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

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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

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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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i eR a re The Beginning Of An Institution The breezeway. The anticipated target date for entering the com- pleted structure was set back for several months by the devastating flood of 1976. In June of that year, Gross Anatomy was to be held in the new facilities in the medical school basement. Prior to that time all dissec- tion was performed at the UT Dental School’s facilities. The 100 students of the class of 1976 had the unique, never again to be repeated experience of studying their cadavers in the plush Prudential Ballroom. Repairs were completed in September of that year, and the class of 1976 became the first to oc- cupy the new Main Building of the medical school. This same group of students were the last to graduate from this medical school when its curriculum con- sisted of only three years of study. With the anticipa- tion of much larger classes in the future, and with new facilities to easily handle the rapidly growing numbers of entering students, a four-year curriculum was in- stituted in the Fall of 1980. Because of the transition from a three-year to a four-year curriculum, there was no graduating class in 1980. A final modification to the school’s structure, the cyclotron, was completed and made operational last year. cae el me eS