The Health Museum

The Health Museum, John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science, is Houston’s most interactive science learning center and a member institution of the world-renowned Texas Medical Center. For more than 50 years, it has served Houston’s rich and varied Museum District with a mission to foster wonder and curiosity about health, medical science, and the human body. The inception of The Health Museum began in response to the polio epidemic that spread throughout the US in the 1940s and 1950s. With donations from the Victory Over Polio vaccination campaign and funds from local organizations and citizens, a series of permanent health exhibits open to the public were created to fulfill a need for quality health information and education. The Health Museum is the most visited museum of its kind in the country totaling more than 180,000 visitor experiences annually, and over 3 million visitors and counting since opening the doors to its current building in 1996.