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Health Science Center and Mexican University Launch Joint Training Program

Top graduates from the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon Facultad de Medicina y Hospital Universitario in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, (UANL) will soon be coming to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for training in drug development research.

Donato Saldivar Rodriquez, M.D., president director of Facultad de Medicina y Hospital Universitario (UANL), and C. Thomas Caskey, M.D., director/CEO of The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) at the UT Health Science Center at Houston, signed agreements of cooperation for a joint postdoctoral program on Aug. 28 in the Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building in the Texas Medical Center.

“This is the start of outstanding cooperation between the two universities,” Caskey said.

Much drug development is gene-specific, according to Caskey. Genes have been linked to diseases and are targets for therapeutic intervention.

Caskey, faculty member of the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), said that as many as 10 UANL graduates with biology or medical degrees could be accepted into the postdoctoral program. Participants, known as fellows, will train with UT scientists for three years. The selection process has begun.

UANL is one of the oldest universities in Mexico, beginning in 1824 as a law school and establishing the Medicine School in 1859. UANL is affiliated with a hospital.

Luis E. Todd, the executive director of the Coordinacion de Ciencia y Tecnologia del Estado de Nuevo Leon, said he hopes for additional collaborations between states in Northern Mexico and Texas. “Science does not have geography,” he said.

This is the start of outstanding
cooperation between the
two universities.

Not limited to the joint postdoctoral program, the UT Health Science Center at Houston/UANL agreement of cooperation could
lead to joint research and medical education programs.

According to Bryant Boutwell, Dr. P.H., associate vice president for Accreditation & International Programs, the health science center has 99 international agreements. “These formal agreements between universities establish the groundwork for the exchange of faculty and students involved in research and educational programs,” he said.

Caskey is the director of the postdoctoral program. Perry E. Bickel, M.D., associate professor and director of the IMM Center for Diabetes and Obesity Research; and Paul J. Simmons, Ph.D., professor and director of the Centre for Stem Cell Research and GSBS faculty; are on the joint postdoctoral program’s management committee.

By Rob Cahill, Institutional Advancement

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