When Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo, president of University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair, first pitched the idea for a comprehensive capital campaign, he was told the school was too young for fund-raising of that kind. UTHealth was established in 1972.
Colasurdo pushed back. He knew of college deans who needed research funding and board members who wanted UTHealth Houston to win the healthcare talent recruitment war. Fortunately, he also knew of donors capable of making transformational gifts.
An initial goal was set for $500 million. On April 20, Colarsurdo announced that the “Many Faces. One Mission” campaign has raised a total of $534.4 million, becoming the largest gift of its kind in Houston history.
More than 11,315 donors contributed to the record sum, which will contribute to the campaign’s three points of impact: $184.5 million has been earmarked for training the next generation of physicians and nurses; $182.2 million will help improve access to healthcare in Houston; and $105 million will go towards advancing brain and behavioral health.
Lead gifts include $75 million from the John P. McGovern Foundation in 2015, which led to the renaming of the John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School, and $22 million from UTHealth Houston development board member D. Bradley McWilliams to the School of Biomedical Informatics, which will advance human health through data science. That school has been renamed the D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston in his honor.
McWilliams, a University of Texas alum who grew up in Bellaire, thought long and hard for years about his gift before landing on informatics.
“Once I decided I wanted to make a legacy gift, was a natural choice for me. I’ve given to different causes, primarily in departments where I’ve had dealings on a medical basis. I’ve had a lot of medical problems,” he said. “The way I could help all of them was giving to the School of Biomedical Informatics; this one, in some ways, helps all the different schools. It’s going be the leader in all the artificial intelligence.”
Additional support from Jane and Robert Cizik in 2017 and the John S. Dunn Foundation in 2021 led to the newly renamed Jane and Robert Cizik School of Nursing and John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center, respectively.
A new, seventh school was approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and UT System Board of Regents last month. The UTHealth Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences will begin offering more than 35 degree or certificate programs within the next decade.
“Our strategy was to address this major gap we have in healthcare,” Colasurdo said.
Behavioral health was previously called mental health, he added. Advancing the field became a pillar of “Many Faces. One Mission.”
Faculty recruitment, student scholarship and research funding were other areas of focus.
“Education and the training of doctors, nurses and public healthcare workers is always a soft spot for people in this community,” Colasurdo said. “Especially for those who were students themselves and knew the struggle of tuition themselves. They particularly want to see these students succeed.”
The campaign’s emphasis on healthcare may feel somewhat obvious, though Colasurdo makes an important distinction.
“Everyone wants access to the best providers, and they want to be taken care of, like I used to do in Italy with my little bag going out to the local village,” he said. “If they have a serious medical condition, they want to have it treated here. Who doesn’t connect with Alzheimer’s, depression or stroke? Those don’t spare the millionaire, billionaire or a patient in the county jail. These are messages we felt would encourage support and connection.”
amber.elliott@chron.com
