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Medical School
March 3, 2009
Benefits of a medical school not exactly in doubt
The title of a panel discussion sponsored this morning by Leadership Austin, a local nonprofit, was in the form of a question:
“A Medical School in Austin: Safety Net Solution, Economic Boon, or Both?”
The answer, of course, is yes and yes. A medical school could expand care of uninsured and underinsured people. It could boost the economy through associated research. It could also improve health care overall. And it would increase the supply of health care workers.
The larger question is whether Austin will ever get a medical school. The answer to that seems to be: No one knows for sure.
“The decision on whether and when to establish a medical school is a Board of Regents’ decision, so I don’t presume to speak on their behalf,” said Sam Shomaker, the dean of Austin medical programs for the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
A feasibility study on establishing a medical school here — as an arm of the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas — was put on hold a while back. The sour economy and uncertain prospects for donations are factors in the reduced momentum in planning for a local medical school. Moreover, UT System officials are preoccupied with figuring out the future patient-care enterprise at UTMB, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike in September.
Kenneth Shine, the system’s executive vice chancellor for health affairs, has said repeatedly that there are no plans to move UTMB to Austin.
At the same time, though, system officials say they are committed to expanding medical education opportunities in Austin. Ninety UTMB medical students currently are getting some of their training in Austin, and 160 medical school graduates are training in Austin under UTMB’s residency program.
A medical school would be “a great fit” with Austin’s biotechnology sector, said Bruce Leander, who also spoke at the Leadership Austin gathering. Leander is a retired president of Ambion, an Austin biotech firm that is now a unit of Life Technologies Corp.
Leander suggested that proponents of a medical school gather more data to show not only that it would be good for the area but also that one is needed.
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May 22, 2008
UT regents delay medical school briefing
There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about establishing a medical school in Austin, but surprisingly little talk — at least in formal sessions — by the people who would make such a decision: the University of Texas System Board of Regents.
The regents had been scheduled to discuss the matter in private on Friday at an “executive session” in Austin, but that plan has been scrubbed.
Specifically, the regents’ agenda called for a discussion of legal and real estate issues “related to medical education partnerships in Austin.”
In other words, they were going to be briefed on how a medical school would be structured between the two key players: the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, which would operate the school, and UT-Austin, on whose land the medical school would likely be built and whose faculty members would collaborate in research and clinical activities.
Barry Burgdorf, vice chancellor and general counsel for the UT System, said his office is still doing “due diligence” on the matter. “Things get delayed all the time,” he said.
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April 24, 2008
Dell institute officials announce $1 million gift
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has given the Dell Pediatric Research Institute $1 million to help build the $97 million, 150,000-square-foot facility, which is under construction at the former Austin municipal airport site.
The cash contribution is the largest gift from a corporate foundation for the institute, which is part of the University of Texas and is scheduled to open in December 2008.
According to a press release:
Kenny Wilson, Central and South Texas president for Bank of America, presented the gift at a reception hosted by university officials to educate local community leaders on the interdisciplinary benefits the new institute and the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas will have on pediatric medical research.
“As a company, we believe that healthy communities create strong businesses,” Wilson said. “UT Austin has made a tremendous investment in the health of our community’s greatest assets: our children. We applaud the university’s efforts and are proud to take this opportunity to join them in the creation of the institute, which will serve as an anchor in our community by driving economic growth, attracting leading experts and generating world-class research in the field of pediatric medicine.”
The Dell Pediatric Research Institute will combine The University of Texas at Austin’s expertise in life sciences, pharmacology, technology, biomedical engineering and other disciplines with the resources of the new Dell Children’s Medical Center, which opened in June. Researchers from the University of Texas System’s other health science institutions will also contribute to the center, establishing Austin as a center of excellence for children’s health and biomedical research.
A recent study commissioned by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce showed Austin’s health care industry carries an annual economic impact of about $8.8 billion and employs more than 85,000 people. The study concluded that a quality medical enterprise helped recruit other businesses and establish improved long-term quality of life for area residents.
“The University of Texas at Austin joins the citizens of our community and all of Central Texas in thanking the Bank of America Charitable Foundation for this very generous gift,” William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin, said. “It will make possible innovation in the sciences, biomedical engineering and pharmacology. And it will help us to offer the most advanced health care to children and provide a healthier future for generations to come. We are deeply indebted to the Bank of America.”
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation awarded a $38 million gift in May 2006 to help establish a pediatric health research institute in Austin. The UT System Board of Regents also authorized $45 million in support of the project. Of that amount, $25 million in bond proceeds from the Permanent University Fund was applied toward construction of the facility. The other $15 million was awarded from the Available University Fund and $5 million came from the UT System’s Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention (STARs) program to recruit a top-notch director for the institute and provide faculty and equipment start-up costs.
“Bank of America’s generous gift will significantly facilitate the University of Texas’ efforts to improve the lives of thousands of children in Austin and Central Texas,” said Randa S. Safady, vice chancellor for external relations for the University of Texas System. “A corporate gift of this magnitude speaks volumes about the business community’s interest in ensuring the vitality and health of Austin’s growing population, and we’re grateful that Bank of America has taken a leadership role in doing so.”
With the Bank of America Charitable Foundation $1 million gift, private support for the project received to date is $44 million. Other contributors include The RGK Foundation of Austin and the Topfer Family Foundation of Austin.
“We are thrilled with this commitment to children and their parents because it further demonstrates our shared vision to ensure the availability of world-class health care, research and education right here in Austin,” said Susan Dell, co-founder and chairwoman of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
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April 18, 2008
An air of certainty concerning an Austin medical school
Charles Barnett, president and CEO of the Seton Family of Hospitals, put it this way: The question is not whether Austin will get a medical school, but when.
State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said he believes the city will get one “in the near future.”
Those comments contributed to an air of certainty about the prospects for a medical school at a fundraising luncheon today at the Four Seasons Hotel for the University Medical Center at Brackenridge. The hospital, at 15th and Red River streets, is the regional trauma center operated by Seton for the Travis County Healthcare District.
The luncheon also doubled as a tribute to Betty Dunkerley, who, in her current role as a member of City Council and in her previous capacity as a city budget staffer, has been instrumental in preserving the hospital as a safety net for indigent people.
I attended the luncheon and placed a call afterward to Kenneth Shine, the executive vice chancellor for health affairs for the University of Texas System, who also attended. Shine is the system’s point man on its deliberations about establishing a medical school. I asked Shine whether Barnett and Watson knew something I didn’t know.
“I don’t think they know much beyond what I told you in February, which is that I expected a decision in four to six months,” Shine said. “Obviously, Southwestern has been talking to the Seton system, which is a major teaching hospital, and there have been conversations about a lot of the options. But we are still far from a final decision.”
His reference was to the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, which is thinking about establishing an Austin branch of its medical school.
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February 8, 2008
Sen. Lucio renews call for Valley medical school
State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, tried to establish a medical school in the Lower Rio Grande Valley last year. His proposal was approved unanimously in the Senate but never got out of committee in the House.
He’ll give it another shot next year, Lucio told University of Texas System regents meeting in Edinburg on Thursday. He wants the school to be part of the UT System.
“Please remember the Rio Grande Valley,” Lucio said.
The regents applauded politely. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which oversees higher education matters, agrees that a medical school is needed in the Valley, but the UT regents — or at least the current and previous chairman — are of a different mind: They’d like to establish one in Austin.
Other odds and ends from the regents’ two-day meeting at UT-Pan American:
Robert Estrada, whose term as a regent expired Feb. 1, 2005, continued to serve until the first of this month, an additional three years, when Gov. Rick Perry appointed Houston lawyer Janiece Longoria to replace him.
Estrada remarked at a meeting last year that he was reminded of the film “The Long Goodbye,” an adaptation of a novel by Raymond Chandler. Longoria’s introduction at this week’s meeting, her first as a regent, might have been titled “The Long Hello.” Chairman H. Scott Caven Jr. presented her a bronze medallion that all new regents get, and Lucio added his compliments as well.
The ever-smiling and “very honored” Longoria said she was disappointed that her husband couldn’t attend but added, “The good news is that from now on he has to call me ‘your regency.’”
A quarter-percent increase, to 5 percent, in the payout from the Permanent University Fund should ease pressure on UT-Austin resulting from a previous decision by the regents to cap tuition increases at 4.95 percent for each of the next two years.
UT-Austin officials had wanted to raise tuition 7.8 percent next fall and 6.9 percent a year later. UT-Austin is expected to use some of its share of the additional $27 million in PUF spending for hiring more faculty members. The bump-up in the PUF payout is not permanent but dependent on investment performance for the endowment, which has assets exceeding $12 billion, said H. Scott Caven Jr., chairman of the regents.
Bernard Rapoport of Waco, who served as a regent from 1991-97, including four years as chairman, was named the recipient of the Santa Rita Award, the UT System’s highest honor. Rapoport and his wife, Audre, are longtime philanthropists, having given more than $26 million to UT System campuses. The award, named for the first oil well on UT-owned land in West Texas, will be formally presented in the spring.
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January 25, 2008
A&M regents approve plan to acquire medical school land
A branch campus in Round Rock of the Texas A&M University System’s medical school moved a step closer to reality today with approval of a plan to acquire up to about 50 acres.
The action by the system’s Board of Regents, meeting in College Station, was expected, unanimous and involved no debate, but it nonetheless marked an important milestone.
Nancy Dickey, president of the A&M Health Science Center, said she hoped that construction could start sometime this year. She expressed appreciation to the Avery Ranch Co. Ltd. and its principals, four siblings who have agreed to donate 15 acres, sell 10 acres for less than market value and offer 25 acres for future acquisition, also at a discount.
The developments come as the University of Texas considers whether to establish a branch of one of its medical schools in Austin. Bill Jones, chairman of the A&M regents, said there was no reason there couldn’t be two medical schools in Central Texas.
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