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Research Associate Professor at University of Houston(UH), Dr. Colin N. Haile, at the University of Houston (UH) fentanyl vaccine labon Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022, at University of Houston in Houston.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, talks about the manikins used in the nursing program at the University of Houston Katy campus Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Balloons fill the front of the the University of Houston\u2019s brand new Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine building in preparation for the school\u2019s ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022.<\/p>\n
Annie Mulligan\/Contributor<\/p>\n
University of Houston<\/a> launched “UH Health” on Wednesday, a new hub for teaching and research that brings together physicians, nurses, social workers and others to address growing healthcare challenges<\/a>\u00a0in the city and state.\u00a0<\/p>\n Experts say the move could help shape healthcare in the region, make UH more competitive for\u00a0research grants\u00a0and potentially foster more innovation in\u00a0the Texas Medical Center.<\/p>\n The new consortium builds on years of efforts to boost the university’s profile in the Texas Medical Center and its influence in healthcare. UH opened the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine<\/a> and the\u00a0Gessner College of Nursing<\/a>\u00a0in 2020 and 2015, respectively, and recently expanded its nursing, medicine and pharmacy programs to the Rio Grande Valley in partnership with DHR Health.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n All those colleges and initiatives are now part of UH Health, along with\u00a0the colleges of pharmacy and optometry.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom opening the state\u2019s first college of optometry to developing groundbreaking vaccines, improving the health of all Texans has been a UH priority for decades,\u201d UH President Renu Khator said in a news release. \u201cNow, with the launch of UH Health, we are bringing together the full strength of our health enterprise to expand our reach, advance research and transform the future of health for our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The hub also includes UH Population Health, the Human Integrated Health Science Institute and researchers in health-related fields, such as psychology, biomedical engineering and social work.<\/p>\n BREAKTHROUGH: UH engineers find smarter semiconductor cooling for AI<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Center aims to bring researchers together<\/p>\n Almost 50% of UH’s research is health-related, but much of it has been isolated across departments and colleges, he said. As a result, many faculty were researching different aspects of the same topic but didn’t realize they could support each other.<\/p>\n For example, more than 100 faculty are currently researching different areas of brain health, with $62.5 million in active grants, according to the university. UH researchers also have over $11 million in funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n “This is a deliberate attempt to pull all these pieces together into something that … is able to better act where we want to, in terms of education, clinical care delivery, community engagement, research,” said Jonathan McCullers, vice president for health affairs and dean of the medical school.<\/p>\n University officials say UH Health reflects a shift to a more collaborative structure in healthcare. By creating a central location, faculty and staff can connect more easily while researching conditions such as\u00a0dementia, cancer, infectious diseases and substance use disorders. Students in clinics can work in teams, as they’ll be expected to do in the workforce.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On the student side, the psychology department has worked in community health spaces, but not with the medical or nursing colleges, McCullers said.<\/p>\n The new consortium could allow UH to centralize some administrative functions, such as budgeting, compliance and reporting for research projects and the institutional review boards that monitor those efforts, said Dr. Heidi Russell, the director of the Center for Health Policy at Rice University\u2019s Baker Institute for Public Policy.<\/p>\n Bringing all of the university\u2019s health-related teaching and research under the UH umbrella could also help its researchers secure competitive research grants, Russell said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can demonstrate that they have this bigger and more established consortium with all of these resources,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n HIGHER ED: Delays in federal research funding hit Texas universities<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Workforce shortages and competition in health research<\/p>\n UH has pursued advancements in the health space against the backdrop of healthcare workforce shortages and challenges with a population that’s both growing and aging.<\/p>\n It has also been competing with other public universities in the Texas Medical Center. Many institutions in the world-renowned center\u00a0have longstanding relationships with other universities, even as UH has partnered with HCA Healthcare, Memorial Hermann Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine and MD Anderson Cancer Center.<\/p>\n