The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (UTMB) currently sends 23 third-year medical students to Austin for a full year at University Medical Center at Brackenridge. The SETON Healthcare Network recently signed an historic agreement with UTMB to perhaps double the number of medical students in Austin in the short term—and eventually accommodate a much greater number of students and medical and surgical residents. And because of the quality expertise available locally, physicians already in the community will be tapped as faculty members and teach the next generation of physicians.
Efforts are also underway to increase the number of graduate medical residents in existing programs and to add new programs to meet the emerging healthcare needs of the community. Already, a new obstetrics/gynecology program has been started approved and a neurology program is expected to come on line next year. To train the next generation of advanced medical researchers, UTMB and UT Austin have established a joint M.D/Ph.D. program that will begin accepting students in 2005.
WORLD-CLASS MEDICAL RESEARCH
The goal of this effort is to become world class and comparable to the great academic health research and provider hospitals in this country such as the Mayo Clinic and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. To be compared to these centers of excellence, Central Texas will need to establish an academic health research facility. The long-term vision is to create a best-in-class facility that will accommodate medical education, research, and innovation. The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, the state’s oldest medical school, is currently working with the SETON Healthcare Network and its partners to help make this vision a reality.
Although no decisions have been made regarding the location of an academic health research facility, UTMB is considering space at the former Robert Mueller airport near the new Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, which is slated for a 2007 opening.
Academic MedicineTrains the next generation of healthcare providers.
- Trains the next generation of healthcare providers
- Offers sophisticated treatments and surgical procedures.
- Provides opportunities to participate in clinical trials.
- Supports leading-edge medical research.
- Provides quality medical care for the uninsured and medically needy.
Seton is proud to have four hospitals – the only hospitals in Central Texas - that have earned the