For the last decade, the faculty and researchers at Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have made innovative discoveries in the areas of regenerative medicine, metabolism and cancer.

And with the support of generous donors, they have built a biomedical research powerhouse that is changing the medical landscape.

Because these donors knew that an investment in research was an investment in the future.

“When I agreed to start the institute 10 years ago, I remember dreaming about what it would become,” CRI Director Sean Morrison said. “But I never thought of all the things that we would actually do. I never got this far in the dream.”

In the last decade, Morrison has recruited some of the world’s top researchers to make discoveries and to train the next generation of scientists. And he built a culture where innovation is encouraged, and failures are expected.

In the last 10 years, CRI has grown from two employees to over 150.

Faculty members have published more than 95 papers in top scientific journals. They have founded biotech companies and been involved in the creation of new FDA approved anticancer therapies. And they have trained researchers who have gone on to start their own laboratories at other universities.

But more importantly, these researchers have made big discoveries.

“There is a moment when you see something that you know no one has seen before and that explains part of this world in a way that wasn’t understood before,” Morrison said. “There’s a quiet excitement and joy inside you when you see that, but your mind immediately goes to the next step: How can I turn this into something that will help people?”

Because as they head into the next decade of discovery, the scientists at CRI have lofty goals.

They want to keep recruiting outstanding researchers. They want to keep making discoveries. And they want to cure people who wouldn’t have been cured otherwise.

Congratulations on your 10th anniversary, CRI!