Officials at the Texas Tech University System today announced the establishment of TTUHSC at El Paso as the fourth university under the TTU System.

The announcement came after Gov. Rick Perry signed S.B. 120, authored by state Sen. José Rodríguez and sponsored by state Rep. Naomi Gonzalez, both of El Paso. TTUHSC at El Paso joins Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Angelo State University as a freestanding institution of the TTU System.

“This is a great day for the Texas Tech University System and the community of El Paso,” said TTU System Chancellor Kent Hance. “We are proud of the outstanding work completed as a regional campus and excited to continue our commitment to the area as an independent university.”

El Paso is home to the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine and the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing, each of which will graduate its first class of students during the May TTUHSC commencement ceremonies. TTUHSC at El Paso is also home to a Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Preparations for the transition from a regional campus to a freestanding university with degree-granting authority have been underway since 2011. The TTU System Board of Regents gave its approval for undertaking this initiative in May 2012.

“Establishing an independent health sciences university is a significant milestone for the Texas Tech family and the result of so many people’s hard work,” said Mickey Long, chairman of the Board of Regents. “We are thrilled to complete the process of adding a new university to the TTU System and continue the momentum in the El Paso region.”

As an independent university, TTUHSC at El Paso will benefit regional priorities by promoting access to health care and attracting more doctors and health care professionals to the area. Additionally, the university will be able to focus its research on diseases affecting Latino and border populations and provide quality care in a medically underserved region.

“We are grateful to our governor and state legislators who helped make this goal a reality,” Hance said. “The future is exciting, and we look forward to great things out of El Paso.”

The Texas House passed S.B. 120, authored by state Sen. José Rodríguez and sponsored by state Rep. Naomi Gonzalez. The bill, which establishes the TTUHSC at El Paso as a standalone university within the Texas Tech University System, was the top legislative priority for the El Paso delegation this legislative session.

“Today represents the culmination of two decades of hard work and close collaboration by our community and the Texas Tech University System,” said Rodríguez. “Establishing an independent health sciences university is a key element of our community’s educational, health care, and economic development strategies.”

“This is a great victory for District 76 and the El Paso region. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso as a stand-alone university will help address the specific needs of the population along the El Paso border,” said Gonzalez. “The stand-alone will improve access and quality of health care for the El Paso community and region.”

In plain language, the bill establishes TTUHSC at El Paso as an independent health sciences university with its own president and administration, schools with degree-granting authority, and greater local engagement in key hiring and funding decisions.

The move takes on greater significance given its role in regional priorities. It will continue to promote access to health care, attract more doctors and other health care professionals, research diseases that affect Latino and border populations, and spur economic development through its key role in the Medical Center of the Americas.

As an independent health sciences university, TTUHSC at El Paso will focus on research priorities like diseases that affect Latinos and border populations. In addition, the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, which will graduate its first class of doctors in May, and its companion, the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing, will reduce the regional shortage of health care professionals and provide quality health care in a medically underserved area.

“We’re excited to be this close to the finish line,” said Texas Tech University System Chancellor Kent Hance. “First and foremost, I would like to recognize the hard work and dedication of the bill’s primary authors, Senator José Rodríguez and Representative Naomi Gonzalez. Without them, this bill would not be a reality.

“Senator Rodríguez got the bill to the House very quickly, and Representative Gonzalez secured over 100 co-authors in the House – a formidable challenge for any member.

“I also want to compliment the rest of the El Paso delegation. They supported the authors and worked the floor in support of the bill. Representatives Marisa Márquez, Joe Moody, Joe Pickett and Mary Gonzalez all played valuable roles. A sincere thanks goes out to all of them.

“This bill represents the progression of our efforts in El Paso, which began in the legislature in 1969, and signifies our commitment to the region. We’re looking forward to a bright future in El Paso.”

S.B. 120 passed the Senate 30-1 and the House 141-3.

In March 2012, the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents voted to initiate the process of establishing a freestanding health sciences university with degree granting authority in El Paso. The new university will join Texas Tech, TTUHSC and Angelo State University as the fourth component of the Texas Tech University System.

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Jeanne M. Novotny, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, was named founding dean of the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing.

“To Dr. Novotny, we extend a warm welcome to our university. We have an exciting year ahead of us with much work to be done,” said President Tedd L. Mitchell, M.D.

Novotny is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, has served on several boards and professional committees and has authored or co-authored many books and articles. She continues to play an active role on the national and international levels with a number of successful consultations and special projects dealing with a wide range of issues from mentoring, program development/improvement to promoting excellence in health care delivery and professional education.

“We are excited to draw such a nationally recognized leader to our new school,” said Jose Manuel de la Rosa, M.D., vice president for health affairs, TTUHSC at El Paso. “Dr. Novotny is well respected in nursing and has an extensive record mentoring young faculty. She will expand our vision of nursing roles in our community.”

Novotny earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio State University and her doctorate from Kent State University. She began her career as an assistant professor at Kent State University and served in various administrative and academic positions at the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University and Case Western Reserve University.

From 2001 to 2011, Novotny served as dean and professor of the School of Nursing at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Conn. In this role, she led the school through successful reviews and accreditation visits from the Connecticut Board of Nurse Examiners, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (undergraduate and graduate), the Council on Nurse Anesthesia, and the North Eastern Accreditation of Schools and Colleges.

The Board of Regents and Chancellor Kent Hance have approved construction of a building on the El Paso campus to house the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing’s Traditional Bachelor of Science Degree and Second Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs.

When fully operational, the two pre-licensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs will admit up to 160 students in El Paso per year, by permission of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

“TTUHSC has worked diligently to improve border health care education in El Paso,” said Josefina Lujan, Ph.D., R.N., interim dean of the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing. “The Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing currently has 66 students enrolled, and we expect this to grow to 300 students by 2015.”

The new nursing facility will be funded in part by an $11 million gift from the Medical Center of the Americas (MCA) Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps promote growth of the region’s long-envisioned medical hub, known as the Medical Center of the Americas. The grant is a portion of the allocation of the City of El Paso’s Impact Fund.

“The potential exists in El Paso for us to make great strides in educating future nurses and other health care professionals here and in the rest of the state,” Hance said. “We appreciate the unwavering support of the El Paso community in helping us accomplish this goal.”

The Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing is currently operating on leased space in downtown El Paso. The 25,000-square-foot building will contain classrooms, specialized labs, faculty offices, support space, specialized training equipment and public art.

In February, the El Paso City Council agreed to allocate 75 percent of the city’s Impact Fund to the MCA Foundation to promote growth of the Medical Center of the Americas. Approximately $3.2 million of the city’s Impact Fund will be paid annually to the MCA Foundation for the next 18 years, potentially totaling more than $60 million.

According to MCA officials, the funds will go toward infrastructure and programming in the growth and development of not only a physical campus, but also creating a robust biotech industry that sharpens research, development and commercialization while focusing on the region’s health needs and demographics.

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A new health sciences university is expected to help address a shortage of health care professionals in El Paso and surrounding areas.

The Board of Regents has approved to initiate the process of establishing a freestanding health sciences university in El Paso. The new university will join TTUHSC, Texas Tech and Angelo State University under the Texas Tech University System as a fourth, separate but equal institution.

“Having a freestanding health sciences university in El Paso will be a tremendous asset to the community and will further our efforts to address the shortages of health care professionals in the region and the entire state,” said Chancellor Kent Hance. “We look forward to working with the Texas Legislature to make this significant goal a reality.”

El Paso is the fourth most populous city in the state with a population of more than 700,000. With such an immense population, this region has been federally designated as a medically underserved area.

“A health sciences university in El Paso will provide an outstanding education for the culturally diverse communities in this area, promote crucial research related to Latino and other underserved populations, and serve as a nationally recognized primary and specialty referral center for quality patient care,” said Jose Manuel de la Rosa, M.D., founding dean of the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine.

In the past several years, a sound foundation has been solidified for an autonomous health sciences university in El Paso. The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso received preliminary accreditation in February 2008 and opened in 2009. In 2008, university administrators took the first step toward establishing a full-fledged health sciences university in El Paso by implementing an accelerated Second Degree Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN) program.

Nursing programs expanded in August 2009 to include a traditional BSN program. The Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing, an autonomous, fully-accredited nursing school at the TTUHSC campus in El Paso was established in October 2010.

“With the support of the El Paso community, the areas surrounding the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine have grown to include the El Paso Children’s Hospital, an expanded University Medical Center’s women’s hospital and the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing,” said Texas Tech University System Regent Rick Francis. “We are confident El Paso residents will continue to support TTUHSC as the region’s health care community continues to flourish.”

The university’s newest El Paso building was once a gym where former baseball player Rocky Galarza trained young people to box.

It may not seem that way now, but health and fitness is in the DNA of the bright pink building at 4908 Alberta Ave., located between the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine and University Medical Center.

The El Paso campus recently purchased the building, and according to Frank Stout, associate dean for Finance and Administration at the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, the acquisition is a small step toward TTUHSC at El Paso becoming a full-fledged health sciences university. Ultimately, Stout said, the location will become an academic building.

“We have to start somewhere,” Stout said.

A Long History

The building at 4908 Alberta Ave. has shared a long, vibrant history with El Paso’s Val Verde community and TTUHSC.

Rocky Galarza, former third baseman of the 1949 Bowie Bears baseball team that won the inaugural Texas State Championship, opened Rocky’s — a outdoor barrio boxing gym by day and bar and grill by night — at the location after retiring from baseball.

Galarza was an El Paso legend who enjoyed helping barrio kids live better lives, said Rus Bradburd, assistant University of Texas at El Paso basketball coach and friend of Galarza’s.

“Hundreds and hundreds of kids from south El Paso went through there,” Bradburd said. “He would take kids off the street and teach them to box. He was very democratic and took in any youth regardless of age, gender or disability. He treated them all the same.”

From 1985 to 1997, Rocky’s was an El Paso hot spot. With the boxing ring in the outside yard, Rocky’s was hosted many Saturday amateur boxing matches.

According to a recent Sports Illustrated article, Galarza plucked famed El Paso fighter and World Boxing Federation lightweight champion Juan (Ernie) Lazcano off the street when he was young.

Unfortunately, Galarza’s legacy was cut short when he was murdered in 1997, a few days prior to his scheduled induction into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted posthumously in 1998.

School Ties

Aside from being known as Rocky’s, 4908 Alberta Ave. has also been home to Police Officers Association meetings and Samaniego’s El Jardin, a Mexican restaurant formerly owned and operated by recent TTUHSC retiree Dottie Samaniego.

“It must have been in the early ‘80s, probably ‘82 to ‘84 when we owned it,” Samaniego said. “It was a lot of fun. Back then, we catered to Tech and Thomason, a factory that was nearby and the telephone company, which is now the Administrative Services Building.”

Samaniego worked at as director of Volunteer Services at the El Paso campus for 24 years. 4908 Alberta Ave. has also been known as the Rock Kiss Café and Buchanan’s.

In one way or another, the university’s purchase of the building is a step toward improving health and wellness in El Paso. And just like Galarza’s boxing club, the university’s newest building will house programs to lead future health care professionals to inspire children and other El Paso residents to take steps toward brighter, healthier futures.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, medical school enrollment is projected to increase by 27.6 percent by 2015.

TTUHSC has announced its largest enrollment in the institution’s history. The fall 2011 enrollment of 4,089 students is up 11 percent over the 3,710 enrolled for fall 2010.

Enrollment growth is the result of the strategic efforts of TTUHSC said Chancellor Kent Hance.

“We are excited to see the continued growth of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center,” Hance said. “Dr. Mitchell and his team have done an excellent job realizing our strategic enrollment goals as we prepare the next generation of health care professionals for the West Texas area and beyond.”

President Tedd L. Mitchell, M.D., added, “As West Texas’ only academic health center, our continued growth signifies our commitment to our core charter of providing quality education with the goal of improving access to care for the people who reside in this region.”

The School of Nursing had the highest enrollment of the schools with 1,330 students. The newly established El Paso Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing had 38 students. The School of Allied Health Sciences had the second highest enrollment with 1,277 students. The schools of medicine and pharmacy enrolled 573 and 580 students respectively. The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences enrolled 113 students this year.

The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso began with 40 students in August 2009. This year, 178 medical students are enrolled.

“Our continued enrollment growth is a reflection of Texas Tech University Health Science Center’s local, national and international reputation in providing outstanding health care education,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Rial Rolfe, Ph.D. “We are very proud of our extraordinary students and exceptional faculty.”

It is projected that by 2030, the number of El Paso adults diagnosed with diabetes will reach between 20 to 25 percent of the population.

Diabetes, a chronic disease of high blood sugar levels in which the body either doesn’t produce sufficient insulin and/or is unable to use it effectively, is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.

The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine Department of Family and Community Medicine has partnered with the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing to offer a free diabetes self-management education called the Diabetes Empowerment Education Program (DEEP) for patients at its clinics in northeast El Paso, Socorro and Fabens in collaboration with TMF Health Quality Institute.

Diabetes and its complications continue to be a prominent and challenging health concern for the border region. Residents of this area have a prevalence of diabetes of 15.7 percent – almost twice that of the general U.S. population.

The goal of the eight-week DEEP program is to increase knowledge about the disease and motivate healthy lifestyle changes within a community in need, said Rebekah Salaiz, M.S., health educator in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Trained facilitators teach patients about diabetes risk factors, complications and management through medication, blood sugar levels, physical activity and nutrition.

“Patients also learn how to apply class information to their daily lives,” Salaiz said. “Participants learn about food labels, portion size, exercise, signs of high or low blood sugar, the need for regular meals, the importance of taking medication and communicating with their physicians.”

It is projected that by 2030, the number of El Paso adults diagnosed with diabetes will reach between 20 to 25 percent of the population. Hispanics and blacks have higher rates of diabetes-associated kidney damage, retinal damage and diabetes-related amputations than whites. The mortality rate from diabetes in El Paso County is also one of the nation’s highest.

“Managing diabetes is important to avoid or delay the onset of complications such as high blood pressure, kidney failure and damage to the heart, brain, liver and eyes,” Salaiz said. “Diabetes self-management classes have proven to help increase patient knowledge and self-care, thus reducing the number of complications and leading to maintenance of healthy glucose levels among other benefits.”

Project investigators are evaluating DEEP’s influence on patients’ knowledge and beliefs about diabetes, along with measuring clinical indicators such as A1C (a test that measures average blood glucose control for the past two to three months), blood pressure and weight.

The Department of Family and Community Medicine offers these classes through collaboration with TMF Health Quality Institute’s Health for Life/Salud por Vida project to improve health outcomes among Hispanics with diabetes. Classes will continue through March 2012.
For more information about DEEP, call (915) 757-3178 extension 304.

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Greer enjoys working with students from all disciplines to improve patient care.

When Veronica Greer, M.D., took visitors through the Department of Emergency Medicine’s Yandell Education and Training Facility during its open house, she was showcasing something that has become close to her heart.

Since the nursing school location opened, Greer, residency program director and assistant professor and residency program director in the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine, has labored tirelessly to make the educational facility a place for interdisciplinary teamwork.

The facility is equipped with hi-fidelity simulation mannequins as well as virtual training software. Greer said this centrally-located establishment in El Paso will help train personnel together in medical disciplines such as nursing and medicine.

“What we’re doing here is creating teamwork by practicing interdisciplinary and interprofessional training early in our students’ career so that we can all get better at what we do,” Greer said. “We’re breaking down those boundaries early so that it doesn’t affect them later.”

Greer said other community medical organizations who need their personnel to polish or update medical skills are also welcome to take advantage of the facility’s services.

“By practicing together, we learn together and we respect each other through the process,” Greer said. “We practice as teams so that we can better be at what we do. It’s all about teamwork. We help each other out and ultimately that results in better care for our patients.”