In the mid 1940’s a quiet transformation was taking place in a small area within the city of Houston. The resulting Texas Medical Center changed the face of Houston and the state of Texas forever. While watching this developing medical synergy, a committee of representatives from The University of Texas (UT) System decided to take action. As the Texas Medical Center became a world renowned medical center, the face of medical education within its boundaries was also gaining a reputation. Today what started as a committee proposal in the mid 1960’s has become the most comprehensive of the six health institutions in the UT System, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Since the health science center’s creation by the UT Board of Regents and endorsement by the Texas Legislature in 1972, it stretched the boundaries of ../academic medicine and the medical education frontier by becoming a health science center with a character and scope different from any other in Texas. Innovative teaching environments within the six ../academic schools have brought the health science center’s scope into extensive research opportunities, comprehensive patient care and community service. This comprehensive environment brings together researchers from the different disciplines to explore and find prevention models for some of the most difficult diseases of this century.

The core of the health science center’s strength is its eight ../academic and operating units:

• Dental Branch
  
• Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
  
• School of Health Information Sciences
  
• Medical School
  
• School of Nursing
  
• School of Public Health
  
• Harris County Psychiatric Center
  
• The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases

The health science center is characterized by consolidation and growth in all dimensions through the combination of biomedical sciences, social sciences and behavioral sciences, with influences from the humanities in the kind of interdisciplinary activities that are part of the fundamental definition of a modern ../academic health science center. These interdisciplinary activities enable faculty and staff to place special emphasis on complex ethical, economic, socio-behavioral, scientific and clinical questions related to health. They also provide opportunities for clinicians and scientists to engage in clinical and translational research designed to take scientific discoveries from the lab to the patient’s bedside.

To continue this collaborative spirit, the university maintains close ties with many Texas Medical Center institutions as well as Rice University, the University of Houston (both the main campus and the downtown campus), Texas Southern University, Prairie View A&M University, UT-Pan American and UT-El Paso, to name a few.

Now in our 36th year, the health science center will continue its emphasis on teaching, research, patient care and community service to the large and diverse community of the greater Houston area and to the State of Texas. We will also maintain focus on the relationships among basic biomedical and behavioral research, direct patient care and health services, preventive services and public education. This focus will enable us to continue to fulfill our obligation to train and educate health professionals and biomedical scientists for the state in a setting that combines clinical and didactic teaching with excellent research.

In the academic year 2008, the health science center community includes more than 9,000 members (5,037 faculty and staff, 3,865 students, 809 medical residents, 92 dental residents/postgraduate students and approximately 200 fellows.)