US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) toured the UT Tyler Health Science Center facilities and met the School of Medicine leaders Monday to learn more about what the university is doing to address health care and workforce needs in East Texas.
“Texas is the home of innovators, and I’m proud to see UT Tyler Health Science Center leading the way on the cutting edge of innovative healthcare, and the new medical school training our next generation of leaders in the healthcare industry,” Cruz said in a press release. “In the Senate, I’m fighting for Texas healthcare and innovation, and I will continue to champion the good work being done here at UT Tyler Health Science Center.”
UT Tyler broke ground on the multimillion dollar medical school in January. It will be the first of its kind in Northeast Texas.
The school’s first class will enroll this July and learn at the Health Science Center campus until the Medical Education Building opens in March 2025.
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 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.
Community members and officials hope this new generation of doctors, nurses and medical professionals will serve the East Texas community after they earn their education.
“One of the big priorities of the medical school is to have as many of those young doctors as possible come out and stay here in the community and provide medical care here to the community that’s growing and needs that medical care,” Cruz said. “That’s a great development.”
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.
“As East Texas continues to grow, so does its need for more highly skilled and well-trained healthcare professionals,” Abbott previously said.
As part of his visit, Cruz toured the Public Health Lab of East Texas before a roundtable with leadership.
“We appreciate Sen. Cruz visited our campus today to learn more about what UT Tyler is doing to address health care and workforce needs in East Texas,” said UT Tyler President Kirk Calhoun. “As we prepare to welcome the first class of medical students at the UT Tyler School of Medicine, I want to thank all of our elected representatives, the UT System and our East Texas community for the continued support of our health care education and research advancements .”
Cruz has spearheaded Texas innovation and healthcare freedom in multiple ways, according to a press release from his office.
This includes introducing legislation to prohibit denying an individual from donating or receiving an organ because of their COVID-19 vaccination status and from the number of cases in a region determining a person’s eligibility to donate or receive an organ transplant. The GIVE LIFE Act would also prevent Medicare and Medicaid providers from denying services to individuals based on their COVID-19 vaccination status.
To address long wait times for veterans, Cruz passed an amendment requiring the VA Secretary to provide Congress with a plan to address the wait times for veterans seeking health care at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System.
He also authored the RESULT Act, which would increase access for all Americans to life-saving drugs, devices and other medical therapies already approved in other trusted countries.
