Successful visit Texas Medical Center for director Ellen Smit

Last week, managing director Ellen Smit visited Houston, home to the largest medical complex in the world, Texas Medical Center (TMC) which provides clinical health care, research and education at its 61 institutions. TMC is the driving force in the broader Houston region thriving life sciences sector as a hub for medical device manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and health research.

Together with a.o. vice mayor Robert Simons and Adriaan van der Giessen of gemeente Rotterdam, she visited the Texas Medical Center Innovation and JLABS@TMC to learn more from their approach to start-ups in the LSH sector and the programs they offer for the further development of LSH companies from all over the world.

Part of the delegation had the pleasure to meet with CEO Ben Hertzog of Intelligent Implants, Ltd. and CEO Angela Holmes of Mercury Data Science, Building AI applications for Life Sciences companies, located at TMCInnovation. Both shared their challenges for MedTech and AI companies for bringing their products to market.

TMC welcomed the Dutch delegation at the recently opened TMC Helix Park. This completely new Life Sciences campus is the place in Houston where experts in medicine, science, academia and commerce are brought together to drive new research breakthroughs. An inspiring environment and nice example of which Rotterdam Square, the City of Rotterdam and Erasmus MC can learn a lot when it comes to the development of the Erasmus MC Campus.

Impressive was Houston Methodist Institute of Technology, Innovation & Education (MITIE) where an innovative virtual and physical training facility is built for clinical staff, doctors, nurses and engineers so they can safely test and adopt new innovations and hone their skills.

A special thanks to William McKeon and Ashley McPhail of TMC, Thomas Luby and Emily Reiser of TMC Innovation Center, Ann Tanabe of BioHouston, Allison Rhines at Jlabs, Allison Post, PhD at The Texas Heart Institute , Babatope Fatuyi M.D, Jair Soares and Martin Citardi of Center for Digital Healthcare Innovation – UTHealth Houston and Homer Quintana and Stuart J. C. of MITIE for sharing your knowledge and giving us the opportunity to visit your facilities. It was a pleasure.

Date: November 9, 2023