Simmons Family Foundation gives $3 million for biomedical health research

Simmons Family Foundation gives $3 million for biomedical health research
Fund will support collaborations among Rice University, Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital Research Institute

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff

A $3 million, five-year gift from the Virginia and L.E. Simmons Family Foundation will enable Rice University, Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital Research Institute to work together on biomedical research aimed at benefiting the health of both children and adults.

The gift will fund medical research that pulls together the best science, engineering and medical expertise from Rice, Texas Children’s and Methodist to discover new ways to treat disease.

	JEFF FITLOW
	Pictured from left are Virginia and L.E Simmons of the Virginia and L.E. Simmons Family Foundation; David Leebron, president of Rice University; Mark Wallace, president and CEO of Texas Children’s Hospital; and Ron Girotto, president and CEO of The Methodist Hospital System.

“The future of biomedical research will involve skills and knowledge that draw from highly specialized and premier institutions like Rice University, Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital Research Institute,” said L.E. Simmons, president of the Simmons Family Foundation and a trustee of all three of these Texas Medical Center institutions. “In the end, it will be the people working together who will make the discoveries that change people’s lives. We want to help make it happen.”

The fund is intended to help researchers who have new ideas, junior researchers who do not yet have funding, and experienced researchers who might not otherwise collaborate with the other institutions. Ideally, the projects supported by the fund will develop into successful research programs that can be sustained by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and other sources of competitive funding.

To be eligible for a grant, a research proposal must involve original, innovative work in the biological/biomedical sciences that is best-suited for a multidisciplinary approach.
The guidelines for the Collaborative Research Fund specify that the principal investigator (PI) be from one of the three institutions and that at least one other PI or co-PI be from one or both of the other institutions.

Simmons said he is excited about each of the three institutions’ commitment to research. “Collectively, they are spending nearly a billion dollars on facilities, equipment and resources to begin new biomedical research. It well may be one of the most important commitments this city has ever made toward breakthrough research that will help people throughout the world,” he said.

“Rice University, Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital Research Institute are all fortunate to have L.E. Simmons as a board member,” said Rice President David Leebron. “He and his wife, Ginny, realize the potential benefits to be gained from having innovators in academia and medicine share their ideas. The generosity expressed by the Simmons Family Foundation will help convert those ideas into practical solutions for health problems around the world.” 

“The Simmons Family Foundation fund will catalyze interdisciplinary medical research,” said Michael Lieberman, director of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute. “Medical research thrives in a collaborative environment – it is at the interface of disciplines that breakthroughs occur. The Simmons fund will bring together the best minds from three outstanding institutions to accomplish more than each could do alone.”

“The generous gift from the Virginia and L.E. Simmons Family Foundation will support our focus on collaborative research, education and identification of new treatments for pediatric diseases, accelerating the pace of discovery of innovative therapies for our patients,” said Mark Wallace, president and CEO of Texas Children’s Hospital.

Simmons is president and founder of SCF Partners, an investment firm that provides management expertise to energy service companies. He also is president of L.E. Simmons and Associates, a private equity fund manager and general partner of SCF. He serves as chairman of Oil States International Inc., a leading global provider of specialty products and services to oil and gas drilling and production companies. In addition to graduating cum laude with a B.S. in economics from the University of Utah, Simmons has an MBA from Harvard Business School and completed special studies in economics at the London School of Economics.

Simmons’ wife, Virginia, is vice president of the Simmons Family Foundation, which supports religion, art and culture organizations, education, and youth and medical associations. The foundation will make the final decisions on which research projects to support after receiving the recommendations of a review panel comprising an equal number of experts from each of the three institutions.

Researchers must submit proposals by Sept. 1. The awards will be announced in mid-October.