A world-renowned medical complex, the Texas Medical Center handles more
than five million patient visits each year. Its forty member
institutions include two medical schools, four schools of nursing, and
thirteen hospitals. Its one hundred permanent buildings sprawl across
more than 740 acres near downtown Houston.
Houston has watched the institution grow and thrive in the many years
since its birth and has reaped enormous economic rewards from hosting
it. The determination and innovation of a few key individuals made it
all possible. This is the story of one of them, dentist Frederick C.
Elliot. A modest, hard-working individual, Dr. Elliot labored behind the
scenes to help breathe life into the dream of a multi-specialty,
multi-institutional medical complex. The Birth of the Texas Medical
Center presents his eyewitness account of the creation of this medical
wonder.
Before World War II, Houston was home to many outstanding individual
doctors, but no comprehensive, synergistic system existed to focus their
collective efforts. Through the time and vision Elliot and others put
into building the Texas Medical Center, these individual doctors found a
forum in which to learn from one another and to exchange ideas and
techniques that would change the way the art of medicine was taught and
practiced.
In his autobiography, skillfully honed and edited by historian William
H. Kellar, Elliot relates his perspective on the founding of the Texas
Medical Center. He details the political struggles of finding funding
and property for the building of the center, as well as conflicts that
arose among the founders regarding innovative techniques and treatments,
and procedures for inter-institutional cooperation. Elliot provides
realistic portraits of the medical men, educators, and businessmen who
worked together--and sometimes quarreled--to bring the Medical Center
into being. His story reveals the human side of a huge and dynamic
institution.
This book is sure to appeal to anyone interested in the history of
Houston and its famous Texas Medical Center, which has become a model
for the world.
