The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine was founded to address the shortage of physicians and lack of access to healthcare in East Texas, with the singular goal of improving the quality of life and health in our region.
Mission
The School of Medicine's mission is fourfold:
Community Engagement: Embed the School of Medicine within East Texas, focusing on communication, responsiveness, inclusion and community. The School of Medicine is East Texas, and everything we do will be in partnership with our communities.
Education: Recruit, support and develop a diverse and representative healthcare and research workforce from East Texas, focused on reducing health disparities in East Texas.
Research: Develop an array of biomedical, clinical, translational and population-based research programs focused on understanding
and eliminating health disparities in East Texas.
Clinical: Expand access to top-quality healthcare in the local communities of East Texas by developing and implementing innovative healthcare systems and leveraging existing infrastructure and programs.
The School of Medicine's mission will be accomplished by:
- Creating an exceptional interprofessional learning experience that produces a diverse, broadly trained and committed clinical workforce.
- Educating culturally competent physician leaders who focus on individual wellness, population health, emotional and mental health, as well as physical disease.
- Training future physicians to embrace responsibility for the unique needs of rural and hard-to-reach communities and populations, particularly in East Texas.
- Maintaining a skilled faculty of educators and mentors who create a culture of innovation, scholarly achievement, entrepreneurship, trust and excellence that fosters humanistic patient-centered care.
- Engaging East Texas regional communities in identifying local qualified candidates and cultivating community-engaged physicians dedicated to improving public health outcomes.
- Promoting and protecting the health of people and the community of East Texas where they live, learn, work
and play. - Supporting a diverse and inclusive learning community that seeks to advance a passion for science and health equity.
Vision
The School of Medicine's vision is to improve the quality of life and reduce health disparities in our rural region by training diverse, committed and culturally competent physician leaders who work cooperatively with interprofessional teams to develop innovative, value-based healthcare systems; provide the highest quality care; discover novel treatments and improve processes; and partner with the community to address social determinants of health.
Values
Perseverance
Persisting in pursuit of success, despite any obstacles
Excellence
Refusing to accept anything but the best in all we do
Respect
Remembering due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights and traditions of all
Community
Promoting a feeling of fellowship with others by focusing on our common attitudes, interests and goals
Creativity
Using our imagination to generate novel ideas to solve the problems of East Texas
Service
Transformational, service-focused leadership in achieving daring goals
Meet Our Dean
Brigham C. Willis, MD, MEd, FAAP
Founding Dean
School of Medicine
The University of Texas at Tyler
Welcome to the UT Tyler School of Medicine!
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students, I want to thank you for your interest in the UT Tyler School of Medicine. We are here for a mission: to embed the medical school within the community of East Texas, recruit students from the community to serve the community, develop research endeavors that address the specific health issues of our East Texas family and expand access to the highest level of health care available. We are here for a vision: to grow our medical school to continue to reduce the health disparities in our region and improve the quality of life for everyone. We are here for East Texas.
The UT Tyler School of Medicine is guided every day by our values: community, perseverance, respect, excellence, service, and creativity. We are a family. Students, faculty, and staff who resonate with these values and want to be a part of growing something unique and purpose driven will thrive here.
If you want to join our mission of serving East Texas and are looking for an educational experience that will make you the best mission-driven physician you can be, we would love to meet with you! We look forward to working with you as you consider your future as a physician.
Brigham C. Willis, MD, MEd, FAAP
Founding Dean
School of Medicine
The University of Texas at Tyler
Messages
FROM THE EXECUTIVE TEAM
In February of 2020, the UT System announced we would launch the first medical school in East Texas, followed by a monumental announcement that the East Texas Medical Center Foundation committed $80 million toward the medical school — making it the largest single donation to establish a medical school in the history of Texas. Our new medical school focuses on meeting the health challenges of our region and recruiting students who come from and want to remain in East Texas. Not long after, the R.W. Fair Foundation pledged $4 million to cover the full tuition cost for the first cohort of medical school students, so these future medical students know East Texas supports them 100%.
The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine is where your future in medicine can begin. You will learn skills in patient care and community health with this comprehensive education. We have much work to do. Join us, and be part of the future of healthcare here in East Texas.
Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP
President
The University of Texas at Tyler
Chairman of the Board
UT Health East Texas
The new School of Medicine at The University of Texas at Tyler is the seventh medical school in the UT System and the first in Northeast Texas, offering aspiring doctors a chance to train and practice in an area where health disparities are some of the highest in the United States. In order to elevate the health status of East Texas, we must address the physician shortage in our region, as well as improve access to quality primary and specialty care. The UT Tyler School of Medicine is being built specifically to help the growing healthcare needs of East Texans.
With a strong focus on family practice, rural family medicine and population health, medical students at the UT Tyler School of Medicine will have the opportunity to engage with the community in population and preventive health, working with the most vulnerable communities to improve health goals.
Our goal is to attract high-caliber students and residents to East Texas across multiple specialties and provide them with career opportunities to remain a part of the East Texas community. Having a residency program at the site of a medical school provides an option for some residents to stay in East Texas, continue their established physician-patient relationships and build rapport in the community. Your education and your career can start here at The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine.
Julie V. Philley, MD
Executive Vice President
Health Affairs
Vice Provost
The University of Texas at Tyler