“The goal is to meet the health care needs of the citizens and the state of Texas, and particularly in this region,” Zapalac said.
What you need to know
Students are expected to begin using the building in the summer of 2026, which will be located in Conroe next to the university’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, according to prior reporting.
“We’ve got a place there, a hub where people are working together, they’re learning together, but they’re learning also how to work together,” Zapalac said. “And so from that standpoint, that makes me really excited about the building opening.”
There will be four academic programs housed within the new building—two existing programs and two proposed programs, Zapalac said.
“What we’re trying to do is come up with a comprehensive suite of services and then also complement our friends that are over in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, which is right next door,” Zapalac said.
SHSU regents approved the design for the building in February 2024 and held the groundbreaking ceremony for the building that April, Community Impact previously reported.
“By being in The Woodlands-Conroe area, we tap into a number of major health care systems, which does two things,” Zapalac said. “Number one, it provides our students with a lot of great experiences to go out and apply what they’ve learned in the classroom with us ... but then additionally it helps meet the needs of those different facilities.”
