Institute moves forward

The addition of the first lady’s name to a project at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is a positive step for the campus, the center’s regional dean said Wednesday.

The Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health is an “institute without walls” that is currently bringing researchers to Odessa and three other campuses and will eventually bring building additions to Odessa and Midland, Dr. John Jennings said.

“Having that prestigious name on the women’s health institute sets a level of expertise in this region that we have to live up to,” he said.

The women’s health research institute was established at Texas Tech’s Amarillo campus in 2000. In 2006, it expanded institutewide to campuses in Odessa, Lubbock, El Paso and Abilene.