University of Texas Health Science Center - IATRO Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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{| i | ween Dr. Cheves McC. Smythe. In the Spring of 1970, C heves McCord Smythe, M.D. was appointed as the school’s first Dean, and was given the task of selecting a supporting staff and organizing a base on which the new medical school could successfully grow. Dr. Smythe received his medical training at Harvard, and had served numerous posts including Dean of the Medical Col- lege of South Carolina, and as Assistant Director for the Association of American Medical Colleges. Among his original faculty appointments were Joe Wood, PhD. and William S. Fields, M.D. Dr. Wood, a graduate of the UTMB in Galveston, developed the first department at the new medical school, a multidisciplinary department of Neuroscience. He has for merly held faculty positions at Yale, Arkansas, and UTSA. Dr. Fields was also awarded his M.D. by the Harvard Medical School. He served a faculty post at Baylor College of Medicine for 17 years (seven years as the Chariman of the Department of Neurology) and Professor of Neurology at UTSW at Dallas before his eventual appointment as Chairman of our depart- ment of Neurology. The structure was completed in 1972. As the new institution continued to grow and to develop, new leadership was needed to guide the school through change. Dr. Smythe completed a five- year tenure as Dean which began in April of 1970 and ended in March of 1975. He saw the first medical school class to both begin and end their training in our own facilities. Dr. Charles A. Berry, then President of the U.T. Health Science Center, praised Dr. Smythe and his efforts by saying that the establishment of the new medical school “has been the most rapid effort on record in the history of modern American medical education.” (Houston Post, 3 21 75). Dr. Robert L. Tuttle, who had been Associate Dean for Academic Affairs since September of 1970, was named by Dr. Berry as acting Dean. In December of 1975, a 16- member selection committee chose Dr. Tuttle from a pool of forty candidates as the school’s second Dean. He was followed in July of 1981 by Dr. Ernst Knobil, who resigned his position in April of 1984. Dr. Louis A. Faillace is presently serving as Acting Dean.

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Building a Future Our State’s Declaration of Independence from Mexico lists as one of its main indictments against that country the fact that “it has failed to establish any public system of education ...”. The goal of in- stituting a state-supported system of higher education was delayed by our own Civil War and the subsequent Era of Reconstruction, but in 1881, by an act of the State Legislature, a state university for Texas was established. By popular vote, a Board of Regents was elected, and Austin was chosen as the site for the Main Campus with Galveston as the site for the Medical Branch. With the far-reaching goal of pro- viding for excellence in higher education and a liberal state policy for appropriation of funds, approval was given to establish the fourth public school of medicine under the auspices of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas Medical School at Houston was created by an act of the Legislature on June 13, 1969, and an appropriation for its initial cost was made to be effective on September | of the same year.

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In the two years following its inception was a period of rapid growth, with the accumulation of top-rank educational and scientific resources, the establishment of a core curriculum, and more faculty appointments, including R. Rodney Howell, M.D., Walter M. Kirkendall, M.D., Stanley J. Dudrick, M.D., and Eugene Jacobson, M.D. In June of 1971, the first entering class of 32 students formally convened. The Basic Sciences at that time were held at the Center Pavillion Hospital, while all clinical training was done at any of the three affiliated UT medical school’s teaching hospitals. Classes progressively increased in size with each new year as our own facilities began to be built. With the completion of Phase I construction in 1972, the Freeman Building was opened as a classroom building for the teaching of the Basic Sciences. The new building was dedicated on October 28, 1972. George Bush, then the U.S. Ambassador to the United Na- tions, gave the keynote address. John H. Freeman, the building’s namesake, played a vital role in securing over 200 acres of land on which the Texas Medical Center now stands. The 48 students of the entering class of 1972 saw the groundbreaking for Phase II construction in October of 1972. This project included the construction of the half of the medical school that was adjacent to the newly-built Jones Pavillion. Phase III, the completion of the medical school main building and the continued renovation of Hermann Hospital, began in 1975. Hermann Hospital from new med ii 3 st school site. THIN} a GUL ALLA iis Si ee un a