historic gift

Record-breaking $110M donation powers Houston Methodist's new tower

Methodist Hospital Brockman Centennial Tower

A rendering previews Methodist Hospital's Brockman Centennial Tower.

Rendering courtesy of Methodist Hospital

Houston Methodist has received the largest gift in the health system's history to establish new funds for neurological, neuroscience, and women’s health research and treatment.

The $110 million gift comes from Houston-based The Brockman Medical Research Foundation, which supports education and research in the science, medicine and healthcare fields. In response, Houston Methodist announced that it will name its forthcoming 26-story hospital facility the Brockman Centennial Tower.

The tower’s entrance will be named the Anna Margaret Bellows Centennial Hall to honor Anna Margaret Bellows, a young camper who died during the Camp Mystic flooding last summer.

“This extraordinary gift accelerates discovery and transforms how care is delivered,” Dr. Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, said in a news release. “We are grateful to The Brockman Medical Research Foundation for its incredible generosity and vision that will help change the lives of generations of patients. Naming Centennial Tower in recognition of this gift reflects the scale of this commitment and its impact on the future of neuroscience, neurological care and women’s health.”

The gift will be divided into two parts:

$100 million will go toward creating an innovation fund within the Houston Methodist Academic Institute and the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute
$10 million will be devoted to Houston Methodist's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

“This tremendous gift will accelerate translational research that broadens our understanding of neurological and other diseases,” Dr. Jenny Chang, president and CEO of the Houston Methodist Academic Institute, added in the release. “It will allow us to leverage state-of-the-art platforms to detect, diagnose and deliver therapeutics, keeping patient care at the center of our mission.”

The Brockman Centennial Tower is expected to open next year in the Texas Medical Center. Spanning more than 1 million square feet, it will house 400 patient beds, an expanded emergency department, new operating rooms and a rooftop garden. It will be connected to Houston Methodist's flagship Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III Tower, which opened in 2018. The Centennial Tower was estimated to cost $1.4 billion when announced in 2022.

In addition to the news of the Brockman gift, Houston Methodist also announced this month that it has launched the Houston Methodist Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and tapped an internationally recognized scientist as its leader.

The new center is focused on discovering and developing innovative and cost-effective therapies for a variety of congenital and acquired diseases, including cancer, HIV and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Malcolm Brenner has been named as the center's inaugural leader and will assume the role starting in October. He will work alongside scientists and support staff from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital.

Brenner is a professor of pediatrics, medicine, molecular and human genetics and translational biology at Baylor College of Medicine. He is known for making early advances in using bone marrow transplantation as a form of cell therapy and in engineered immune-cell treatments for cancer and infections, according to a release from Houston Methodist.

“Malcolm Brenner is a pioneer in the field of cell and gene therapy and is uniquely qualified to lead Houston Methodist’s research efforts in this field,” Chang added. “His vision and leadership will play a pivotal role in advancing our work in this space.”

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This story was first published on our sister site InnovationMap.

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Dinner with Friends

New app connects Houstonians for friendly dinners at any restaurant

Photo by Negley Stockman on Unsplash

OpenToBites hopes to be used by travelers and locals alike.

A new app in Houston is connecting foodies and social butterflies for shared meals. OpenToBites launched on Android on June 18 and iOS on June 22, and is available to use for free now.

Founded and operated in Houston by a local developer Kelvin John, OpenToBites allows users to join each other for meals by finding empty seats at tables in 16 cosmopolitan cities. That includes Austin and Houston in Texas, plus other American cities like Denver and New York, and even international cities including Paris, Tokyo, and Sydney.

The app is built on a simple concept, and a press release emphasizes that it's for anyone who wants "friendly company."

“We built OpenToBites in response to several trends, including the rise of solo travel and the demand for social experiences that don’t feel like dating, networking, or large organized events,” said a spokesperson in the release. “We are not a dating app. We are offering shared food and conversation for people who want simple, in-person meal company in a public setting.”

When signing up, users set their first name, an optional profile photo, and a short bio. They'll mark themselves as a traveler, a local, or both, and they can also select an age range or opt out.

Once a profile is created, the user can search for or create meals that are happening within the next 72 hours — keeping things relatively spontaneous. To find an existing meal, they'll select the city and date and apply some filters that determine how many seats are open, what type of cuisine to try, and whether people want to share food with the table or order their own.

Someone has to get the party started, so users may need to take the initiative and start a meal. That means they'll get to choose the date, time, and restaurant — anything is on the menu, as long as they can link to the restaurant on Google Maps or its own website.

This divides users into "host" and "guest." Guests have to request to join a table, and the host can decide to accept it or not. Guests won't be able to see the exact restaurant until their request is accepted, so hosts have a "helpful note" field to fill out with more information about the restaurant.

John says in an email exchange that the goal right now is to grow each city's user base before adding new locations.

A similar app called Timeleft launched in Austin in 2024. Timeleft acts as a friendship matchmaker for small groups of strangers who answer personality questions, meet at a restaurant for dinner, and decide if they wanted to stay in touch. Timeleft chooses the restaurant for each group and charges a "ticket" price before the cost of dinner, making it a more externally organized process and a slightly larger commitment.

Though OpenToBites has a similar concept, it seems to work more like Couchsurfing, an app that connects travelers on their own terms. It also emphasizes the immediate over the long-term — the meal itself is the social goal.

OpenToBites is available for free on the App Store and Play Store. The app is still brand new, so users should expect to host or have limited choices for now.

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