Office of the President

A 70-Year Partnership Built for Medicine's Next Era

By Dr. Jakub Tolar and Dr. Debra Sukin

Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital established an affiliation more than 70 years ago in the Texas Medical Center. Much has changed since then, with both institutions growing in scope and footprint, but the objective remains the same – to work together as partners to save lives.

Never before have we had greater tools to understand disease and bring lifesaving discoveries to patients faster. And never before have we faced greater challenges.

Meeting this moment will require more than technological innovation. It will require hospitals, medical schools and researchers working toward progress that no single institution can accomplish alone.

That is why this week, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's renewed an affiliation that was first signed in 1953 and has deepened over the years. The agreement is more than an institutional milestone. It is a reaffirmation of a model that has helped make Houston one of the world's leading centers for pediatric and women’s healthcare, and one that will assume even more importance in the decades ahead.

The partnership began before Texas Children's even opened its doors. Baylor had just opened as the first building in the Texas Medical Center in 1947. When the hospital welcomed its first patients in 1954, Baylor physicians were there from the beginning, caring for children, educating future doctors and building research programs that would ultimately transform the treatment of childhood disease. Together, our institutions helped establish the Texas Medical Center into a global destination for patients with the rarest and most complex diseases.

Since then, both institutions have grown dramatically, but our shared mission remains consistent: combine world-class patient care, medical education and scientific discovery under one roof so that each strengthens the others. 

Today, Texas Children's is consistently ranked among the nation's leading children's hospitals, and Baylor College of Medicine continues to be ranked as one of America's premier medical schools. Together, we have recruited physician-scientists from around the world, trained generations of physicians and surgeons, accelerated research and advanced breakthroughs that have changed the lives of patients not only in Houston, but across the globe. 

Our joint work has helped redefine care for children with congenital heart disease, advanced fetal medicine and maternal care, accelerated discoveries in genetics and rare diseases, expanded access to leading-edge cancer treatments, and positioned Houston at the forefront of neuroscience and pediatric innovation. 

Every day, our 2,000+ physicians and researchers work to advance medicine through more than 400 active clinical trials. Many of the treatments families now consider standard started as research questions investigated by Baylor faculty caring for patients at Texas Children's. 

As new leaders of our respective institutions, we recognize this significant moment with deep respect for the generations who built this partnership and a shared responsibility to carry it forward. For more than seven decades, our predecessors chose collaboration over separation. In renewing this affiliation, we reaffirm our shared commitment to our patients and their families who depend on us, to the physicians and scientists devoted to advancing care, and to the city of Houston we are proud to call home.

Jakub Tolar, M.D., Ph.D. is president, CEO and executive dean of Baylor College of Medicine and Debra Sukin, Ph.D. is president and CEO of Texas Children’s Hospital.