BioHouston Taps Former Rice University President Malcolm Gillis for Top Job

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Houston’s local biotechnology organization, BioHouston, has selected former Rice University President Malcolm Gillis, Ph.D. to serve as chairman. Gillis, who served at Rice from 1993 to 2004, was one of the founders of the nonprofit, which was formed to expand the Houston region’s national profile in science and biotechnology commercialization.

In accepting his new position, Gillis has made clear his belief that there is dramatic future growth in science-based industries, particularly those utilizing biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology. As chairman, he intends to assure that the Houston region, which ranges from Galveston to College Station, lays claim to a significant portion of that growth.

Gillis succeeds an equally illustrious predecessor, Patrick Oxford, a managing partner of Bracewell & Guiliani, LLP. Oxford, who served as BioHouston’s chairman dating back to 2004, is seen as instrumental in helping to increase the organization’s membership by 25% as well as doubling the number of annual programs and events.

The most current figures estimate annual research expenditures in academic, healthcare and research institutions in the Houston region top $1.7 billion, with the thousands of discoveries. The majority of the region’s life science companies can trace their beginnings to these discoveries. Employment in these companies has grown at least 20% during each of the last five years.

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