The Department of Surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch has a rich history as the first Department of Surgery in Texas. The Institution and Department have been a fertile ground for developing academic surgical leaders since the turn of the century. Educating and training surgeons of the future continues to be the core focus of the Department. In doing so, there is a focus on striving for scientific excellence and novel investigation to advance the science of surgery. Currently, The Department of Surgery is ranked 1st in Texas and 17th nationally in NIH funding among Surgery Departments highlighting the quality of work being performed by members of the Department. The Department also has two T32 training grants designed to provide surgical trainees with a protected opportunity to be exposed to a research experience during their training. Our research efforts also focus on surgical education where the recently completed and American College of Surgeons Accredited Sealy & Smith Laboratory for Surgical Training, Assessment & Research (LSTAR) has allowed us to expand our academic focus on optimizing learning experiences for surgical trainees and faculty.
The Department of Surgery is also rapidly expanding in one of the largest and most exciting growth phases in its 125-year history. We have added over 40 new faculty to expand programs in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, transplantation, pediatric surgery, minimally invasive surgical oncology, colorectal surgery, vascular surgery, acute care, trauma, urology, and plastic surgery. We have evolved into a four-hospital healthcare system including: a 437-bed new state of the art tertiary care facility on Galveston Island, a new hospital in Clear Lake (approximately 250 beds), a growing League City hospital complex (approximately 150 beds), and a fourth facility in the Angleton-Danbury area. With the combination of new faculty and facilities, we plan to perform over 11,000 cases this year. A new partnership exists with MD Anderson Cancer Center centered around the new cancer center that they have built on our League City hospital campus. This year, US News and World Report recognized UTMB as a top medical school, ranked 66th in research and 88th in primary care. The hospital has also ranked in the top ten for quality on the Vizient rankings of academic medical centers for the last three years. With a new footprint, we are committed to providing state of the art clinical care and novel research experiences that will provide fertile ground for our seven residency programs focused on training our surgeons of the future. To this end both Urology and General Surgery have expanded their training programs by one spot this year.
I am enthusiastic about our faculty, and excited about the institutional commitment to surgery. In addition, I am personally highly committed to helping trainees realize their goals and achieve the opportunities they choose in the field of surgery. We welcome your interest in the surgical training programs at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Douglas S. Tyler, MD
John Woods Harris Distinguished Chair in Surgery
Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery
University of Texas Medical Branch