Special Society Giving Opportunities

Cell therapy is among the most promising treatment options for a wide range of illnesses and will fundamentally impact the future of medicine. The goal of the Ann Kimball and John W. Johnson Center for Cellular Therapeutics is to equip the researchers and clinicians working in neurology, heart, cancer, orthopedics and transplant with the resources needed to develop cellular therapeutics, manufacture them in the JCCT facilities and bring them to the patients’ bedsides.

The 5,000-square-foot JCCT will be located on the third floor of the Houston Methodist Outpatient Center. The facility will include 1,710 square feet of cleanroom space, a dedicated quality control laboratory and spaces required for Good Manufacturing Practice. Houston Methodist already has several promising cellular therapy research projects underway. With additional philanthropic support, our researchers and clinician-scientists can accelerate these and other projects currently in development.

Special JCCT Giving Opportunity for The Society

We have an exciting opportunity to match, dollar-for-dollar, all gifts up to $4 million through the Johnson Center for Cellular Therapeutics Challenge Initiative. Including the $4 million Challenge Fund, this overall philanthropic effort will result in an $8 million current-use fund for cellular therapy research across Houston Methodist and its participating centers and institutes. We seek philanthropic partners to achieve this goal. Gifts can be designated toward a participating entity or disease area.

JCCT gifts of all sizes will be put to exceptional use. Any gift of $1,000 or more will also qualify for an annual membership in The Society for Leading Medicine, and any gift of $50,000 or more will qualify for a lifetime membership in The Society and a JCCT Founding Membership.

 Annual Membership:

$1,000 → Includes Annual Society Membership

$2,500 → Includes Annual Society Contributor Level Membership

$5,000 → Includes Annual Society Partner Level Membership

$10,000 → Includes Annual Society Benefactor Level Membership

$25,000 → Includes Annual Society Pillar Level Membership

Founding Memberships (can be paid over five years):

$50,000 → Includes Society Cornerstone Lifetime Membership

$100,000 → Includes Society Presidential Lifetime Membership

$250,000 → Includes Society Centennial Lifetime Membership

The Translational Research Initiative III, or TRI III, provides a unique opportunity to address the elusive and cumbersome translation of novel medical discoveries from the laboratory into the patient care arena. Medical breakthroughs typically take up to two decades and billions of dollars to make it to the marketplace, but Houston Methodist is changing this paradigm through TRI.

Thanks to Paula and Rusty Walter, we are able to match all commitments up to $5 million dollar-for-dollar, doubling the philanthropic impact of these gifts and commitments. In total, the TRI III initiative will result in a $10 million fund in the Houston Methodist Research Institute for translational research specifically in neurorestoration, which could include innovations in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, to name a few.

Examples of a few of the translational research funded in the first two TRI programs include a noninvasive, battery powered portable magnetic stimulation cap developed to bring functional recovery in neurological conditions such as stroke, and a comprehensive computer program for craniomaxillofacial surgery planning, the AnatomicAligner, that allows physicians performing surgery to correct craniomaxillofacial deformities more accurately and efficiently.

Special TRI III Giving Opportunity for The Society

TRI III gifts of all sizes will be put to exceptional use. Any gift of $1,000 or more will also qualify for an annual membership in The Society for Leading Medicine, and any gift of $50,000 or more will qualify for a lifetime membership in The Society and a TRI III Founding Membership. 

Annual Membership:

$1,000 → Includes Annual Society Membership

$2,500 → Includes Annual Society Contributor Level Membership

$5,000 → Includes Annual Society Partner Level Membership

$10,000 → Includes Annual Society Benefactor Level Membership

$25,000 → Includes Annual Society Pillar Level Membership

Founding Memberships (can be paid over five years):

$50,000 → Includes Society Cornerstone Lifetime Membership

$100,000 → Includes Society Presidential Lifetime Membership

$250,000 → Includes Society Centennial Lifetime Membership

Someone’s life can change in an instant — whether from falling off a ladder, being involved in a serious car accident or suffering from a stroke. They can lose full movement in their arms and legs, robbing them of their livelihood and independence.

Revolutionary devices called neuroprosthetics aim to help people who have experienced major musculoskeletal impairment from neurological conditions and traumatic brain injuries regain what they never wanted to lose: their quality of life.

Houston Methodist is the ideal institution to advance this technology. In collaboration with Rice University, we launched the Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces. Here, scientists, engineers and surgeons are working to restore movement and memory for patients with damage to their brain or spinal cord. Their discoveries offer hope for millions of people worldwide who suffer from brain diseases and injuries. At the Center, a multidisciplinary team of physician-scientists and scientists will join forces to study neurological illnesses such as strokes, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and more.

Special Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces Giving Opportunity for The Society

We invite you to be our partner in this program through a gift to the Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces. Gifts of $1,000 or more will qualify for recognition and membership in The Society for Leading Medicine program. 

Annual Membership:

$1,000 → Includes Annual Society Membership

$2,500 → Includes Annual Society Contributor Level Membership

$5,000 → Includes Annual Society Partner Level Membership

$10,000 → Includes Annual Society Benefactor Level Membership

$25,000 → Includes Annual Society Pillar Level Membership

Founding Memberships (can be paid over five years):

$50,000 → Includes Society Cornerstone Lifetime Membership

$100,000 → Includes Society Presidential Lifetime Membership

$250,000 → Includes Society Centennial Lifetime Membership

Talent and potential are distributed equally across all races, sexes, abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds, but access to opportunities is not. Internships are often a requirement in higher education. For those who can focus solely on attending school, they apply for paid and unpaid internships without hesitation. For those who provide for their families or pay their way through school, they must juggle a multitude of responsibilities. It a recipe for burnout. The internship disparity leads to lower-paying jobs because resumes may lack experience attractive to potential employers.

We aim to make health care jobs more accessible and more equitable by creating a paid internship program that introduces those underrepresented in medicine (racial and ethnic populations not represented comparative to their numbers in the general population) and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to the industry. Our team will partner with the Marvy Finger Family Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping students with financial needs pursue their careers and technical educations. Paid internships will be offered in the Houston Methodist Academic Institute, which has groundbreaking research.

Working alongside the Marvy Finger Family Foundation, our team will encourage applicants from San Jacinto College, Lone Star College and Houston Community College to apply. Our goal is to provide them with a 10-week summer internship that awards each student a $6,000 stipend. The incentive enables the participant to focus on their internship and their studies, and it will create a more equal playing field for those who cannot pursue internships because of financial concerns.

To create real change, it is vital to invest in the programs and institutions that advance opportunities across the board. Your gift means fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement for all who are chosen for these internships. When everyone is empowered and has a voice, it benefits Houston Methodist patients, employees and our entire community.

Special DEI Internship Program Giving Opportunity for The Society

We are excited to present a special opportunity for a dollar-for-dollar match, up to $200,000, towards establishing an eventual $1 million DEI internship program endowment, which will support up to eight scholars per year in perpetuity. DEI Internship gifts of all sizes will be put to exceptional use. 

Annual Membership:

• $1,000 → Includes Annual Society Membership → Provides programmatic support
• $2,500 → Includes Annual Society Contributor Level Membership → Provides programmatic support
• $6,000 → Includes Annual Society Partner Level Membership → Supports one scholar's full stipend for one year
• $10,000 → Includes Annual Society Benefactor Level Membership → Supports one scholar's full stipend for one year
• $25,000 → Includes Annual Society Pillar Level Membership → Supports four scholars' full stipends for one year

Founding Memberships (can be paid over five years):

• $50,000 → Includes Society Cornerstone Lifetime Membership → Supports eight scholars' full stipends for one year
• $100,000 → Includes Society Presidential Lifetime Membership → Supports one scholar's stipend each year in perpetuity
• $250,000 → Includes Society Centennial Lifetime Membership → Supports two scholars' stipends each year in perpetuity
• $1,000,000 → Includes Society Centennial Lifetime Membership → Supports up to eight scholars' stipends each year in perpetuity

Learn more about Houston Methodist's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitment