The Chronicle’s Todd Ackerman — who does a fine job of reporting on matters relating to Houston’s Texas Medical Center — reports today that Dan Duncan, chairman of Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners, LP, has donated $100 million to Baylor College of Medicine to trigger funding of Baylor’s effort to become the second comprehensive cancer center in Houston’s Texas Medical Center (the other is the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center). The gift follows Duncan’s earlier $35 million gift to Baylor last year.
This is a major development for the Medical Center, which — through M.D. Anderson — is already one of the primary cancer care and research venues in the United States. The collaborative effort of M.D. Anderson and Baylor’s new facility may propel the Texas Medical Center to the forefront of cancer research and care in the entire world.