The John S. Dunn Research Foundation recently committed $1.5 million to The Methodist Hospital Foundation to establish a distinguished endowed chair in the new Department of Biomedical Engineering at The Methodist Hospital.

This chair will be instrumental in enhancing The Methodist Hospital Research Institute (TMHRI). TMHRI was created in 2004 to complete the hospital’s vision of being one of the nation’s top ranked academic medical centers. The new biomedical engineering department is a collaborative initiative with the University of Houston and TMHRI that aims to lead the Texas Medical Center in research opportunities for biomedical engineering. Last year, Methodist and UH entered into a 30-year affiliation agreement to work together in research and education.  Research in biomedical engineering holds the potential for major breakthroughs in tissue engineering, medical imaging, computer-assisted surgery, medical devices, and more efficient delivery of drugs to diseased areas of a patient’s body.

“This generous donation will help attract a prominent leader in this field, propelling the development of the joint program in which physicians, engineers and scientists from TMHRI and UH collaborate in biomedical research” said Ron Girotto, President and CEO of The Methodist Hospital System. “This will bring Houston more opportunities for rapid advancements in medicine, and we are ever grateful to the Dunn Foundation for sharing this vision.”

The physician who will hold the John S. Dunn Distinguished Endowed Chair in Biomedical Engineering will lead a department of acclaimed physicians to help increase research activities. The John S. Dunn Research Foundation previously established an endowed chair in biomedical engineering at UH. 

“Funding the new John S. Dunn Distinguished Endowed Chair at Methodist augments the investment we have already made at UH in biomedical engineering, and provides resources to both institutions that will aid their collaboration and ultimately focus more attention on the city of Houston as an incubator for biomedical engineering,” said John S. Dunn, Jr., President for the John S. Dunn Foundation.  “It represents the kind of major investment in the future of medicine my father would have strongly endorsed. We strive to support biomedical research and education that benefit Texans—that’s part of our mission.” 

TMHRI is dedicated to translating progress in the basic sciences into new treatments for patients. It was established to better serve patients by identifying breakthrough treatments, attracting and retaining outstanding physician-scientists, and developing and conducting more clinical trials with the goal of doubling the number of clinical trials taking place at Methodist over the next five years. TMHRI will attract more federal NIH grant money to Houston and provide possibilities for research collaborations among members of the Texas Medical Center and with Methodist’s other academic partners, Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital.