Harlingen EDC Releases Consultants Report on South Texas Medical School
Today the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation (EDC) released a report from a consultant consortium of JMWatt Consulting/Altman/Verité ¦rom California, outlining a strategic plan to realize the objectives of S.B. 98 by Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. and to transform the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) into a medical school and health science center, The University of Texas Health Science Center –South Texas.
Michael Watt and David Altman, M.D., consultants to the EDC and the same medical experts who helped plan and implement the model to develop the RAHC in 1997, presented the report today in a briefing and press conference at the RAHC to community leaders and representatives of the University of Texas System including Kenneth Shine, M.D., Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, and William Henrich, M.D., President of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Watt and Altman made ten recommendations in their detailed study of medical education in the Rio Grande Valley in what they termed “an extraordinary opportunity.” Among those recommendations were additional residencies, facility requirements for Harlingen and Edinburg, the creation of a special admissions track for the RAHC at the UT Health Science Center –San Antonio, a designated “team” at UT System and UTHSC-SA to coordinate the planning for the new medical school, housing for students in clerkships at the RAHC, the recruitment of basic science researchers/teachers at Edinburg/RAHC, creation of a local consortium to work with UT in planning, a foundation for grants/gifts/philanthropy, and the establishment of a local (LRGV) working group with staff to support and assist UT in program and facility development.
Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell said the report was “a critical roadmap for the City of Harlingen and all of South Texas to follow in supporting the development of the medical school.” Mayor Boswell and EDC President Armando Elizarde also announced today the creation of the South Texas Medical Foundation and the transfer to the foundation of 35 acres of land valued at $2.5 million in furtherance of the objective of establishing a medical school in the valley. Mayor Boswell said, “Harlingen has demonstrated its continuing commitment to the dream of a Health Science Center in the Valley and we now ask the rest of South Texas to join us in support of the challenges and opportunities ahead.”
Elizarde said, “The Development Corporation of Harlingen is honored to be able to contribute to and support the future expansion of the RAHC into a medical school and medical center complex. Opportunities like this come along maybe once in a lifetime and will benefit this community and South Texas in ways we can only imagine. The improvements to our quality of life from enhanced educational programs and improved health care are just as important as the enormous economic potential from a health science center.”
State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. who authored S.B. 606 creating the RAHC in 1997 and also S.B. 98 in the 2009 legislative session authorizing the creation of a four-year medical school as part of the UTHSC –South Texas spoke at the event along with the House sponsor of S.B. 98, State Representative Eddie Lucio III.