Dr. Brigham Willis

From Staff Reports

The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine has all the necessary accreditation to begin instruction, officials announced on Thursday.

Last week, the Tyler medical school received approval for its Doctor of Medicine program from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on College. Earlier this year, the school received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME). These two achievements mean the school has accomplished all of the necessary accreditation milestones to begin instruction.

“This is a critical milestone for the school of medicine,” said Dr. Brigham Willis, founding dean. “I’m so thankful to our accreditation team and all of our faculty and staff who made this possible. We have an amazing curriculum and foundation established, and I’m thrilled by the progress we’ve made throughout this past year.”

Dr. Sue Cox, school of medicine associate dean of accreditation, strategy and quality improvement said she is thankful for the team’s dedication and assistance from the UT Tyler Office of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness.

“Training future healthcare providers represents another step to reaching our vision of improving the quality of life and reducing health disparities in our rural East Texas region,” Cox said.

This program will initially be housed at the UT Tyler Health Science Center campus. The four-year program will take place in-person, and 40 students are projected to be enrolled per year. It’s estimated that this number will grow over time, especially after the school is established.

Interviews are currently being conducted to select the 40 students. As of today, 168 interviews have been conducted, and there are 72 more interviews scheduled for the weeks ahead.

The first class is scheduled to enroll July 2023.

Plans for the medical school gained momentum after they were first announced in February 2020. Most recently, on Nov. 17 the UT Board of Regents gave final authorization for design, development, and additional construction funding for the medical school’s new Medical Education Building – approving a total project cost of $308 million for the facility.

The building is expected to be completed in March 2025.

The planned five-story, nearly 248,000-square-foot facility, will support interdisciplinary education for graduate medical students, resident training, and nursing, and aid as part of a medical education program expansion throughout the UT Health East Texas Health System.

In addition, the building will provide outpatient and specialty clinical services with exam rooms, specimen collection/processing, and imaging facilities.

“This facility provides the physical cornerstone of UT Tyler’s plan to train physicians and meet health care needs across the state, while also growing workforce opportunities and economic development in the region,” James B. Milliken, UT System chancellor, previously said.

The building will be built in Tyler’s midtown district and will connect via skybridge to the UT Health East Texas Hospital – allowing for hands-on learning of residents in the adjacent hospitals.

It is designed to have blended programming and clinical spaces for patient care, including women’s imaging, women’s health, diagnostic center, orthopedics, and sports medicine, pulmonary and a surgery center to support medical residents in the graduate medical education programs.

The UT Tyler School of Medicine will be the first in northeast Texas, offering 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.

The medical school has received tons of support from various organizations and individuals, including financial contributions, since plans for the startup were first announced in February 2020.