The John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science becomes Smithsonian affiliate
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- If you've never been to The John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science, you have another reason to get there.
It is now an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute.
What this affiliation means is more access to exhibits like the Smithsonian's Human Genome Project currently on display at the Health Museum.
This is the only institution in the Houston museum district affiliated with the Smithsonian.
The museum is the 217th affiliate of the Smithsonian and the 10th here in Texas.
Space Center Houston is also a Smithsonian affiliate.
The Health Museum will now see exhibits that are in the Smithsonian come here.
Things like artifacts from the first heart transplant from Dr. Denton Cooley that are now property of the Smithsonian will be on display here in Houston where Cooley did his ground-breaking research.
It is considered a great honor to be an affiliate with the Smithsonian and something that did not come about overnight.
"It was years of work actually, it was an extensive process and it demonstrates that you are headed for excellence and that is what the museum is striving to do," said Dr. Melanie Johnson the President and CEO of The Health Museum.
Besides more exhibits, it will allow the staff to collaborate with the experts at the Smithsonian to make sure the museum has top notch educational displays and keep the museum the kind of place you want to come back to again and again.
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