Important Milestones in UTHCT History

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• Receives its charter from the 50th Texas Legislature as the East Texas Tuberculosis Sanatorium.

• Begins taking care of the first group of patients with tuberculosis.

• The 52nd Texas Legislature renames it the East Texas Tuberculosis Hospital.

• Six-floor, 320-bed hospital tower opens after two years of construction.

• George Hurst, MD, is named clinical director of the hospital.

• 61st Texas Legislature gives the hospital authority to develop pilot health care programs for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. An outpatient clinic is organized.

• Dr. Hurst becomes director of the hospital.

• The 62nd Texas Legislature changes the name to the East Texas Chest Hospital and designates it the primary referral facility in Texas for patient care, education, and research into diseases of the chest.

• $17.3 million in state funds is authorized to expand and renovate the facility.

• The 65th Texas Legislature transfers control of the hospital from the Texas Board of Health to the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System. The regents christen it The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.

• The six-floor patient care annex is completed and open for business, while the first three floors of the older hospital tower are remodeled to house patient care support activities.

• UTHSCT physicians perform the first open heart surgery in East Texas. Allen B. Cohen, MD, a nationally known pulmonologist and lung disease researcher, is named executive associate director of UTHSCT. His charge is to recruit a distinguished scientific team who will conduct both basic and clinical research into lung diseases.

• The Watson W. Wise Medical Research Library is dedicated, the only medical research library in East Texas.

• The Family Practice Residency Program begins, admitting six physicians. It is the first graduate training program in East Texas. UTHSCT is designated as a national Cystic Fibrosis Satellite Center.

• UTHSCT receives more that $3.5 million in research dollars and is the leading research institution in East Texas.

• The $9 million, 71,000-square-foot Center for Biomedical Research is completed.

• An Occupational Medicine Residency Program is approved. UTHSCT and Stephen F. Austin State University partner to offer master’s degrees in environmental science and biotechnology.

• The four-story Ambulatory Care Center is completed, with the first two floors finished and the top two floors left unfinished for future expansion.

• The first UTHSCT president is appointed: Ronald F. Garvey, MD, MBA

• Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, is named president of the Health Science Center by The UT System Board of Regents.

• The 78th Texas Legislature names UTHSCT the East Texas Center for Rural Geriatric Studies, allowing it to develop the Center for Healthy Aging and apply for government grants to fund research into the aging process. The Pharmacy Residency Program begins.

• The $2.2 million Public Health Laboratory of East Texas, a joint project of UTHSCT and the Texas Department of Health, opens on the UTHSCT campus. Because of special safety and security features, the lab is able to study microbes such as West Nile virus. Research funding, much of it from the National Institutes of Health, exceeds $10 million for the first time.

• The new, $11.3 million wing of the Center for Biomedical Research opens, adding 30,000 feet of lab and office space to the existing building. The 79th Texas Legislature authorizes UTHSCT to award academic degrees.

• The new 10,000-square-foot University Health Clinic opens near the corner of University Boulevard and Patriot Drive on the University of Texas at Tyler campus. It offers services in family medicine, allergy care, rheumatology, and sports medicine, with radiology and lab services provided on site. In addition, the UT Tyler Student Health Clinic serves the health care needs of UT Tyler students.