Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/323757
t m c ยป p u l s e | m a y 7, 2 0 1 4 22 For years, Hotez and his team have envisioned the Texas Medical Center as being the ideal place for expanding and creating novel strategic collab- orative research efforts dedicated to addressing those issues of global health. So when the opportunity arose, following a conversation with Texas Children's Hospital Physician-in-Chief Mark Kline, M.D., and Baylor President Paul Klotman, M.D., for the establish- ment of a new school dedicated to researching and addressing neglected tropical diseases, Hotez, then the chair of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at George Washington University, didn't hesitate. His George Washington University colleague and vice-chair, Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D., was the natural pick to join him as associate dean of the new school. Together, the pair, along with twelve experienced researchers who also relocated to join the team, established the National School of Tropical Medicine. This endeavor was also made possible by the strategic partnership between Baylor, Texas Children's Hospital and the Sabin Vaccine Institute, for which Hotez also serves as president. The Sabin Vaccine Institute relocated its Product Development Partnership (PDP), which is one of only 16 PDPs globally and the only one located in an academic medical center and in the state of Texas. Hotez and Bottazzi serve as director and deputy director, respectively, for the Sabin PDP. They also serve as professors of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology, and Hotez holds the Texas Children's Hospital endowed chair in tropical pediatrics. "Dr. Hotez and his team at the Texas Children's Hospital - Sabin Vaccine Institute Center for Vaccine Development are working to prevent some of the world's biggest medical scourges, diseases like hookworm and schistosomiasis that literally affect hundreds of millions of individuals globally," said Kline. "The potential of this absolutely novel work to impact the lives of many of the world's poorest and least fortunate children cannot be overstated." The National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine is actively working on developing vaccines for neglected tropical diseases, which affect over a billion people worldwide. (Credit: Baylor College of Medicine)