70 years of victories: BCM helps make history
As we look back through BCM’s history from our arrival in Houston, a new chapter in our history, and decades of accolades, we focus on the College’s achievements from 1983 through 2005.
DeBakey continues to raise the bar
Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, BCM’s first president, internationally recognized surgeon and medical statesman was awarded the National Medal of Science from President Ronald Reagan. DeBakey is the first scientist from the College to receive this award.
The award, established by Congress in 1959, is given to individuals “deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences.”
BCM joins effort to decode DNA
In 1985, BCM created the Institute of Molecular and Human Genetics. In the years that followed, major genetic discoveries were made at the College as the International Human Genome Project is established.
In 1996, BCM established the Human Genome Sequencing Center, which would be chosen as one of three centers to finish sequencing the human genome by the National Human Genome Research Institute.
In 2003, the Human Genome Project was declared complete, with the BCM Sequencing Center playing a major role.
See the Human Genome Project timeline.
Watch videos of BCM’s efforts in helping decode the human genome.
Outreach to Romania, Africa
After touring hospitals, clinics and orphanages in Romania, BCM’s Dr. Mark Kline, chair of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and physician-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital, returned to Houston with a plan to help children with HIV/AIDS in the eastern European country. Forming the Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative in 1996, Kline resolved to bring antiretroviral treatments and other high-quality care to children in need.
Over more than a decade, the program expanded to include health professional education and training programs in Mexico, a partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation in Africa to help HIV/AIDS, and continues to grow today to reach Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and other underserved countries around the world.
Cancer care in South Texas
In 2001, BCM and Texas Children’s Hospital worked together on a joint project to help bring pediatric blood disorder and cancer care to South Texas. The two institutions helped open the Vannie E. Cook Children’s Cancer and Hemotology Clinic in McAllen, Texas.
Today, the center is also the home to a Long Term Survivor Clinic and a Cancer Genetics Clinic, one of the few facilities in the region that provides genetic diagnostic studies, screening tests and counseling service. The facility also houses the Childhood Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Program, a joint program of BCM, Texas Children’s and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
-By Audrey M. Marks
