Rice to consider merger with Baylor College of Medicine

By Catherine Bratic     10/30/08 7:00pm

Rice University is considering a merger with Baylor College of Medicine that would give Rice its own medical school, according to a joint statement from Rice and BCM Tuesday. "Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have a long history of valuable collaborations and are exploring the possibility of a closer affiliation," the statement said. "Preliminary talks between the two institutions are under way. No further details are available at this time."

Baylor College of Medicine split from Baylor University in 1969 and has had fleeting alliances with both The Memorial Hospital and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. Baylor is now one of only nine stand-alone medical schools in the country not affiliated with a university.

Rice and Baylor have collaborated before with the Rice/Baylor Medical Scholars program, in which select students admitted to Rice are automatically guaranteed admission to BCM and can earn both an undergraduate and a medical degree. Baylor is also one of the future participants in Rice's Collaborative Research Center.

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Rice has long dreamed of having a medical school to increase its national prestige. The first Rice President Edgar Odell Lovett's original vision for the university included hopes for future medical and law schools, according to History Professor John Boles' recent book University Builder: Edgar Odell Lovett and the Founding of the Rice Institute.

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