University of Texas Medical Branch

The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a component of the University of Texas System located in Galveston, Texas, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of downtown Houston. It is the oldest medical school west of the Mississippi River. 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.

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-acre campus includes four schools, three institutes for advanced study, a major medical library, seven hospitals (including an affiliated Shriners Burns Hospital), 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 single mothers, the homeless and prisoners, including ailments that are very expensive to treat (such as burns). It is one of only a handful of hospitals in southeast Texas that does so. Currently, UTMB is certified as a Level I Trauma Center and serves as the lead trauma facility for the nine-county region in southeast Texas, including the Greater Houston area.

The UTMB campus includes a Shriners Hospitals for Children and a prison hospital that serves 80 % of the state's inmate population. 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 National Biocontainment Laboratory 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 research laboratories, where studies on highly infectious materials can be carried out safely.

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.

History
The location of the Medical Department of the University of Texas was decided between Galveston and Houston in a popular vote in 1881, but the opening was delayed due to the construction of the main campus in Austin. 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 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 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.

Ewing Hall, named for Maurice Ewing a notable alum, at UTMB has the reputation of being one of the haunted places on Galveston Island. A face appears on one of the concrete walls of Ewing hall and cannot be removed despite many attempts. Sandblasting and power-washing have been unable to remove the face from the side of Ewing Hall. The face is rumored to be that of the original owner of the land that UTMB sits on. He supposedly told his family not to sell the land after he died and to keep it in the family. Upon his death, his family quickly sold the land that UTMB now sits on. He is said to now haunt the building and campus. According to legend, the face first appeared on the top panel of the building. The top panel of the building was then sand blasted and painted over (see pictures in article below). The face then appeared on the panel directly beneath it. This panel was subsequently sand blasted causing the face to move to the panel that it resides on today. UTMB eventually gave up trying to remove the face and it has become a permanent edition to Ewing Hall. See pictures and more here: (http://halloweensunseen.com/faceutmb.html).

Notable alumni and staff

 * Maurice Ewing - Geophysicist
 * Hector P. Garcia - Surgeon, civil rights advocate
 * Bernard A. Harris, Jr. M.D. - Astronaut
 * Patricia Robertson M.D. - Astronaut-candidate
 * Claudio Soto - Neurology researcher
 * Luther Leonidas Terry - Surgeon General
 * William E. Thornton M.D. - Astronaut

External link

 * University of Texas Medical Branch
 * The Infamous "Face" on Ewing Hall at UTMB