Endowment Enhances a Thirty-Year Partnership

The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a University of Texas System institution. Many of the dramatic changes that have occurred since September 1977 have been the direct result of the creation of major endowments to support medical education and biomedical research. One such endowment has helped bring national and international attention to UTHCT's tuberculosis treatment and biomedical research expertise.

The Margaret E. Byers Cain Chair for Tuberculosis Research was established by the Effie and Wofford Cain Foundation in 1996. The endowment was appropriately named after Cain Foundation Trustee James Cain's mother who died of tuberculosis complications in 1927. The foresight of the foundation's board of trustees in endowing the first Biomedical Research Chair at The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler has proven to be a true blessing for TB patients, researchers, and medical staff.

Lab Assistant

Through the establishment of the Chair, UTHCT was able to recruit Dr. Peter Barnes to lead the Center for Infectious Disease Control (CPIDC) in 1997. Created by the 73rd Texas State Legislature, CPIDC serves as a resource and consultation center for all Texas healthcare professionals regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and management of pulmonary infectious diseases. The CPIDC provides a toll-free infectious disease consulting service without cost to all Texas physicians and healthcare agencies.

The leading cause of death worldwide is infectious disease. In the United States, about 80,000 cases of hepatitis B are diagnosed annually, along with some 40,000 cases of the more serious hepatitis C. Tuberculosis strikes more than 25,000 U.S. citizens each year, and for infectious diseases, tuberculosis is the number one killer worldwide.

The remarkable increase in the endowment's market value, as managed by UTIMCO, has enabled CPIDC to flourish under Dr. Barnes and his research staff. The financial assistance generated through the enhanced endowment's annual earnings enabled Dr. Barnes to successfully recruit Dr. David Lakey (now serving as the Commissioner for the Texas Department of State Health Services) to join him at CPIDC. Their collective efforts, as supported by UTHCT's medical and biomedical research faculty, have brought international recognition to their research and significant extramural funding from state and federal research granting agencies.

Dr. Peter Barnes

The Margaret E. Byers Cain Chair for Tuberculosis Research is invested in the Long Term Fund and had a market value of $1,842,182 as of August 31, 2007.