Houston--Center of Excellence
Houston is known as being at the center of medical research, treatment and advancements, largely due to the presence of the Texas Medical Center (TMC), the crown jewel of health care, education and research in Houston and the largest medical center in the world. TMC was first developed in 1945 with the dream of creating a medical center where people from all walks of life could have access to the best health care anywhere regardless of their race, age or financial position. Today that dream is fully realized with people from every social circumstance and national origin seeking treatment at the center’s 59 renowned not-for-profit institutions. In this section, you’ll find descriptions of many TMC facilities and institutions as well as some located outside the campus and a locator map with all Houston-area hospitals.

TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER
Considered a “city within a city,” the Texas Medical Center (TMC) is located three miles south of Downtown Houston and just southwest of Hermann Park and east of Rice University. With the opening of Hermann Hospital in 1925, the TMC took the first steps toward becoming the world’s largest medical complex and has been pioneering medical innovations bordering on the impossible and advancements that change people’s lives ever since. Along with many significant milestones and breakthroughs, the TMC is home to the world’s largest children’s hospital (Texas Children’s Hospital) and the world’s largest cancer hospital (M.D. Anderson Cancer Center).

Today, the TMC is home to many of the nation’s best hospitals, physicians, researchers, educational institutions and health care providers, making it an internationally recognized community of healing, education and groundbreaking research. The TMC offers something to meet everyone’s needs. Three Level I comprehensive trauma facilities are located in the center, as are institutions specializing in every aspect of health care, including pediatrics, cancer patients, heart care, organ transplantation, terminal illness, mental health and wellness and prevention.

The TMC also is the site of the first, and still largest, air ambulance service; a successful inter-institutional transplant program; and more heart surgeries performed than anywhere in the world. With more than 8 million patient visits a year, TMC’s member institutions provide patient care, cutting-edge research and education for medical, dental and nursing students.

TMC also is easily accessible from much of the city on Houston’s METRORail Red Line, which runs 13 miles from south of Loop 610 South and NRG Park to the Northline Transit Center near the Northline Commons Mall and the Northeast campus of Houston Community College just north of the Loop 610 North. Within the TMC area alone, METRORail runs down Fannin Street with four stations: Memorial Hermann Hospital/Houston Zoo, Dryden/TMC, TMC Transit Center and Smith Lands, a parking area for medical center employees.

Following are significant hospitals and institutions in the Texas Medical Center.

— MEMORIAL HERMANN-TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER
Part of the largest not-for-profit health system in Southeast Texas, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (TMC) (www.memorialhermann.org) is the flagship hospital for the Memorial Hermann Health System and was the first hospital to open in the Texas Medical Center in 1925. Consistently setting new standards of care through advances in medicine, Memorial Hermann-TMC is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) McGovern Medical School and provides cutting-edge care in cardiology, neuroscience, orthopedics, women’s health, general surgery, organ transplantation and more. Memorial Hermann-TMC is one of the nation’s busiest Level I trauma centers, providing 24-hour emergency and trauma care to more than 40,000 patients a year, and is home to Memorial Hermann Life Flight, the region’s only hospital-based air ambulance service, which provides emergency rescue within a 150-mile radius. Memorial Hermann-TMC also brought Houston its first health information exchange, which shares vital patient data among care providers to ensure timely and accurate care.

— HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL

A leading academic medical center and research institute in the Texas Medical Center (TMC), Houston Methodist Hospital (www.houstonmethodist.org) is the flagship hospital of Houston Methodist. With 1,119 licensed beds, 67 operating rooms and more than 6,000 employees, Houston Methodist Hospital offers complete care for patients from around the world and consistently is ranked as “One of America’s Best Hospitals” and the No. 1 hospital in Texas. Houston Methodist Hospital offers cutting-edge research and patient care at six multidisciplinary centers of excellence—Houston Methodist Cancer Center, Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, Houston Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center, Houston Methodist Lynda K. and David M. Underwood Center for Digestive Disorders, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute and Houston Methodist Orthopedics & Sports Medicine. Academically, Houston Methodist Hospital is affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

— BAYLOR ST. LUKE’S MEDICAL CENTER
Opened as St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in 1954, CHI St. Luke’s Health-Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center (www.chistlukeshealth.org/baylorstlukes/) is an 850-bed critical care hospital and academic medical center that treats more than 500,000 patients a year at the heart of the Texas Medical Center. Home to the renowned Texas Heart Institute, Baylor St. Luke’s is a nationally recognized leader in medical research and treatment that has made powerful breakthroughs in cardiology, diabetes, neuroscience, cancer treatment, orthopedics and transplantation. With two medical clinics for acute and chronic conditions and eight freestanding emergency centers, Baylor St. Luke’s was the first Magnet-designated hospital in Texas and the Southwest for Nursing Excellence by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and has done so for four consecutive years. Baylor St. Luke’s also has a collaborative partnership with the Baylor College of Medicine and affiliations with the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, The University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston), Houston Baptist University and Prairie View A&M University.

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