The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a component of the University of Texas System located in Galveston, Texas, United States, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Downtown Houston. It is an academic health center with 11,000 employees [1] and a medical school that is the oldest in Texas. [2] [3]
It was established in 1891 with one building and fewer than 50 students. Today UTMB has grown to more than 70 buildings and an enrollment of more than 2,500 students. The 84-acre [4] (339,936 m2) campus includes four schools, three institutes for advanced study, a comprehensive medical library, three on-site hospitals (including an affiliated Shriners Hospital for Children (Galveston)), a network of clinics that provide primary and specialized medical care and numerous research facilities.
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Proposed text, paragraph 2
Established in 1891 as the University of Texas Medical Department, UTMB has grown from one building, 23 students and 13 faculty members to more than 70 buildings, more than 2,500 students and more than 1,000 faculty. [5] It has four schools, three institutes for advanced study, a comprehensive medical library, three on-site hospitals (including an affiliated Shriners Hospital for Children (Galveston)), a network of clinics that provide primary and specialized medical care and numerous research facilities.
Reason for changes: tweak to intro wording, removing repeat of acreage mentioned in first paragraph, correcting to current number of on-site hospitals (John Sealy Hospital, Texas Department of Criminal Justice Hospital, Galveston and Shriners Hospital for Children, Galveston) and removing one of two references to medical library in same sentence / paragraph. Changing link for Shriners Hospitals for Children to Shriners Hospitals for Children (Galveston).
Since its founding, UTMB has served indigent or poor populaces, such as prisoners, the homeless, and single mothers, including patients with ailments that are very expensive to treat (such as burns). It is one of only a handful of hospitals in southeastern Texas that does so. UTMB's Emergency Room at John Sealy Hospital is certified as a Level I Trauma Center and serves as the lead trauma facility for the nine-county region in southeast Texas. It is one of only three Level I Trauma centers in the Greater Houston area. [6]
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Proposed text, paragraph 3+
UTMB's primary missions are health sciences education, medical research (it is home to the Galveston National Laboratory) and health care services. [7] Its Emergency Room at John Sealy Hospital is certified as a Level I Trauma Center and serves as the lead trauma facility for a nine-county region in Southeast Texas; it is one of only three Level I Trauma centers serving all ages in Southeast Texas. [8]
In fiscal year 2012, UTMB received 20 percent of its $1.5 billion budget from the State of Texas to help support its teaching mission, hospital operation and Level 1 Trauma Center; UTMB generates the rest of its budget through its research endeavors, clinical services and philanthropy. It provides a significant amount of charity care (almost $96 million in 2012), and treats complex cases such as transplants and burns. [9]
Reason for changes: clarifications re: mission and charity care. ([[User:Myra McCollum|Myra McCollum]]|[[User talk:Myra McCollum|t]] )([[User:Myra McCollum|COI]]) ( talk) 22:51, 3 April 2013 (UTC)
In 2003 UTMB received funding to construct a $150 million Galveston National Biocontainment Laboratory on its campus, one of the few non-military facilities of this level. It houses several Biosafety Level 4 research laboratories, where studies on highly infectious materials can be carried out safely. [10]
It has schools of medicine, nursing, allied health professions, and a graduate school of biomedical sciences, as well as an institute for medical humanities.
UTMB also has a major contract with the Texas Department of Corrections to provide medical care to inmates at all TDC sites in the eastern portion of Texas. UTMB also has similar contracts with local governments needing inmate medical care.
UTMB is currently in the process of recovering from the effects of 2008's Hurricane Ike. [11] [12]
The location of the Medical Department of the University of Texas was decided between Galveston and Houston in a popular vote in 1881, but its opening was delayed due to the construction of the main university campus in Austin, Texas. The need for medical training in Texas was great: in 1891, 80% of doctors in the state had under a year of formal training in medicine, and so the "Texas Medical College" was formed in Galveston with the idea that it would become the medical department once state funding began.
The original building, now called Old Red, was begun on 1890 under the supervision of the Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton. Clayton toured several medical colleges in the North and East before drawing up his plans for the building. The medical school campus also included the John Sealy Hospital, which provided charity care for any who claimed Galveston residence.
Upon opening, the Red Building had been starkly underfurnished, a problem which was not fully remedied until after the Hurricane of 1900, when the state rallied around the ravaged city. Dr. Thompson, professor of surgery, said that "the regents were so generous in repairing the damage to the building and restoring the equipment, that we were actually in better shape at the end of the year 1901 than we had been before." In addition, the damage to the roof of Old Red allowed for the addition of sky lights, which had always been wanted for the dissection room.
In 1915 the medical branch built the first hospital dedicated to children in Texas. By 1924 UTMB had established the first department of pediatrics in the state of Texas — which was also one of the first departments of pediatrics in the United States. [13]
From its modest beginnings in the 1890s as the first state medical school in Texas, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) has developed into a large, sophisticated health science complex with numerous schools and institutes, including: a Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Health Professions, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, Institute for the Medical Humanities, an affiliated Shriners Burns Hospital, the Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine, the Sealy Center for Structural Biology, the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Center for Addiction Research, the Educational Cancer Center, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health, the Institute for Translational Sciences, [14] the Galveston National Laboratory (GNL), the Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology, the Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine, the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, the Stark Diabetes Center, the Center for Biomedical Engineering, the Center for Environmental Toxicology, the Sealy Center on Aging, the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, and the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development. UTMB operates an extensive clinical care enterprise with a wide variety of specialty programs.[ citation needed]
UTMB’s annual budget of approximately $1.4 billion includes grants, awards, and contracts from federal and private sources totaling more than $150 million, in addition to institutional allocations for research.[ citation needed]
In 1996, UTMB purchased the adjacent 128 year old St. Mary's Hospital, the first catholic hospital in Texas. [15] The building was converted into the Rebecca Sealy Psychiatric Hospital.
UTMB became a member of the Houston-based Texas Medical Center in 2010. Wollam, Allison. [16] [17] [18]
Dr. Danny O. Jacobs, a former Department Chair at Duke University, has been named executive vice president, provost and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch, effective Oct. 1 2012]. [19]
UTMB includes four schools:
Sources of Financial Support
Every effort is made to provide financial support for GSBS students. Students may qualify for predoctoral fellowships from the graduate school with an initial stipend of at least $27,000 (2010–2011), and paid health insurance for those pursuing a Ph.D. degree. These stipends are awarded according to merit and the recommendation of the program faculty. Tuition and fees for first-year BBSC students will be paid by the GSBS and the mentor will fund tuition fees in years thereafter. Financial support may be available from other sources for students engaged in research or teaching projects. James W. McLaughlin Fellowships are awarded primarily to advanced students concentrating in the areas of infection and immunity and include additional benefits for dependents, travel, and research supplies. Research grant support is normally available only to students who have decided on laboratories in which they wish to work and have chosen research projects. A number of NIH-funded training grants also provide stipend support to Ph.D. students on a competitive basis.
Hurricane Ike caused significant flood damage to nearly every building on campus, including the John Sealy Hospital. However, UTMB has about $1.4 billion to restore, harden and expand its campus. Much of the money was approved by the 81st Texas Legislative session, $450 million comes from FEMA, $130 million from insurance, $200 million from the Sealy and Smith Foundation, and $50 million from the Social Service Block Grant Funds. [25] Reconstruction is actively underway as well as hardening of the campus to protect buildings and resources from future storms. It should be noted that UTMB restored its educational programs within weeks after the Hurricane Ike and the research endeavor came back steadily thereafter. In 2011 the foundation committed $170 million towards the construction of a new Jennie Sealy Hospital on the UTMB campus, an amount that represents the largest single gift ever to a Texas health institution. [26]
UTMB has two heliports: the Ewing Hall Heliport ( FAA LID: 9TS7) and the Emergency Room Heliport ( FAA LID: 9TA7).
29°18′39″N 94°46′38″W / 29.3107°N 94.7771°W
Category:1891 establishments in Texas
Category:Educational institutions established in 1891
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Category:Education in Galveston, Texas
Category:Hospitals in Texas
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Category:Schools of public health in the United States
Category:Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Category:University of Texas Medical Branch
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