About UTMB Health

UTMB Timeline

• 1881

  Galveston chosen as site for University of Texas Medical Department by popular vote of state’s citizens

  

• 1884

  A $50,000 bequest from Galveston businessman John Sealy is designated for construction of a hospital in Galveston

  

• 1890

  John Sealy Hospital Training School for Nurses holds first classes

  John Sealy Hospital opens

  

• 1891

  Medical Department holds first session in the Ashbel Smith Building, named for the physician who advocated creation of the University of Texas and its medical department; building becomes known as “Old Red” for its ruddy granite, brick and sandstone exterior

  

• 1892

  Three men receive medical degrees from the Medical Department

• 1894

  First women admitted to Medical Department

• 1896

  Medical Department faculty helps construct first X-ray machine in Texas

  Training School for Nurses becomes part of Medical Department

  

• 1897

  Medical School expands to a four-year curriculum

  Medical Department graduates first woman

  Yellow fever is a major public health concern in Galveston, creating the need for infectious diseases expertise at the new Medical Department

• 1899

  Medical Department heads smallpox quarantine camp on Galveston’s East Beach

  

• 1900

  The infamous 1900 Hurricane hits Galveston Island; despite damage, classes resume a short time later after Board of Regents decree: “The University of Texas stops for no storm”

  

• 1912

  First woman on faculty heads Department of Histology and Embryology

  

• 1913

  Medical Department’s Chair of Surgery is founding member and first vice president of American College of Surgeons

  

• 1917

  Medical Department raises entrance standards to require two years of college, up from four years of high school

• 1918

  “Spanish flu” hits Galveston

  

• 1919

  Medical Department officially renamed The University of Texas Medical Branch

• 1922

  The Sealy & Smith Foundation for the John Sealy Hospital charter

  

• 1925

  Medical Laboratory Building opens

• 1940

  American Board of Plastic Surgery founded by UTMB faculty

• 1941

  John Sealy Hospital becomes a state facility operated by The University of Texas

  

• 1942

  UTMB graduates two medical classes in one year to meet demand for physicians during World War II

• 1947

  UTMB mobilizes to care for victims of Texas City explosion; under direction of Dr. Truman Blocker, employs methods of triage learned from World War II

• 1949

  Herman Barnett, UTMB’s first African-American medical student, enrolls

  

• 1952

  Biomedical graduate programs begin

• 1954

  New John Sealy Hospital building opens

  R. Waverley Smith Memorial Pavilion opens

  

• 1962

  General Clinical Research Center opens

• 1966

  First Shriners Burns Institute dedicated on UTMB campus

  

• 1967

  Dr. Truman Blocker becomes UTMB’s first president

  

• 1968

  School of Allied Health Sciences established

  Jennie Sealy Hospital dedicated

  

• 1969

  Marine Biomedical Institute established

  Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences established

• 1971

  Libbie Moody Thompson Basic Science Building completed

  

• 1972

  Moody Medical Library opens

  

• 1973

  Institute for the Medical Humanities established

  

• 1974

  Dr. William C. Levin becomes UTMB's second president

  

• 1978

  Current John Sealy Hospital tower opens

  

• 1983

  Texas Department of Criminal Justice Hospital opens on the UTMB campus

  

• 1987

  Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Training in International Health established

  Dr. Thomas N. James becomes UTMB's third president

  

• 1989

  Regional Maternal and Child Health Program sees first patient

  

• 1992

  Sealy Center for Molecular Sciences established

  

• 1994

  Correctional Managed Care contract with Texas Department of Criminal Justice begins

  UTMB conducts its first telehealth consultation

  

• 1995

  UTMB’s Center for Tropical Diseases designated a World Health Organization Collaborating Center

  UTMB acquires World Reference Center for Arboviruses

  Sealy Center for Structural Biology established

  Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology established

• 1996

  Lee Hage Jamail Student Center opens

  

  Primary Care Pavilion opens

  UTMB’s Center on Aging named a Sealy Center

• 1997

  UTMB receives federal biodefense grant

  Dr. John D. Stobo becomes UTMB's fourth president

  

• 1999

  UTMB designated a Level I Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons

  

• 2000

  UT System approves construction of Biosafety Level 4 lab on the UTMB campus

  

  Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit opens in John Sealy Hospital; later named among the best such units in the country for patient satisfaction

  

• 2001

  John P. McGovern Academy of Oslerian Medicine inaugurated at UTMB

  

  Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases announced

  Sealy Center for Vaccine Development established

• 2002

  School of Nursing graduates first Ph.D. students

  

• 2003

  UTMB designated as lead institution for Western Center of Excellence for Infectious Diseases Research by the National Institutes of Health

  UTMB chosen as site of one of only two proposed national biocontainment laboratories

  Biosafety Level 4 laboratory facility dedicated as John Sealy Pavilion for Infectious Diseases Research

  Telemedicine program logs its 100,000th consultation since its inception

• 2004

  George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research established

  Institute for Human Infections and Immunity established

  

• 2005

  Galveston National Laboratory groundbreaking

• 2007

  Dr. David L. Callender becomes the fifth UTMB president

  

  The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences becomes the first public institution in Texas to offer a doctoral degree in clinical science

• 2008

  Galveston National Laboratory opens as one of only two National Biocontainment Laboratories established by the NIH

  The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awards $10.9 million contract to UTMB to establish the Clinical Proteomics Center for Infectious Diseases and Biodefense

  The Department of Physical Therapy offers doctoral degree in physical therapy

  Hurricane Ike hits UTMB Galveston Campus on Sept. 13

  

  UTMB opens four mainland clinics in first week after storm

  UTMB delivers its first baby since Hurricane Ike in October

• 2009

  Governor Perry signs legislation authorizing recovery funding for UTMB

  UTMB begins massive Hurricane Ike Recovery Projects totaling $947M; designed to make the campus more resilient and to preserve mission-critical education, research and patient care operations

  Blocker Burn Unit reopens for adult patients in January

  UTMB re-opens John Sealy Hospital as full-service facility with 200 beds in January

  NIH awards UTMB prestigious $21.5M Clinical Translational Sciences Award

  UTMB’s Emergency Room re-opens as a Level III trauma center in August; faculty, staff and administrators begin working toward Level I re-designation

• 2010

  UTMB launches new brand identity, new logo and tagline “Working Together to Work Wonders”

  

  UTMB becomes a full member institution of the Texas Medical Center

  UTMB receives over $4 million in funding for cancer research

  NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awards UTMB $11 million to study conditions associated with airway inflammation

• 2011

  UTMB ED is re-designated as a Level 1 Trauma Center, 1 of 3 in the greater Houston area

  

  Researchers awarded $4.8 million to develop Argentine hemorrhagic fever vaccine

  Texas Legislature approves necessary funding to build new hospital, continue Ike recovery

  Researchers receive $3 million NIH grant to study aging in Mexico

  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approves Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program for UTMB’s School of Nursing

  UTMB researchers awarded $7.8 million by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to study effects of BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

  Researchers develop new candidate vaccine to protect against chikungunya virus

  NIH awards $1.7 million for research to fight plague

  Board of Regents approves new Jennie Sealy Hospital; The Sealy & Smith Foundation pledges $170 million

• 2012

  UTMB breaks ground for new Jennie Sealy Hospital on Galveston Campus

  

  UTMB selected to manage Center for Polar Medical Operations

  

  The Moody Foundation of Galveston pledges $9 million to support traumatic brain injury research at UTMB

• 2014

  UTMB enters into formal relationship with Angleton Danbury Medical Center, establishing UTMB Angleton Danbury Campus

  

  UTMB named a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Vaccine Research, Evaluation and Training on Emerging Infectious Diseases—only the second university named in the Western Hemisphere

  UTMB researchers announce effective treatment against Ebola virus

  Time magazine’s 2014 Person of the Year is not one but many—the Ebola fighters—and spotlights UTMB’s Thomas Geisbert

  

• 2015

  The UTMB fall semester begins with 3,200 students and nearly 900 faculty members; enrollment increased 42% since 2006

  The Sealy & Smith Foundation provides $75 million to renovate both the interior and exterior of John Sealy Hospital

  

  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services names UTMB a regional treatment center for patients with Ebola or other highly infectious diseases

  

  The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center partners with UTMB to construct outpatient cancer center on the UTMB League City Campus

  

  School of Health Professions graduates first master’s degree in nutrition students

  

• 2016

  Opening of new Jennie Sealy Hospital

  

  The 125th Anniversary of UTMB

  

  Opening of new hospital on UTMB League City Campus

  

• 2017

  Hurricane Harvey stalls near the upper Texas coast, dropping more than 40 inches of rain in a 4-day period and causing catastrophic flooding across UTMB’s service area.

  

• 2018

  The Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences is announced, evolving from what had been the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development. The institute will play a pivotal role in the coming years.

  

• 2019

  UTMB’s Clear Lake Campus Hospital opens in Webster and begins to serve patients in the Clear Lake area.

  

  UTMB welcomes its first students in the five-story, $91.6 million Health Education Center, a new advanced learning environment.

  

  Dr. Ben Raimer, who has held numerous academic and administrative positions during a UTMB career spanning three decades, is appointed president ad interim. 

  

• 2020

  COVID-19 is declared a pandemic. UTMB researchers are already hard at work on the mysterious new virus. UTMB will serve key roles regionally and nationally, as a reference source for the virus, in developing COVID testing and later, in testing the effectiveness of vaccine options.

  UTMB completes the renovation of 220,000 square feet of the John Sealy Hospital to serve women, infants and children. The major project was generously funded by The Sealy and Smith Foundation.

  

  The Department of Neurosurgery is established, having formerly been a division in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Peter Kan is the department’s first chairman.

  The League City Campus Hospital expansion is completed, adding a new five-story patient tower with 60 new patient beds and needed support areas.

  

  UTMB received and began administering the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to its “first tier” healthcare workers. In the months that follow, the university and its partners will lead efforts to provide vaccinations in the region.

• 2021

  Winter Storm Uri slams into Texas with record low temperatures, taking out the power grid across large areas and creating water supply issues due to frozen pipes. UTMB perseveres.

  The opening of the Dave Bleakney Building in Angleton, a large primary and specialty care center developed in collaboration with the Angleton-Danbury Hospital District, caps a period of growth and ongoing commitment for UTMB in Brazoria County.

  

  UT Board of Regents and the Council on Education for Public Health grant approval to open a UTMB School of Public and Population Health.

  UTMB celebrates its 130 anniversary.

  

• 2022

  Dr. Charles P. Mouton is appointed as President ad interim for the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is also serving as Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean of the John Sealy School of Medicine, and Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at UTMB Health

  

   

• 2023

  Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD, begins his tenure as president of UTMB Health. A physician scientist, Dr. Reiser comes to the university as a world-renowned health care, innovation and research leader with nearly two decades of experience across various academic health systems and universities.

  

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