Health care
BY KEVIN VU
Health Care Edition
2025
Welcome to the annual CI Health Care Edition! This guide delves into pivotal developments shaping Houston’s medical landscape. Leading the issue is the transformative partnership between two Houston medical giants to create a new Texas Medical Center tower focused on eradicating childhood cancer. This edition also examines the signi cant budget reduction proposed for the National Institutes of Health and the potential local impacts, as well as ongoing developments at the Texas Medical Center.
Premium sponsors:
Sunset Animal Hospital SunsetAnytime.com 713. 526. 5881 FULL SERVICE, 24 HOUR VETERINARIAN & ANIMAL HOSPITAL IN HOUSTON, TX: Giving Pets the Happiest Life with the People Who Love Them.
HCA Houston ER 24/7 hcahoustonhealthcare.com/er-24 7 HCA Houston ER 24/7 serves Houston area communities with conveniently located emergency rooms right in your neighborhood.
Houston Methodist Hospital houstonmethodist.org 713.790.3333 At Houston Methodist, we are
committed to connecting patients with advanced, personalized and innovative care. That is our promise of leading medicine.
For relevant news and daily updates, subscribe to our free email newsletter!
Potential cuts to federal funding could set back medical research in Houston
Federal funding received, 2024 Speci c institutions have relied on federal funding to further advance and support their research, with the following institutions receiving millions last year:
Baylor College of Medicine MD Anderson Cancer Center
$326M
$191M
a Feb. 11 statement. A closer look
Houston’s health care and academic institu- tions, including the Texas Medical Center, could lose millions of dollars towards research if the National Institutes of Health moves forward with reducing indirect costs. How we got here President Donald Trump’s administration ordered the NIH—the agency that awards a large number of grants towards research—to reduce “indirect costs” to 15% on Feb. 7. Indirect costs are essentially overhead costs associated with research, such as supporting research sta , as well as the costs to maintain facilities and laboratories, according to the NIH website. Many research organizations charge over 50% in indirect costs, according to the NIH website. For example, Rice University has a federally negotiated indirect cost rate of 56%, according to
University of Houston
$38M
Michael King, the Associate Vice President of Research and Chair of Bioengineering at Rice University, told Community Impact that if the NIH goes through with these cuts, the university could lose tens of millions of dollars. He said he researches cancer and tries to develop new treatments to prevent the spread of cancer—his research has been supported by the NIH for 23 years. King said the university will have to nd other funding sources to help o set the loss of NIH funding if the policy goes through. However, he said he’s optimistic the university will nd funding, especially in Texas, where lawmakers are currently trying to make investments towards brain research and dementia.
Rice University
$24M
SOURCES: NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, RICE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY IMPACT
“We’re lucky to be in the state of Texas,” King said. “In the same way that Texas and Houston are world leaders in cancer research, a few years from now, we’ll have a similar dominance in neuroscience research.” The potential cuts are on pause inde nitely as a federal judge issued a temporary halt after 22 state attorney generals requested a block on the policy.
7
BELLAIRE MEYERLAND WEST UNIVERSITY EDITION
Powered by FlippingBook