UTTyler School of Medicine Qtrly Newsletter - Vol 2

Quarterly Newsletter

Our Health, YOUR FUTURE

Welcome Letter

Brigham C. Willis, MD, MEd, FAAP

I am thrilled to present our second quarterly newsletter for The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine. I have seen so much happening at the school over the past few months: the community reaching out to support and welcome us; our faculty working diligently to create an innovative curriculum; our team planning for the upcoming white coat ceremony; a bright, diverse group of applicants coming here to interview with us; and nationally recognized health care professionals joining our team. All of these factors are equipping us to be medical education leaders in East Texas and throughout the nation. More exciting things are ahead. First, it is important to recognize some of our significant milestones.

We were granted preliminary accreditation in June 2022 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Approval for our MD program by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) followed in December 2022. A lot of work went into achieving both of those goals, and I appreciate everyone on the School of Medicine team who contributed.

We have finished our very first interview season with a total of 2,034 applications and 272 interviews. I met a number of these students, and I was encouraged by how many of them were passionate about improving health care and access in the East Texas region. I am looking forward to seeing the impact that our students will have on the community.

The community, our elected officials and The University of Texas System continue to show us an overwhelming amount of support. I can’t thank them enough for everything they have done. This support demonstrates that the community is willing to invest in the medical school because they know it will have an impact on the region for generations to come. We have been given so much, and I am excited to see how we (as a school) will give back to the community. Moving forward, we are going to continue to need philanthropic partnerships to ensure we have the resources necessary to provide our students with an exceptional learning environment, develop core residency programs, enhance biomedical research and provide scholarships.

In January 2023, we hosted a groundbreaking for the School of Medicine’s Medical Education Building, which was attended by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, UT System Chairman Kevin Eltife, UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken and UT Tyler President Kirk A. Calhoun. The five-story, 248,000-square-foot facility is going to be in the middle of Tyler’s medical district by the UT Health East Texas Midtown hospital.

I am so proud of everything we have accomplished. With each of these milestones, we are one step closer to helping resolve the physician shortage in East Texas. There is so much more to look forward to in the coming months. Thank you all for contributing to making our school the nexus for change in the East Texas region. We couldn’t do it without you.

Gov. Abbott, UT System Break Ground on School of

Medicine

Facility will house East Texas’ first School of Medicine, UT System’s 7th medical school.

Groundbreaking

TYLER, TEXAS (JANUARY 23, 2023) Texas Governor Greg Abbott joined University of Texas System leaders today to break ground on UT Tyler’s new Medical Education Building, which will house the university’s new School of Medicine and the seventh medical school within the UT System. Governor Abbott, UT System Chairman Kevin Eltife, UT System Chancellor James Milliken and UT Tyler President Kirk Calhoun joined hundreds of community members to mark the start of the $308 million project. It is expected to be completed in March 2025.

“As East Texas continues to grow, so does its need for more highly skilled and well-trained health care professionals,” said Governor Abbott. “I am proud to be here today at UT Tyler Medical School’s historic groundbreaking as we celebrate the achievements and progress Texas has made to expand health care access and educational opportunities across our state. Creating this school was a priority in the 87th Legislative Session. I thank members of the legislature, President Calhoun and Chairman Eltife for their hard work to ensure this important legislation reached my desk. Together, we are fostering greater health outcomes for the people of East Texas and empowering the next generation of doctors, nurses and medical staff to serve all Texans.”

The Medical Education Building, a planned five-story and nearly 248,000-square-foot facility, will be constructed on roughly five acres in the heart of Tyler’s medical district in Midtown. It will support interdisciplinary education for graduate medical students, resident training and nursing as part of a medical education program expansion throughout the UT Health East Texas Health System. The facility will include classrooms, simulation labs, clinical and operating room training spaces, and multipurpose event and lecture spaces for the UT Tyler School of Medicine and graduate medical education programs.

Groundbreaking Continued

“Today is another great day for East Texas as we see tangible steps forward in our longtime efforts to enhance health care access and quality in the region by training new professionals,” said Kevin P. Eltife, chairman of the UT System Board of Regents. “This building will launch UT’s first medical school in East Texas, which stands to serve and care for this community for generations to come.”

With a planned skybridge connection to the UT Health East Texas Hospital, the new medical school will enable hands-on learning of residents in the adjacent hospitals. It will provide outpatient and specialty clinical services with exam rooms, specimen collection and processing; imaging facilities; and blended programming and clinical spaces for patient care. Other medical disciplines and services will include women’s imaging, women’s health, diagnostics, orthopedics, sports medicine, pulmonary care and a surgery center to support medical residents in the graduate medical education programs.

“It’s no secret that as Texas and especially East Texas continue to grow and thrive, we will need many more doctors and other health care professionals,” said James B. Milliken, chancellor of the UT System. “We’re grateful that our state and university leaders are taking the steps necessary to address this need. As a result of their commitment, the UT System and UT Tyler will deliver the outstanding education and patient care that all East Texans deserve.”

“This is an enormous milestone for UT Tyler and for all of East Texas,” said UT Tyler President Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP. “We are excited to take the next step in creating a physical home for the School of Medicine. On behalf of UT Tyler, I want to thank the UT System and the East Texas community for the continued support of our health care education advancements.”

The UT Tyler School of Medicine will be the first medical school in Northeast Texas, offering aspiring doctors a chance to train and practice without leaving the region. It’s a critical part of addressing the ongoing physician shortage and lack of health care access in the region. Capital projects funded over the next decade (including the new Medical Education Building) will ensure that the new medical school has the environment and tools required to draw and retain exceptional medical school faculty and students, as well as enhance biomedical research and core residency programs.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) granted the School of Medicine its preliminary accreditation. The first class will enroll in July 2023 and learn at the UT Health North Campus in Tyler until the Medical Education Building opens in 2025.

The UT Tyler School of Medicine has received unprecedented community support since the beginning. Some of the financial support that makes construction and programs of this school possible includes:

• An $80 million donation from the East Texas Medical Center Foundation

• A $10 million gift from the Robert M. Rogers Foundation to support mental and behavioral health education

• A $4 million donation from the R.W. Fair Foundation to fully fund the tuition and fees of the inaugural class

• A $4 million anonymous gift for scholarships and faculty research

• A $5 million gift from Ednamae Walsh for pathways programs and scholarships to cover tuition of the second class

Research

Research and Community Initiatives

The Center for Biomedical Research received an R56 Award of $362,800 from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a project entitled “Dedicator of cytokinesis 2 in pleural fibrosis,” which will study how the protein Dock2 can prevent pleural fibrosis. This bridge award helps greatly for the continued effort to pursue the NIH/NHBLI R01 Award. Guoqing Qian, PhD, assistant professor of Cellular and Molecular Biology for Biomedical Research in the School of Medicine, is the principal investigator for the project that began on September 15, 2022 and ends on August 31, 2023.

The School of Medicine received a collaborative development award (CDA) of $175,000 from the Duke Center for HIV Structural Biology. Maolin Lu, PhD, is the principal investigator for the project entitled “Conformational events and allostery underlying Env antagonism,” which began on December 1, 2022 and ends on November 30, 2023. This project will reveal the mode of action of specific inhibitors and antibodies that target HIV-1 surface spike proteins.

Admissions

UT Tyler Admissions staff have begun recruiting for our second class across Texas.

4,568

Applications Started

2,034

Completed Applications

272

Interviews Conducted

March 3, 2023

Faculty Spotlight

In the News

December 22, 2022

The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine Receives

SACSCOC Approval for MD Program

November 17, 2022

UT Regents Approve $308M for UT Tyler Medical Education Building

October 10, 2022

New Treatment Reduces Likelihood of Heart Failure

Gary Beck Dallaghan, PhD

Kathleen Jones, MD

Elza Mylona, PhD, MBA

White Coat Ceremony

The White Coat Ceremony is a time-honored tradition that all first-year medical students remember with fondness as they begin their calling as future health care professionals. One of every medical student’s earliest and best memories is putting on their white coat for the first time with classmates. We eagerly await the opportunity to welcome our inaugural class of medical students to the UT Tyler School of Medicine. We are excited as they prepare to take part in this rite of passage and begin their transformational medical education experience.

We offer you the opportunity to participate in this historic and memorable occasion by sponsoring a medical student’s white coat. For each student, knowing their coat was personally sponsored by a supportive donor like yourself allows them to both see and feel your support on their journey to becoming a medical professional each time they put on their white coat.

To learn more about sponsoring a student’s white coat, please contact Candice Christian at Candice.Christian@uthct.edu or call her at 903-877-7047.

Ways to Get Involved

CAREERS

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TEACH

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Events

SCIENCE & SOCIETY SYMPOSIUM QUARTERLY SERIES

The Science and Society Symposium series is dedicated to the promotion of critical thinking, science communication and the presentation of scientific information to the public, educators and students in an accurate and responsible fashion.

INNOVATION DAY

On November 4, 2022, the School of Medicine hosted its first Innovation Day which welcomed nationally-recognized pioneers in rural medical education, innovative researchers and top leaders in health care to come and share their knowledge.

SIMULATION CENTER CURRICULUM TRAINING

Some of our simulation center team members participated in an all day training session over the school’s virtual anatomy curriculum.

RURAL HEALTH DAY

The School of Medicine celebrated National Rural Health Day by hosting a community-wide symposium covering topics in health care that impact our rural region.