UNT Health Science Center presents five-year plan
The UNT Health Science Center presented a five-year growth plan to the University of North Texas System Board of Regents on Thursday, outlining a plan that involves sizeable increases in class sizes and research and revamping parts of the urban campus.
The board approved the plan, and Fort Worth can expect dramatic changes in the center starting with the construction of a large new building off Camp Bowie Boulevard where an osteopathic hospital once stood. Construction will start on Building A, as itÂ’s being called for the moment, in October, said Dr. Scott Ransom, president of the Health Science Center.
Student enrollment will also grow substantially over the next several years, ranging from increases of about 53 percent at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine to 220 percent at the School of Health Professions, which will include a new doctorate program for physical therapy and will include the physician assistant students, which are moving from TCOM.
In order to teach all the students, the faculty numbers will also grow. From 2006 through 2008, the faculty has already grown from just over 200 members to nearly 400. By 2014, the number is expected to exceed 600.
More faculty and students also means that the Health Science Center will be ramping up its research, including research at the Health Institutes of Texas, a part of the center. Research funding is nearly $30 million annually in 2008, and it is expected to exceed $50 million annually in five years and to continue coming from sources such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
“That’s in the face of NIH’s funding going down across the country,” Ransom said.
Growth at the Health Science Center will continue to impact the communities of North Texas. UNT Health offers health care in 34 locations and physicians also practice in hospitals throughout the county. More than 500,000 patient visits are logged each year, with an emphasis on primary care, and health education programs and services contribute more than $600 million annually to the local economy.
For the past two years, the Health Science Center has grown quickly, Ransom said, and the next five years will be building on that preexisting foundation. The growth also has a purpose behind it: As the population of Texas and North Texas in particular has grown, more health care providers will be necessary.
“Our state has among the worst access to health care providers in the country,” he said.
By bringing in more students to become health care providers and bolstering research that can be translated into care, the center can contribute to the overall health of Fort Worth and the state, he said.
“It’s really growth to support Texas,” he said.
Contact Bassett at ebassett@bizpress.net
Projected growth over the next five years
Program/FY Â’07/FY Â’14/Growth
Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine/593/909/53%
School of Health Professions/96/308/220%
Biomedical Sciences/243/435/79%
School of Public Health/221/389/76%
UNTHSC Total/1,153/2,041/77%
