UT provost offers update on teaching hospital, medical school

Seton Healthcare Family and its parent company, Ascension Health, are working on the final phases of funding for its new teaching hospital to replace University Medical Center Brackenridge, Leslie said. The new teaching hospital is expected to be located near Brackenridge and the Frank Erwin Center on property UT owns. Hospital design and development should begin this year, he said.

For the medical school, one of UT's first tasks is to hire an inaugural dean who can lead the school's development. UT is in the process of organizing a search committee. Leslie said that top-tier candidates have already contacted UT before the search process has formally started. The school has retained executive search firm Witt/Kieffer to aid in recruitment. UT hopes to have a dean in place by the fall, he said.

Once the dean is hired, UT will need to work on recruiting faculty.

UT is forming a steering committee to manage the process of establishing the school and has developed working groups on issues such as community engagement.

The medical school will be housed in two buildings: an administrative and classroom space and a research area. Both will be located close to the new teaching hospital, Leslie said. UT has hired Boston planning and design firm Sasaki Associates Inc. to help incorporate the medical school into the UT campus, the provost said.

UT's board of regents has pledged $25 million a year for 10 years to launch the medical school. On Feb. 1, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation announced plans to donate $50 million over 10 years toward the new school. Leslie said those funds would help UT secure bonds to build the buildings.

Construction and implementation will likely take two to three years, "and we probably wouldn't want to go faster than that," Leslie said. "It will all come together around [2016]."

The process of accrediting the new school will take roughly three years. The school must go through the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the national authority on accrediting medical education programs.

Leslie said Dell Medical School will focus on both research and community partnerships, adding that there has not been a school of this caliber built in the nation in 50 years.

The provost predicted that when running at its full potential, the medical school would be a significant statewide economic driver.

The school would build on UT's strengths and continue work on biomedical engineering, neuroscience, pediatrics, early childhood development and computer science. Leslie said the Stampede supercomputer could help researchers' understanding of the brain.

Leslie thanked Travis County voters for approving Proposition 1 in November. Proposition 1 raised the tax rate of Central Health, the Travis County Healthcare District. The proposition allows Central Health to make the most out of a federal Medicaid program and expand care that could be offered through the new medical school.