University of Texas Southwestern Medical School

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School is a public medical school in Dallas, Texas. The medical school makes up a part of the Southwestern Medical District, which ranks among the top academic medical centers in the world.

Ranking and selectivity
The medical school ranked 19th in the 2008 U.S. News and World Report ranking of the top medical schools in the research category (ranked 6th among public medical schools), ranked 18th in primary care category, and ranked 21st in terms of research funding from the National Institute of Health (2004).

It is the top public medical school in the state of Texas. As one of four medical schools in the UT System and one of eight in the state of Texas, UT Southwestern admits more than 200 students each year and admission is highly competitive. The acceptance rate for 2006 was 13.1% (highest among the top 40 medical schools in the research category according to the 2008 U.S. News and World Report ranking). The average MCAT score, science GPA, and undergraduate GPA of UT Southwestern matriculants for 2006 were 32.1, 3.75, and 3.8.

From an undated survey of federally funded universities in Science Watch, UT Southwestern earned a Top 10 ranking in four out of six major fields. Among peer institutions, only Harvard and UC San Francisco received a better overall ranking. UT Southwestern notably confers more medical degrees per year and is responsible for more indigent care than many of its peer institutions.

UT Southwestern is one of the five least expensive public medical schools and amongst the top ten largest medical schools in the United States. The school's tuition is just over $10,000 per year for in-state residents through funding from the state, though the school also offers institution grants and alumni scholarships for many out-of-state residents. Graduates of UT Southwestern have amongst the lowest amounts of student loan debt at the time of matriculation (average debt of grads from Southwestern is $75,400 according to the 2008 U.S. News and World Report).

By mandate of the state legislature, 90 percent of students are from the state of Texas, in order to assure the state a consistent source of high-quality physicians.

History
When Southwestern Medical College was founded in 1943, it was a small wartime medical school housed in a handful of abandoned barracks. By 1949 it had prospered sufficiently to become the second medical school in The University of Texas System.

Under the leadership of the late Dr. Edward H. Cary and Karl Hoblitzelle, a group of prominent Dallas citizens organized Southwestern Medical Foundation in 1939 to promote medical education and research in Dallas and the region. When Baylor University elected to move its school of medicine from Dallas to Houston in 1943, the foundation formally established Southwestern Medical College as the 68th medical school in the United States.

When a new state medical school was proposed after World War II, leaders of Southwestern Medical Foundation offered the college's equipment, library and certain restricted funds to The University of Texas, provided the university would locate its new medical branch in Dallas. The Board of Regents accepted this offer from the foundation, and in 1949 the college became Southwestern Medical School of The University of Texas. In 1954 the name was changed to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. The present campus site on Harry Hines Boulevard was occupied in 1955 upon the completion of the Edward H. Cary Building. This placed the medical school faculty next to the newly built Parkland Memorial Hospital.

In November 1972 the name and scope of the medical school were changed with its reorganization into The University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas. In approving the concept of a health science center, the Board of Regents provided for the continued growth of coordinated but separate medical, graduate and undergraduate components, interacting creatively on the problems of human health and well-being.

In 1986 the Howard Hughes Medical Institute opened a research facility on the campus. Concentrating on molecular biology, it has brought outstanding scientists to head laboratories in their specialties. These investigators also hold faculty positions in the basic science departments of the medical school and graduate school.

In October 1987 the UT System Board of Regents approved changing the name of the health science center to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, reconfirming its original Southwestern identity. The medical center encompasses Southwestern Medical School, Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Southwestern Allied Health Sciences School.

Since the late 1960s the university has added more than six million square feet of new construction. The 60 acre South Campus includes sixteen buildings housing classrooms, laboratories, offices, an extensive medical library, an auditorium and a large outpatient center. Affiliated hospitals adjacent to the campus are Zale Lipshy University Hospital, Parkland Memorial Hospital, St. Paul University Hospital and Children's Medical Center (Dallas).

In 1987 the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation gave the university 30 acres near the South Campus for future expansion. A 20-year master plan for the site, named the North Campus, calls for six research towers, a support-services building, an energy plant, and underground parking, in addition to the Mary Nell and Ralph B. Rogers Magnetic Resonance Center and the Moncrief Radiation Oncology Center. Three research towers and an elevated campus connector, linking the South Campus with the North Campus, were completed in the 1990s. A fourth 14-story research tower, was completed in 2005. In 1999 the university purchased an additional 50 acres from the MacArthur Foundation and a portion of the property was used to create an on-campus student-housing complex of 156 apartments. A second phase of 126 units opens in the summer of 2004. After its initial affiliation with Southwestern in 1999, the Moncrief Radiation Oncology Cancer Center has expanded its reach in 2003 with more facilities located in Dallas, Fort Worth, southern Tarrant County, and Weatherford, Texas.

The clinical services are expanding as annual patient visits to the medical center’s clinics average 400,000 a year, up dramatically from only 50,000 annually 15 years ago. Also in 2003, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences added a 12th member and in 2004, the National Academy of Sciences elected a 15th member from the UT Southwestern faculty to join its ranks.

Today, Southwestern Medical School has grown from a small wartime medical college into a full-blown medical center, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, a multifaceted academic institution nationally recognized for its excellence in educating physicians, biomedical scientists and health-care personnel. The school has awarded more than 8,600 medical degrees since it was established.

Size and budget
Operating budget: (2004): $1.258 billion (FY 2006)

Research expenditures (2004): $331.2 million

Endowment total value: $804.3 million (as of August 31, 2004)

Number of buildings: 37

Building space: 7.8 million ft²

Campus area: 231 acre

Notable faculty
UT Southwestern currently has four standing Nobel Laureates, more than any other medical school in the United States:


 * Michael Brown, 1985 Nobel Laureate
 * Joseph Goldstein, 1985 Nobel Laureate
 * Johann Deisenhofer, 1988 Nobel Laureate
 * Alfred Gilman, 1994 Nobel Laureate, Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School

Several other faculty members also have been elected to the following medical organizations:


 * 17 members of the National Academy of Sciences
 * 19 members of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences
 * 14 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * 58 specialists listed in Best Doctors in America and 230 included in Best Doctors in America: Central Region

Affiliated healthcare institutions
Major affiliations: Minor affiliations:
 * Parkland Memorial Hospital
 * Children's Medical Center Dallas
 * University Hospital-Zale Lipshy
 * University Hospital-St. Paul
 * Dallas Veteran Affairs Medical Center
 * Richardson Regional Medical Center
 * Baylor University Medical Center
 * Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas
 * Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children
 * John Peter Smith Hospital of Fort Worth