Governor Greg Abbott speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for a new UT Tyler Medical Education Building along Beckham Avenue in Tyler on Monday January 23, 2023. (Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo)

Officials broke ground Monday on a multimillion dollar medical facility in Tyler that will be the first of its kind in Northeast Texas.

Community members joined Gov. Greg Abbott and other elected officials including Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler), U.S. Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Tyler), Smith County Judge Neal Franklin, county commissioners, Tyler Mayor Don Warren, city councilmembers along with University of Texas system officials such as Chairman Kevin Eltife, UT Chancellor James Milliken, UT Tyler President Kirk Calhoun and more for a special ceremony in Tyler’s midtown medical district to celebrate the groundbreaking of the $308 million Medical Education Building, which will house UT Tyler’s new School of Medicine.

“This is such a monumental day,” Eltife said. “This school is a game changer for students and families in the area.”

Eltife noted many have played a role in making this day a reality, including those at the state level and the local community, since plans for the school were first announced in February 2020.

“It’s always a good day in East Texas,” Calhoun said, “but today is a really good day in East Texas, and we could not have done it without everyone in this room.”

The school’s first class will enroll in July 2023 and learn at UT Tyler’s north Health Science Center campus until the Medical Education Building opens in March 2025.

“It is an honor and a delight to be here today to support in bringing this institution to East Texas,” Milliken said.

With not only financial support from various donors, there was a lot of movement and encouragement from the state government to make this happen.

“We owe a huge thank you to the Texas legislature,” Eltife said, “for sacrificing their time and effort in Austin to make this happen.”

The new institution will support interdisciplinary education for graduate medical students, resident training, and nursing, and provide outpatient and specialty clinical services with exam rooms, specimen collection/processing, and imaging facilities.

The medical school will offer aspiring doctors a chance to train and practice without leaving the region. Capital projects funded over the next decade, including the new Medical Education Building, will ensure the new medical school has the right environment in place to draw and retain exceptional medical school faculty and students and enhance biomedical research and core residency programs.

Abbott said Monday was an “extraordinary day” for Tyler and all of East Texas and a “remarkable day” for the future of the healthcare landscape in Texas as a whole.

“Everybody knows the important role that healthcare plays in our lives, but also the important role it plays in communities,” he said. He added that communities need access to high quality healthcare, especially more rural areas such as those in the East Texas region.

“As East Texas continues to grow, so does its need for more highly skilled and well-trained healthcare professionals,” Abbott said.

He said Monday was a step toward making “generational change” in the medical field. A 10-year-old girl approached him upon his arrival to Tyler on Monday and asked to take a photo with him. Abbott said the young girl told him she wanted to be a doctor when she grows up and attend the UT Tyler School of Medicine.

This facility “inspires generations of people to seek access to education in fields like healthcare” that can be financially and personally rewarding, Abbott said.

According to Abbott, creating this facility was a priority in the 87th Legislative Session.

“I thank members of the legislature, President Calhoun, and Chairman Eltife for their hard work to ensure this important legislation reached my desk,” Abbott said.

In November 2022, the UT Board of Regents gave final authorization for design, development, and additional construction funding for the Medical Education Building.

The planned five-story, nearly 248,000-square-foot facility, which will connect the skybridge to the UT Health East Texas Hospital, will allow for hands-on learning of residents in the adjacent hospitals, offering physicians to train and practice without leaving the area.

“This is the most innovative opportunity I’ve ever been a part of,” said founding dean of the School of Medicine, Brigham C. Willis. “It is nice to see such amazing support from East Texas.”

The Medical Education Building will include classrooms, simulation labs, clinical and operating room training spaces, and multipurpose event and lecture spaces for the UT Tyler School of Medicine and graduate medical education programs.

“Lives will be saved,” Abbott said. “Together, we are fostering greater health outcomes for the people of East Texas and empowering the next generation of doctors, nurses, and medical staff to serve all Texans.”

Since the beginning, the UT Tyler School of Medicine has received overwhelming support from the community. Some of the financial contributions that make this facility possible include:

$80 million from the East Texas Medical Center Foundation, with a later additional gift of $3 million

A $100 million bond over the next 10 years from the UT Board of Regents

$10 million from the Robert M. Rogers Foundation to support mental and behavioral health education at the new medical school.

$4 million from the R.W. Fair Foundation to fully fund the first class of 40 UT Tyler medical students

Anonymous gift of $4 million to support school of medicine scholarships and faculty research.

A $5 million gift to the medical school from Ednamae Walsh to support scholarships and pathway programs

“We are so proud to be part of placing this piece of history right here in Tyler,” Eltife said.