University of Texas Medical Branch
Encyclopedia
The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a component of the University of Texas System
University of Texas System
The University of Texas System encompasses 15 educational institutions in Texas, of which nine are academic universities and six are health institutions. The system is headquartered in Austin and has a total enrollment of over 190,000 students...

 located in Galveston
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Downtown
Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston is the largest business district of Houston, Texas, United States. Downtown Houston, the city's central business district, contains the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is an extensive network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district...

 Houston. It is a health care complex spanning 85 acres (344,000 m2), with seven hospitals, 13,000 employees and an assortment of specialized clinics, centers and institutes, including a medical school. The medical school is the oldest one west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

.

It was established in 1891 with one building and fewer than 50 students. Today UTMB's campus has grown to more than 70 buildings and an enrollment of more than 2,500 students. The 84 acres (339,936.2 m²) campus includes four schools, three institutes for advanced study, a major medical library, seven hospitals (including an affiliated Shriners Burns Hospital
Shriners Hospitals for Children
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a network of 22 non-profit hospitals across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients’...

), a network of clinics that provide a full range of primary and specialized medical care, and numerous research facilities.

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
John Sealy Hospital
John Sealy Hospital is a hospital that is a part of the University of Texas Medical Branch complex in Galveston, Texas, United States.Sealy opened on January 10, 1890. It was founded by the widow and brother of one of the richest citizens of Texas, John Sealy after his death...

 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
Greater Houston
Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas...

 area.

The UTMB campus includes a Shriners Hospitals for Children
Shriners Hospital for Children (Galveston)
The Shriners Hospital for Children is a 30-bed non-profit pediatric burn hospital, research, and teaching center located on the campus of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, USA...

 and a prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

 hospital that serves 80% of the Texas prison inmate population http://www.utmb.edu/cmc/. In addition, because of its level of specialized care, UTMB serves many indigent patients from across the state. The university spends upwards of $500 million annually providing such care.

In 2003 UTMB received funding to construct a $150 million Galveston National Biocontainment Laboratory
Galveston National Laboratory
The Galveston National Laboratory in Galveston, Texas, USA, is a high security National Biocontainment Laboratory housing several Biosafety level 4 research laboratories, run by the University of Texas Medical Branch for exotic disease diagnosis and research...

 on its campus, one of only two in the United States and the only one on a university campus. It houses several Biosafety Level 4
Biosafety level
A biosafety level is the level of the biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 to the highest at level 4 . In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and...

 research laboratories, where studies on highly infectious materials can be carried out safely.

It has schools of medicine
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...

, nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....

, allied health professions, and a graduate school
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...

 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 Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...

. Employees returned to work in early October, 2008.

History


The location of the Medical Department of the University of Texas was decided between Galveston and Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 in a popular vote in 1881, but its opening was delayed due to the construction of the main university campus in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

. 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
Nicholas J. Clayton
Nicholas Joseph Clayton was a prominent Victorian architect in Galveston. Clayton constructed many early public buildings in the city including the First Presbyterian Church .-External links:...

. 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
John Sealy Hospital
John Sealy Hospital is a hospital that is a part of the University of Texas Medical Branch complex in Galveston, Texas, United States.Sealy opened on January 10, 1890. It was founded by the widow and brother of one of the richest citizens of Texas, John Sealy after his death...

, 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
Galveston Hurricane of 1900
The Hurricane of 1900 made landfall on the city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas, on September 8, 1900.It had estimated winds of at landfall, making it a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale...

, 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.

Ewing Hall is named for Maurice Ewing
Maurice Ewing
William Maurice "Doc" Ewing was an American geophysicist and oceanographer.Ewing has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basins, ocean bottom photography, submarine sound transmission , deep sea coring of the ocean...

, a notable alum.

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 sophisticated health science complex for the state of Texas. UTMB is a large health sciences center, with the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing,the School of Health Professions, the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, the 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 Insyitute for Translational Sciences http://www.its.utmb.edu/ctsalinks.htm, 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.

UTMB occupies 85 acres (343,983.1 m²) at the eastern end of Galveston Island. The medical complex consists of 54 major buildings, including six on-site hospitals, the affiliated Shriners Burns Hospital, classroom buildings, specialty centers, extensive research laboratories (385,327 square feet), one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive medical libraries, recreational facilities, dormitories, and administrative offices. The research facilities include the only full-sized biosafety level 4 laboratory associated with a medical school in the U.S., completed in 2003. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) selected UTMB as the site of a $150 million national biocontainment lab, one of two large-scale national research facilities focusing on new and emerging disease threats, which opened in August 2008.

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.

In 1996, UTMB purchased the adjacent 128 year old St. Mary's Hospital
St. Mary's Hospital, Galveston
St. Mary's Hospital was a Catholic hospital founded in 1866 by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in Galveston, Texas, USA; it was the first private hospital in Texas. The hospital was closed and sold in 1996 to the neighboring University of Texas Medical Branch.-See also:*CHRISTUS...

, the first catholic hospital in Texas. The building was converted into the Rebecca Sealy Psychiatric Hospital.

The UTMB became a member of the Houston-based Texas Medical Center
Texas Medical Center
The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical center in the world with one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research...

 in 2010.

Schools

UTMB includes four schools:
  • School of Medicine - The School of Medicine http://www.som.utmb.edu/ at UTMB has provided medical school or residency training to one in six Texas physicians. With 20 departments, three institutes and a unique partnership with the University of Texas at Austin and Seton Healthcare in Austin, UTMB’s School of Medicine is a leader in medical school education, translational research and clinical care. The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a major academic health center in the fields of health sciences education, clinical care and biomedical research. Opened in 1891.


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

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. 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.

Hospitals and clinics

  • John Sealy Hospital
    John Sealy Hospital
    John Sealy Hospital is a hospital that is a part of the University of Texas Medical Branch complex in Galveston, Texas, United States.Sealy opened on January 10, 1890. It was founded by the widow and brother of one of the richest citizens of Texas, John Sealy after his death...

     - a 12 story, 414 bed general care teaching hospital.

  • Jennie Sealy Hospital - hospital serving geriatric patients as well as the Sealy Center on Aging.

  • University Hospital Clinics Building - a seven story specialty clinics building

  • UTMB Pediatrics and Childrens Hospital - a six story children's hospital with 50 inpatient beds, 12 PICU beds, 30 newborn and 42 high acuity beds.

  • R. Waverly Smith Pavilion - houses the university's gynecological, obstetrical and newborn nursery services, including the university's neonatal intensive care unit.

  • Rebecca Sealy Hospital
    Rebecca Sealy Hospital
    Rebecca Sealy Hospital is an eight-story hospital, and one of five hospitals on the campus of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1866 as St. Mary's Hospital, a private, Catholic, general hospital, but was purchased in 1996 by the Sealy &...

     - houses UTMB's day surgery services, the Regional Psychiatric Hospital for Mental Health–Mental Retardation patients, and inpatient hospitalization programs for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

  • Shriners Burns Hospital for Children
    Shriners Hospital for Children (Galveston)
    The Shriners Hospital for Children is a 30-bed non-profit pediatric burn hospital, research, and teaching center located on the campus of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, USA...

     - A 30 bed children's hospital specializing care and treatment of acute burns, patients needing plastic reconstructive or restorative surgery as a result of "healed" burns, and scarring and deformity of the face. It has an Intensive Care Unit
    Intensive Care Unit
    thumb|220px|ICU roomAn intensive-care unit , critical-care unit , intensive-therapy unit/intensive-treatment unit is a specialized department in a hospital that provides intensive-care medicine...

     with 15 acute beds, a reconstruction and plastic surgery unit with 15 reconstruction beds, three operating rooms, a multi-bed recovery room, and numerous clinics. Its a Verified Burn Center by the American Burn Association.

  • UTMB Criminal Justice Hospital - operated in collaboration with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
    Texas Department of Criminal Justice
    The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...

    , the prison hospital has 172 inpatient beds, a multi-service ambulatory care center, a minor operating room with a recovery room, a telemetry unit of 12 beds, a medical intensive care unit of six beds and a 56-bed overnight holding unit.

Size and budget

  • Enrollment: 2,422 (Fall 2007)
  • Faculty: 1,268 (Fall 2007)
  • Personnel: 11,323 (Fall 2007)
  • Budget: $1.452 billion (FY 2008)
  • Research Expenditures: $156.1 million (FY 2007)

Notable alumni and faculty

  • Robin Armstrong
    Robin Armstrong
    Robin Armstrong is an African American politician and physician who served as vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2006-2010. Armstrong was elected at the state convention held in San Antonio on June 3, 2006, to succeed the term-limited David Barton, an historian from Aledo in...

    , M.D. - Internal medicine, physician in Galveston County, and vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas
    Republican Party of Texas
    The Republican Party of Texas is one of the two major political parties in the U.S. State of Texas. It is affiliated with the United States Republican Party. The State Chairman is Steve Munisteri, a retired attorney and businessman from Houston, and the Vice-Chair is Melinda Fredricks of Conroe....

  • Maurice Ewing
    Maurice Ewing
    William Maurice "Doc" Ewing was an American geophysicist and oceanographer.Ewing has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basins, ocean bottom photography, submarine sound transmission , deep sea coring of the ocean...

     - Geophysicist
  • Hector P. Garcia
    Hector P. Garcia
    Hector Perez Garcia was a Mexican-American physician, surgeon, World War II veteran, civil rights advocate, and founder of the American G.I. Forum. As a result of the national prominence he earned through his work on behalf of Hispanic Americans, he was instrumental in the appointment of Mexican...

     - Surgeon, civil rights advocate
  • Bernard A. Harris, Jr.
    Bernard A. Harris, Jr.
    Bernard Anthony Harris, Jr. is a former NASA astronaut. On February 9, 1995, Harris became the first African American to perform an extra-vehicular activity , during the second of his two Space Shuttle flights....

     M.D. - Astronaut
  • Patricia Robertson
    Patricia Robertson
    Patricia Consolatrix Hilliard Robertson was an American physician and a NASA astronaut.-Personal:She was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania to Ilse Hilliard and the late Harold Hilliard of Homer City. She was married to Scott Robertson.-Education:She graduated from Homer-Center High School, Homer City,...

     M.D. - Astronaut-candidate
  • Luther Leonidas Terry
    Luther Leonidas Terry
    Luther Terry was an American physician and public health official. He was appointed the ninth Surgeon General of the United States from 1961 to 1965, and is best known for his warnings against the dangers of and the impact of tobacco use on health.-Early years:Luther Leonidas Terry was born in Red...

     - Surgeon General
  • William E. Thornton
    William E. Thornton
    William Edgar Thornton is a former NASA Astronaut. Thornton was born in Faison, North Carolina, and is married with two sons to the former Elizabeth Jennifer Fowler of Hertfordshire, England.-Education:...

     M.D. - Astronaut
  • Satya Prakash
    Satya Prakash
    Satya Prakash is a retired Senior Professor from the Physical Research Laboratory.He currently resides in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in India. He is most notable for his contributions towards India's first space satellite, the Aryabhata. He has been a well-known figure during the fledgling days of the...

     Ph.D - DNA Repair
  • C.J. Peters
    C.J. Peters
    Clarence James Peters, Jr, M.D. , known as C. J. Peters, is a physician, field virologist and former U.S. Army colonel. He is noted for his efforts in trying to stem epidemics of exotic infectious diseases such as the Ebola virus, Hanta virus and Rift Valley fever...

    M.D. - Virology & Immunology

Heliports

UTMB has two heliports: the Ewing Hall Heliport and the Emergency Room Heliport .
  • University of Texas Medical Branch Emergency Room Heliport
  • University of Texas Medical Branch Ewing Hall Heliport

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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