HOUSTON—With a strong presence in many of the nation's leadinghealthcare markets, Transwesternis elevating its practice in this sector, promoting EricJohnson to the newly created position of executivemanaging director of the firm's national healthcare platform,GlobeSt.com has learned exclusively. Based in Houston, Johnson willdevise strategies and best practices to enhance service forTranswestern's expanding base of healthcare, life sciences andbiotechnology clients.

“We currently have dedicated healthcare real estateprofessionals in 14 of our 35 markets,” Johnson tells GlobeSt.com.“Our strategy is to build a full-service platform to serve thehealthcare industry, and that includes the major service lines inleasing, property management, capital markets, tenant advisory anddevelopment.”

Of those 14 markets, he says, “some are more diversified thanothers. My goal will be to fortify our existing markets,” withHouston's platform the most built-out and well-staffed at present.A mainstay of that booming Texas city is the Texas MedicalCenter, where 106,000 employees working at dozens ofmember institutions handle 7.2 million patient visits per year.