Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/610185
t m c » p u l s e | d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 25 Mark A. Wallace P r esi den t a n d Ch i ef Ex ecu t i v e Of f icer Texas Children's Hospital James T. Willerson, M.D. P r esi den t Texas Heart Institute Texas Children's Hospital celebrated many milestones in 2015. Once again, we ranked fourth among all pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. We launched our $475 million Promise campaign, which includes our second community hospital—Texas Children's Hospital The Woodlands—slated to open in 2017 and a new pediatric surgical and critical care tower in the medical center. We also constructed a new Special Isolation Unit, the only one of its kind in the Southwest, designed to care for children with highly contagious infectious diseases. Texas Children's Pediatrics celebrated its 51st location and 20 years of service to the Houston community, and we added a third Texas Children's Urgent Care location in The Woodlands. Additionally, Texas Children's Health Plan was selected by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission as a health plan in the STAR Kids Program, a managed care program providing health coverage to youth and children with special health care needs. The researchers, doctors and staff that dedicate each and every day to progressing the Texas Heart Institute's (THI) mission to reduce the devastating toll of cardiovascular disease are inspiring, and the milestones we've reached in 2015 have been numerous. Progress and leadership in adult human stem cell therapies to treat patients with extensive coronary heart disease and heart failure continued; new genetic insights were unveiled; the vascular receptor for inflammation was identified; and improvements using catheters to treat valvular heart disease have been ongoing. THI continues to develop smaller and more effective continuous flow left ventricular assist devices, including one that may be used in children and very small adults, and work to evaluate new and improved methods for prevention and treatment of heart and vascular disease in women progressed. While this is only a small selection of 2015 accomplishments, I am proud of our successes and eager for the year ahead.