Rice-BCM merger to promote research

By Jennifer West and Richard Smith     11/5/09 6:00pm

In light of recent discussions of the proposed Rice-Baylor College of Medicine merger, we would like to remind students, faculty and staff of the beneficial side of this proposition. In the first place, if the merger happens, there will likely be a significant increase in research collaborations between the two institutions. At present, most academic research expenditures in the United States are dedicated to biomedical, rather than basic, research. With BCM on board, Rice would immediately gain a leadership position among its peer institutions in biomedical research.

Rice would have access to research on the cutting edge of the medical and scientific community. Among the programs at BCM ranked at the top or near the top in terms of funding by the National Institutes of Health are Pediatrics, Genetics and Cell Biology. BCM also has extremely strong programs in many other basic science departments (Biochemistry and Neuroscience) and centers (Breast Cancer, Genome and Gene Therapy). Many authorities believe that the combined strength of the Human Genome Sequencing Center, the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy would be unrivaled anywhere in the world. As a result, the senior scientists at BCM are confident that a Rice-BCM merger would instantly provide Rice with a high national ranking among medical schools, and potentially place us among the top 10, if not the top five, medical schools in the country.

The Rice community may not be familiar with BCM's research funding. The current NIH annual funding for BCM is $242 million. In terms of NIH stimulus funding, which represents a current assessment of the competitiveness of BCM, Baylor received $39.9 million, while MD Anderson received $32.8 million, the University of Texas-Houston received $26.8 million and the University of Texas-Southwestern received $26.3 million as the next highest ranking institutions in Texas. Currently BCM ranks 13th in NIH funding among U.S. medical schools, while Southwestern, the next highest ranked Texas medical school, is only in the 20s.

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It is likely that Rice will gain biomedical research funding, as in the case of the new Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas program. (For more information, visit http://www.cprit.state.tx.us). By itself Rice has limited prospects for CPRIT funding, but a Rice-BCM entity could rank as high as number two in all of Texas for this sort of support. Indeed, the new entity could reasonably expect CPRIT funding to attain the level of National Cancer Institute funding, which presently is roughly $50 million at BCM, about $179 million at MD Anderson and approximately $26.6 million at Southwestern. The Methodist Hospital, incidentally, obtains about $1.9 million in NCI funding, and Rice currently receives only $2.6 million from NCI.

Finally, we believe that there will be a substantial increase in Rice-directed philanthropy as donors are attracted by the prospects of the newly merged institution. In the merger, Rice will have control over the future direction of BCM, including a voice in the selection of a new leader for the medical school. Rice will also help determine research priorities to further its Vision for the Second Century, and make decisions about what new departments to form, what hospitals to affiliate with and what priorities to set.

In short, we believe that a merger of the sort proposed will bring substantial benefits to Rice, not least in terms of even greater prestige, and we are confident that the Rice administration and the Rice board will ultimately make a decision based on Rice's best financial and academic interests, regardless of what that decision might be.

Richard J. Smith is a History professor and Jennifer West is a Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering professor. Professors Vivian Ho, John T. McDevitt, Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum, and Jing Zhou contributed to this column.

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