph.D., P.E. Michael W. Lieberman, M.D., Ph.D. Sharon Ley Lietzow Judy E. Margolis Hoyt T. “Toby” Mattox Nicholas A. Phillips Keith O. Reeves, M.D. Ann Scanlon McGinity, Ph.D. Michael E. Shannon L.E. Simmons Jerome B. Simon H. Dirk Sostman, M.D. Lois F. Stark C. Richard Stasney, M.D. Ron Tintner, M.D. Laura Jennings Turner Kevin E. Varner, M.D. Richard E. Wainerdi, P.E., Ph.D. D. Gibson Walton Margaret Alkek Williams Aline Wilson Ed Wulfe Robert A. Yekovich, D.M.A.

GRATITUDE MR. AND MRS. GLENN R. SMITH EXPRESS THANKS BY ESTABLISHING LEHANE CHAIR

Understanding ﬁrsthand the impact of cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery, Judy and Glenn Smith credit Methodist oncologist Dr. Daniel Lehane’s exceptional care as instrumental to the health of their family for more than 20 years. The Daniel E. Lehane, M.D. Distinguished Chair in Medical Oncology, given both in honor of and in the name of Dr. Lehane, is a remarkable testament to the Smiths’ spirit of generosity. DR. AND MRS. LEHANE (LEFT) WITH JUDY AND GLENN SMITH

ENDOWED CHAIRS

GROWTH FROM ZERO TO 26 ENDOWED CHAIRS Endowed chairs represent transformative gifts that provide vital funding and open new possibilities for advancing health care. At Methodist, such gifts allow for the recruitment of leaders who enhance the hospital’s comprehensive excellence in patient care, teaching and research. The Dottie and Jimmy C. Adair Distinguished Chair in Hematology. Endowed by Dottie and Jimmy C. Adair. The M.D. Anderson Foundation Distinguished Chair in Radiology and Imaging Sciences. Endowed by The Methodist Hospital. The Jack S. Blanton Distinguished Endowed Chair. Endowed by Jack S. Blanton/Scurlock Foundation and held by Gustavo C. Román, M.D. The John F., Jr. and Carolyn Bookout Chair in Surgical Innovation and Technology. Endowed by Carolyn and John Bookout and held by Brian James Dunkin, M.D. The John F., Jr. and Carolyn Bookout Distinguished Endowed Chair. Endowed by Carolyn and John Bookout and held by Barbara Lee Bass, M.D., F.A.C.S. The Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Distinguished Endowed Chair.* Endowed by The Cockrell Foundation and held by Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D.

The Michael E. DeBakey, M.D. Chair in Cardiac Surgery. Endowed by Robert and Carolyn J. Allison/ The Carolyn J. and Robert J. Allison, Jr. Family Foundation and held by Gerald M. Lawrie, M.D. The Charles and Anne Duncan Distinguished Endowed Chair. Endowed by Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Duncan, Jr. and held by Richard J. Robbins, M.D. The John S. Dunn, Sr. Distinguished Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering.* Endowed by John S. Dunn Research Foundation and held by Stephen Wong, Ph.D., P.E.

The John S. Dunn, Sr., Chair in Orthopedic Surgery.* Endowed by John S. Dunn Research Foundation and held by Philip C. Noble, Ph.D. The Peggy and Gary Edwards Distinguished Endowed Chair in ALS Research. Endowed by Peggy and Gary Edwards and held by Stanley H. Appel, M.D. The Fondren Endowed Distinguished Chair. Endowed by The Fondren Foundation and the held by James M. Musser, M.D., Ph.D. The Walter W. Fondren III Distinguished Endowed Chair for the Medical Director of the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center. Endowed by The Fondren Foundation and held by Alan B. Lumsden, M.D. The Harriet and Joe B. Foster Distinguished Chair in Neurosciences. Endowed by Harriet and Joe B. Foster. The Robert W. Hervey Endowed Chair for Parkinson’s Research and Treatment. Endowed by Mrs. Doris Delhomme Hervey and held by Eugene C. Lai, M.D., Ph.D.

The John S. Dunn, Sr. Chair in Clinical Cardiovascular Research and Education.* Endowed by John S. Dunn Research Foundation and held by William L. Winters, Jr., M.D.

The Robert G. Grossman Chair in Neurosurgery. Endowed by Carolyn W. Payne and Family and held by Robert G. Grossman, M.D.

The John S. Dunn, Sr., Chair in General Internal Medicine.* Endowed by John S. Dunn Research Foundation and held by Clifford C. Dacso, M.D.

The Daniel E. Lehane, M.D., Distinguished Chair in Medical Oncology. Endowed by Judy L. and Glenn R. Smith and held by Daniel E. Lehane, M.D.

The Bob and Vivian Smith Chair of Internal Medicine. Endowed by Bob and Vivian Smith Foundation. The C. Richard Stasney, M.D. Distinguished Endowed Chair in Performing Arts Medicine. Endowed by Dr. and Mrs. Bobby R. Alford; Dr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Barrow; Mr. and Mrs. Jack S. Blanton; Mr. and Mrs. Albert Y. Chao; Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Finger; and The Alkek and Williams Foundation and held by C. Richard Stasney, M.D., F.A.C.S. The W. Bryan Trammell Jr. Family Endowed Chair for Allergy and Immunology Research. Endowed by Mrs. Ann G. Trammell. The David M. Underwood Chair in Digestive Disorders in Surgery and The David M. Underwood Chair of Medicine in Digestive Disorders. Endowed by David M. Underwood. The J.C. Walter Jr. Distinguished Chair in The Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center. Endowed by Walter Oil & Gas Corp.; Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III; Carole W. Looke and held by A. Osama Gaber, M.D. The Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter and Carole Walter Looke Distinguished Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Disease Research. Endowed by Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter and Carole Walter Looke.

* Endowed prior to The Methodist Hospital’s Leadine Medicine. Giving Hope. campaign. MethodistHealth.com/Foundation

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e ac y g L LEAVING A

BARBARA MONROE KIRSCH IS A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNER,

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER, GENEROUS PHILANTHROPIST AND WORLD TRAVELER WHO BELIEVES THAT AGE IS JUST A NUMBER – AND LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE FULL OF EXCITING EXPERIENCES.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153; What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.â&#x20AC;? -- PERICLES

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THE VALUE OF GIVING BACK As the granddaughter of the late oilman Dan T. Monroe with Humble Oil & Reﬁning Company – now ExxonMobil – and the daughter of the late Texaco marketing executive Dan B. Monroe, Barbara Kirsch inherited her zest for life and critical thinking skills from these two powerful men who taught her the value of helping others and giving back to the community. A native Houstonian, Kirsch attended Texas Christian University, then returned to her hometown to work for the Houston Bar Association. She worked as a corporate secretary/ treasurer for 23 years for an international corporation and also completed a double major in management and marketing from Houston Baptist University. She started her own company, which developed into home health care, and she has been involved with the Texas Medical Center for many years as a member of boards, as a volunteer and through philanthropy.

A HEART FOR SERVICE Kirsch became connected to The Methodist Hospital more than three decades ago as a volunteer with The Methodist Hospital Service Corps. As a teen, she developed a heart for service while working as a “candy striper” at other hospitals in the Texas Medical Center. At Methodist, she devoted most of her service hours to working in the Ambulatory Medicine and Main Surgery areas, where she was fortunate to get to know the late Dr. John W. Overstreet, one of Houston’s most respected surgeons. Her volunteer experience in Methodist’s surgical department planted a philanthropic seed that has recently blossomed through her decision to establish an estate gift in the Monroe family name. The gift will provide significant support to the Methodist Department of Surgery and the Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation and Education (MITIE). KINDRED SPIRITS Dr. Barbara Bass serves as the executive director of MITIE – and the two Barbaras are definitely kindred spirits. Bass’s vision for MITIE as “the surgeon’s flight simulator” fits perfectly with Kirsch’s own sense of adventure and discovery – and her desire to advance medicine. Dr. Marc Boom, Methodist’s President and CEO, admires Kirsch’s giving spirit and her desire to make a difference well beyond her lifetime. “Ms. Kirsch wants to fund research to help others, and her desire is to support the future needs of Methodist – to leave a legacy that will make a difference for generations to come.”

ENJOYING LIFE TO THE FULLEST For today, Kirsch has plenty to do. She has seen nearly all the world except Antarctica and China, and “both are planned for the very near future.” She has continued her education through the years, and is now enrolled in a Ph.D. program in international market trading and ﬁnance. In her spare time, she plays the piano, knits, gardens and works out almost daily. She especially enjoys boxing, which she recently resumed after a 15-year absence. A couple of dear friends have described Kirsch best as “resourceful, independent and candid.” “Women are amazing,” says Kirsch. “We’re smart, we’re strong, and we can do anything!”

PLANNED GIVING Planned gifts allow individuals to support Methodist far into the future while providing a variety of tax and other benefits to the contributor. These charitable bequests can be as simple as a few sentences written into a will or a living trust, and because the supporter can change his or her mind at any time, this type of planning is flexible and versatile. Contact The Methodist Hospital Foundation at 832-667-5816 or plannedgiving@tmhs.org with any questions. We’re happy to help, without obligation.

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Thanks MANY

TO THE GENEROUS INDIVIDUALS,

FAMILIES, CORPORATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS WHO ENABLE THE METHODIST HOSPITAL TO REACH NEW HEIGHTS, WE OFFER OUR HEARTFELT THANKS.

CONTRIBUTORS ARE LISTED ONLINE AT

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The Methodist Hospital Foundation 6565 Fannin, Sunset 2 Houston, Texas 77030 832-667-5816 I donor@tmhs.org

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