For six years, University of North Texas leaders struggled to add a second medical school to the Health Science Center campus in Fort Worth, hoping it would attract more physicians to stay in the city and practice medicine. In announcing the new school, Williams said the collaborative with TCU would pursue M.D. accreditation through the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which judges American medical degree programs.
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TCU’s Board of Trustees, which has meetings behind closed doors because the institution is private, approved the same agreement June 30.
“We’re going to develop a premiere M.D. school in the state of Texas and the nation”, said TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini Jr. With speeches heavy on congratulations, the schools’ leaders shared some of the reasoning behind joining forces.
However, state money could advance the school, for Senate Bill 18 this session expanded funding for graduate medical education at teaching hospitals and for residencies. The paper also said that city council approved a $146.7 million incentive package for the plan in May. The two schools already partner on some programs, such as nutrition.
For instance, the medical school does not yet have an official name.
The MOU calls for an initial class of 60 students, with plans for a full enrollment of 240. Founded in 1970, the university has approximately 2,500 students across its five graduate schools: Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, School of Health Professions and the UNT System College of Pharmacy. Their curriculum will focus on the treatment of diseases and ailments. He recalled that UNT had the same goal when it started its successful osteopath program in a renovated bowling alley 45 years ago.
“Peter Drucker, the father of modern business theory, once said, ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it, ‘” said Dr. Michael Williams, the president of the UNT Health Science Center.
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The groundbreaking culminated a year-long vetting process that took Fort Worth from being a candidate among 220 cities to a much more narrow group of about 20, and then to four finalists – a group that reportedly included Columbus, Ohio.
