Saturday, December 4, 2010

UT regents have long term plan for Medical school in......yep, the Valley



According to the Austin American Statesman, the UT board of regents had a meeting recently to discuss the long-term (10 years) plan for the system's operations in South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. The board has several members who are from the Valley. Furthermore, Laredo native, Dr. Franciso Cigarroa is the UT system chancellor and continues to push for advancement in the medical fields. The article goes on to state:
The system is working on a parallel track to ramp up its health programs in the region. It already operates three satellite medical campuses — known collectively as the Regional Academic Health Center — in Harlingen, Brownsville and Edinburg. The largest unit, at Harlingen, has 50 medical students from San Antonio in clinical rotations. Cigarroa hopes to double that.
Hospitals in the Valley have agreed to provide 127 new residency slots for freshly minted doctors undergoing additional training, said Kenneth Shine, the system's executive vice chancellor for health affairs.
One long-term goal is a full-fledged medical school in the Valley. State lawmakers approved a measure last year that authorizes — but stops short of requiring — the UT regents to establish a medical school in Cameron County, whose major cities are Brownsville and Harlingen. But with the state facing a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall, it's unlikely that the Legislature would allocate significant funds for such a venture anytime soon.

4 comments:

  1. FYI, the Laredo campus has more staff/faculty than students plus one program that has been here at least two years has only been able to recruit 2 students!

    ReplyDelete