Houston Methodist hospital announced on Wednesday a $110-million gift, the largest single donation in the health system’s more than 100-year history. Funds will advance research and care related to neurological diseases, neuroscience and women’s health.
The record commitment was made by the Brockman family through their eponymous Brockman Medical Research Foundation. The foundation’s areas of focus include education and research in the fields of science, medicine and healthcare.
In recognition of the historic gift, Houston Methodist’s newest hospital facility will be named the Brockman Centennial Tower, with the tower’s entrance named the Anna Margaret Bellows Centennial Hall.
“The Brockman family is a longtime supporter of Houston Methodist,” said Dr. Marc L. Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist. “We hope this gift will serve as rocket fuel to drive research and education.”
Brockman Centennial Tower is expected to open in 2027 at an estimated cost of $1.4 billion. With building plans exceeding 1 million square feet, the 26-story hospital facility will add nearly 400 new patient beds to Houston Methodist’s flagship campus in the Texas Medical Center, in addition to an expanded emergency department that will connect to the Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III Tower.
The Walters and their Houston-based company Walter Oil & Gas Corporation, previously donated $101 million in 2017 to accelerate Methodist’s neuroscience research efforts.
The Brockman contribution will be divided into two parts. One hundred million will establish a new innovation fund to support research and care for neurological illnesses within the Houston Methodist Academic Institute and the Neurological Institute.
The remaining $10 million has been earmarked for advancing women’s health. An excellence fund for initiatives within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology will also be created.
“If you really look at the arc over the past couple of decades in healthcare, we’ve fought off many illnesses through vaccines and clean water. We’ve made huge strides in tackling those areas, which is why we live longer today and the death rate is down 30% over the past quarter century,” Boom explained. “People are living longer, which leads to more neurological diseases. As we see those increases, there is an increased need for research and education. We believe with the right investment and resources, we’re on the cusp within the next quarter century where medical science makes huge advances in neurological illnesses.”
Dr. Jenny Chang, president and CEO of the Houston Methodist Academic Institute, shared that funds from the Brockman gift will also be used to attract talent, leverage new technology and neurological treatments, and advance artificial intelligence.
“This is going to be a transformational gift; I know that’s used a lot, but we have a long way to go to understand dementia. This is a use of force to see if we can make a difference with this debilitating disease that we know little about,” she said. “Medicine and science are very strange. We tackled and made huge inroads with cardiovascular disease, figuring out ways to prevent it, track it and treat it in the ’80s and ’90s — the mortality rate has fallen by at least half. In the early 2000s, cancer was the big driver of mortality. Thanks to a huge effort into cancer, by all of the scientific community, we’ve done well making huge inroads for treatment and care, too.”
Through her work at the academic institute, Chang aims to apply the same discovery and innovation to reducing suffering from neurodegenerative diseases by improving prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
“This really is the next frontier that we need to overcome and tackle,” she said.