75 YEARS OF VISION: THE LASTING GIFT
“It is especially remarkable that so much of what was imagined
72 years ago has come to pass: A sprawling medical campus designed for research, education and clinical care. It all started with a vision. Vision matters.”
Daniel K. Podolsky, M D
President, UT Southwestern
B
ut decades of dreams — dreams that Dr. Cary knew would benefit humanity — weren’t about to be put on hold.
For months he’d been working closely with leading Dallas architects to render a master plan for a medical center on land adjacent to Parkland Hospital. At the same time, the Foundation had begun to push toward an agreement with Baylor University for the joint operation of Baylor College of Medicine. On March 8, 1942, Dr. Cary revealed his vision to the public for a sprawling medical center that would be spread across a 35-acre tract of land on Harry Hines Boulevard. The centerpiece of the vision, a new medical school, would be named Southwestern Medical College. Baylor College of Medicine was offered a detailed proposal to become an integral part of the new center, which was approved by the Board of Trustees at Baylor in Waco on June 23, 1942. But Dr. Walter H. Moursund, Dean of Baylor College of Medicine in Dallas, had growing concerns. Under the proposed plan, Baylor and the Foundation would share operational roles — Baylor would direct education and academics while the Foundation would handle physical operations — ownership of the buildings constructed by the Foundation would remain with the Foundation. In exchange for financial support and the land to expand, Baylor College of Medicine would be asked to drop its affiliation with Baylor University Hospital and realign with Parkland. As these issues and others were considered, the agreement was canceled on April 27, 1943. It was immediately announced that the medical school would relocate to Houston, having accepted a proposal offered by the MD Anderson Foundation and other Houston benefactors. In May, the last Dallas class of Baylor College of Medicine received their diplomas. As the graduation ceremony ended, the challenge to assemble an exemplary medical school landed squarely at Dr. Cary and the Foundation’s feet. Dr. Davis Spangler, president of the Dallas County Medical Society (DCMS), stepped forward to pledge his organization’s full support of Dr. Cary’s bold vision — an important early endorsement that rallied hundreds of physicians and dentists to the cause. Still, it would have been an enormous undertaking to pull together in a year, or even two. To do so in a few short months would take a miracle. S O U T H W E S T E R N M E D I C A L P E R S P E C T I V E S . S P R I N G 2 014
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