Texas Biomedical Research Institute Annual Report 2016
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TEXAS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE TEXAS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE ANNUAL | 2016 REPORT Remembering the Past, Embracing the Future 2016 ANNUAL REPORT 2016 ANNUAL REPORT REMEMBERING THE PAST, EMBRACING THE FUTURE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Committee Dr. James (Jamo) Rubin, Chairman Mr. John R. (J.R.) Hurd 4 President’s Letter Chief Executive Officer, TAVHealth Chair, Hurd Enterprises, Ltd. Mr. John E. Newman, Jr., Vice Chairman Mrs. Abigail G. Kampmann Principal, Newman Brothers Chief Executive Officer, Principle Auto 7 Pioneer of the Possible: Thomas Slick, Jr. Mr. James B. (Jamie) Smith Mr. John C. Kerr Secretary, Board of Trustees Principal, Moorman Kerr Interests Vice Chairman – Texas, Dykema Cox Smith 75 Years of Discovery Mrs. Marsha M. Shields 11 Dr. C. Collins (Andy) Anderson III President, McCombs Enterprises Dr. James (Jamo) Rubin Managing Partner, Windgate Partners, LLC Tenure began June 2016 12 A Timeline of Our History Trustees Mrs. Emory Alexander Special Trustees Trustees Emeritus 16 75th Anniversary Celebration Hamilton Mr. Rex Amini Mr. Adam L. Hamilton Dr. Ronald K. Calgaard Partner, Groves Alexander Managing Director, President & CEO, Chairman, Ray Ellison Sage Energy Co. Mrs. Ashley Hixon Southwest Research Institute Grandchildren Trust 18 Champions of Discovery Hixon Family Office The Abbey Mr. Edward H. Austin, Jr. Dr. Andrea Giuffrida Principal, Mr. Richard Kardys Vice President for Research and Mr. Tom C. Frost Austin Family Investments Wealth Advisor Senior Officer, Professor, University of Texas Chairman Emeritus, Frost Bank 19 Circles of Giving Frost Bank Health Science Center at Mr. Richard N. Azar II San Antonio Mr. James W. Gorman, Jr. General Partner, Mr. William R. (Bill) Klesse Investor/Rancher Sezar Energy, L.P. The Forum Mrs. Carolyn H. Labatt Ex-Officio Trustee Mr. William E. Greehey 23 Mr. Craig Boyan Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Chris Petty Chairman, NuStar Energy, L.P. President & Chief Operating Computer Solutions President, Founder’s Council Mr. George C. (Tim) Hixon Officer, H-E-B 25 Founder’s Council Mr. Mark Pitman Mays Mr. John V. McLaughlin Investor/Rancher Mr. J. Bruce Bugg, Jr. Principal, Rocking M Capital President, The Argyle Chairman and CEO, Mr. B. D. Holt Argyle Investment Co., LLC Mr. Joe C. McKinney Mrs. Daniela Serna Chairman, Holt Companies 28 The Argyle Vice Chairman, President, Texas Biomedical Forum Mr. Milton B. Lee Mr. Robert M. (Bobby) Broadway National Bank Cavender (Retired) CEO, CPS Energy Mr. Lewis J. (Lew) Moorman IV Honorary Trustee President, Cavender Auto Group Mr. B. J. McCombs 30 Financials Entrepreneur Dr. John P. Howe III Ms. Phyllis Slick Cowell Chairman, McCombs Enterprises Dr. Dacia Napier Retired President/CEO, President, Slick Enterprises Mr. William G. (Bill) Moll Radiologist Project HOPE 32 New Grants and Contracts Mrs. Barbara B. Dreeben (Retired) CEO, KLRN Mr. Richard T. Schlosberg III (Retired) Chairman & CEO, Mr. Walter Embrey (Retired) Publisher and CEO, Clear Channel Television Chairman, Embrey Partners, Ltd. Los Angeles Times Administration, Faculty and Credits Mr. Lewis J. (Jeff) Moorman III 34 Mr. John W. Feik Mr. Charles (Chuck) Investor Chief Executive Officer, Urschel Slick Mr. Edward E. Whitacre, Jr. Feik Enterprises, LLC Partner, Slick Enterprises Chairman Emeritus, AT&T Mr. John B. Zachry Chairman and CEO, Zachry Group 2 3 A LETTER frOM THE PRESIDENT Larry Schlesinger, M.D. n 2016, Texas Biomed celebrated 75 years of with technology, and support a culture that optimizes discoveries that impact lives, and we will continue to make “Our greatest groundbreaking research and innovation. The Institute interdisciplinary research in all respects. strong investments in the environment and the development strength is our has a rich history of exploration and discovery, starting of our people for the sake of improving human health. Over I Because of its rich history and unique capabilities, Texas people – our staff, with its founder, Thomas B. Slick, Jr. Every day, the the next few years, we aim to add to our team of scientists people at Texas Biomed are turning his vision of a “great Biomed can compete effectively, even in a highly competitive, and encourage the development of junior researchers, so that our board and center for human progress” into reality, and I am excited underfunded environment. We have an opportunity as a we are also known as a place that not only shapes science but our supporters. to have joined the team. private, nonprofit research institute to gain a sustainable shapes scientists. We are united in competitive advantage provided that we have a clear vision our goal of making While I have just begun my tenure as President/CEO of and effective strategic plan. This will require change. Change takes time, but with the right people, a strong plan Texas Biomed, I see the strengths of the Institute as the and the support of the community, we can truly make today’s discoveries that We have biocontainment facilities unlike anywhere else in foundation for growth, and I see our challenges as discoveries possible of becoming tomorrow’s cures. impact lives, and the country tied to a National Primate Research Center. opportunities. These are exciting times in biomedical research With these unique resources as our cornerstone, we have we will continue with major breakthroughs in discoveries and technology the opportunity to create a master-planned institute with to make strong platforms. Having said this, scientific advances are a greater focus on discovery-based science leading to new investments in the progressing at a faster pace and this fact, combined with the diagnostics, therapies and vaccines! changing forces in funding biomedical research, necessitate environment and the development of our people that scientific institutes readily adapt to these changing forces, Our greatest strength is our people – our staff, our board Larry Schlesinger, M.D. for the sake of improving human health.” have infrastructure that is contemporary and well equipped and our supporters. We are united in our goal of making President and CEO 4 5 Pioneer of the Possible Thomas Baker Slick, Jr. 1916 – 1962 By Catherine Nixon Cooke eventy-five years ago, when Thomas Baker Slick, Jr., established what is today the Texas Biomedical S Research Institute, he moved his favorite dream of Changing from the realms of his imagination into the real world. He envisioned San Antonio becoming a future “Science City” in the heart of Texas, and the new research institute was the first step. At just twenty-five years old, the World the Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale University already was committed to “giving back” to his community and Throughout our history, Texas beyond; and he believed that scientific research was the Biomedical Research Institute has most powerful way to make the world a better place. Born in Clarion, Pennsylvania on May 6, 1916, aimed to unravel the mysteries Tom Slick was the son of the largest independent oil of chronic and infectious diseases operator in the world. His father had discovered the huge Cushing Field in Oklahoma in 1912; and new through innovative thinking, oil exploration kept him traveling much of the time. His mother was the daughter of Joseph Frates, an creative problem solving and entrepreneur who had moved his family around the country many times; so she understood her husband’s cutting-edge technologies. absences and wanderlust. When the famous “King of the Wildcatters” was at home, he delighted in his three children, Tom, Betty, born in 1917, and Earl, born in “I don’t believe in failure… 1920, and instilled in them a spirit of adventure and curiosity, as they explored the Pennsylvania woods that only in outcome.” surrounded their house; and later looked for “ghosts” in the attic of a new home in Oklahoma City. – Tom Slick to a struggling inventor, 1952 Tragedy struck in 1930, when Slick, Sr., died of a stroke at only forty-six years old. His family inherited tremendous wealth, during a time that most of the 6 7 Leroy Denman “On the whole, I can’t say that and Tom Slick signing documents I have found life dull; and for what became Texas Biomedical I manage to keep interested Research Institute. in quite a lot of things.” – Tom Slick to a Yale classmate, 1956 Tom Slick (second from left), Dr. Nicholas Werthessen and Dr. Harold Vagtborg (right) discuss the future of the institution. nation was feeling the austerity of the Great Depression. Along with that wealth came a strong sense of bred a “cross between a hog and a goat,” he sought out When Tom Slick was twenty-four years old, he bought a responsibility for others – something young Tom Slick the farmer, bought the “hoat,” and took it to his mother’s sixteen-hundred-acre tract of land on the outskirts of his felt from an early age. He attended Phillips Exeter farm in Oklahoma. Many years later, the adventure new hometown; and over the next year, he acquired more Academy in New Hampshire, where as captain of the became a favorite family story that Betty Slick Moorman land in the area, including the five-thousand-acre Cable debate team, he delighted in looking at problems from always told with a smile, adding that “luckily for all of Ranch. He named his new ranch ESSAR, an acronym of a variety of perspectives – fueling an open-mindedness us, Tom’s scientific interests began to find expression in sorts, reflecting his interest in science (“ESS” or “S”) and that would dominate his adult years. He found even other ways.” research (“AR” or “R”); and he was ready to move forward with his dream of creating a “Science City.” more excitement dabbling in the school’s state-of-the- In 1934, Tom Slick’s widowed mother married her art chemistry laboratory; and he carried his growing brother-in-law, Charles Urschel, whose wife had died a Just one week after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the interest in science to Yale University, where he pursued few years earlier.