From the April 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


We think the partnership with MWA is important to highlight what a great city Houston is, but also put Houston on the map as a life science destination and as a real player in the whole life science and health care arena.

We have the medical centers here, MD Anderson, Baylor, Methodist Hospital, Texas Children’s, Rice University, University of Houston, but this meeting provides the opportunity for visitors to experience a great meeting and also get to visit the medical center, connect with colleagues, and discuss potential or ongoing collaborations. For first-timers, it will be an exciting meeting to explore Houston and get a great education, and experience great entertainment.


HCBN: What topics do you think will dominate most conversations at this year’s meeting?
RR: The medical center, those 57 institutions, did a strategic planning process to find a road map of where, collectively, MD Anderson, Baylor, Methodist, Memorial Herman, St. Luke’s, and Texas Heart could work together. They are neighbors but they compete for patients, so we took the approach of focusing on research and educational programs. Five themes emerged for the strategic planning process: health policy, genomics, regenerative medicine and stem cell biology, clinical research, and innovation and commercialization; how do you translate fundamental discoveries into commercially viable products like new drugs, new medical devices or new diagnostics, or even new digital solutions to health.

Those are the things we’ve tried to emphasize. I think you’ll hear a lot about all those areas. If I were betting, I would think that genomics will be a really hot topic with how it will affect everyday care of patients. I also think innovation and commercialization will be popular. We think that’s a major opportunity for Houston and this is the prime place to develop a robust life science ecosystem to compete with Boston, San Francisco, Singapore, London, and other key players.

HCBN: Looking back at last year’s meeting, were there any unexpected surprises?
RR: As a first year meeting, it’s always difficult to get started. I was impressed with the professionalism of the visitor bureau staff. I had done a couple of things with them on traveling internationally to try to secure some international medical meetings, and I just like them. They are fun to be around, but they are very professional and know what they’re doing around meetings.

The bureau is trying to grow the number of medical meetings that we hold here in Houston. I was impressed that without really having a lot of experience with doing medical meetings, the team pulled together and worked with us closely as we helped them try to shape the program. The organization for pulling off a meeting and having 2,500 people attend the first year of a meeting was phenomenal.

April 2015 Magazine

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