President’s Perspective: Young Inventors

We recently had the pleasure of working closely with the British International School of Houston to help inspire young inventors to develop products that meet health care challenges. You will read more about their work in this issue of Pulse.

The children demonstrated an idea that I have long believed in, and one around which we build many of our TMC Innovation Institute programs: with the right resources, collaboration and support, great ideas can be transformed into life-changing products.

When you travel to hospitals and universities in Boston and the Bay Area, you see that the spirit of innovation is part of their culture. While we are fortunate to have all of the makings of an equally impressive campus of innovators, we must continue to do more to reach that place. We must challenge ourselves to keep collaboration and innovation alive across the medical center.

We also must continue to instill in the next generation the aspiration that anyone can bring an idea about—such as a new device or diagnostic solution— to improve human health.

In this issue, you will see that there is no such thing as being too young to innovate. From the kids who took part in the TMCx Young Inventors Forum, to the exceptional students of DeBakey High School, and the hardworking medical students and postdocs here in the TMC—the next generation of inventors, problem-solvers and health care professionals will shape the future of medicine.

For as long as they have the drive and determination, we should encourage them to come up with new ideas, and give them the tools and infrastructure to turn those ideas into reality.