South Texas Medical Foundation

06/18/2023

https://www.utrgv.edu/newsroom/2023/06/16/utrgv-school-of-medicine-awarded-final-stage-of-accreditation.htm

The UTRGV School of Medicine has achieved its full and final LCME accreditation. Congratulations to Dean Hocker and all of the faculty and staff who worked on reaching this goal. Also a shout out to Founding Dean Fernandez and the original faculty who took the early steps to achieve the initial probationary accreditation and start this historic endeavor down the pathway to this success. Over the last seven years, there have been so many individuals who have contributed to this effort. We should not forget the hundreds of medical students and residents whose achievements have created the atmosphere of success that provide the context for accreditation.

The UTRGV School of Medicine (SOM) was notified Thursday that it has completed the final stage of accreditation required by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME).

10/25/2021

Tomorrow (October 26, 2021) is the dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Institute of Neuroscience (ION), an education, research, and clinical facility of the UTRGV School of Medicine. The ION is located at 2902 Haine Drive in Harlingen on a 35-acre tract of land donated to UTRGV by the South Texas Medical Foundation. The facility has been constructed with funds from the Permanent University Fund, and the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation has provided a $15 million grant for start-up operating funds. The dedication ceremony is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., and the public is welcome to attend.

07/03/2021

Welcome to Michael Hocker, M.D., the new Dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine. Dr. Hocker comes to the Valley from South Carolina where he has been practicing emergency medicine and developing teaching and training programs for medical students and residents for more than twenty years. He has an impressive background beginning with working his way through college in the back of an ambulance taking care of trauma patients, continuing his medical pursuits as a flight physician on a U. S. Navy helicopter, and finally a distinguished career in academic medicine training the next generation of doctors and health professionals. Dean Hocker has a special connection to the Rio Grande Valley and looks forward to reaching out to the communities and residents here with a vision toward continuing the evolution of UTRGV School of Medicine into one of the premiere teaching and research institutions in the country. We look forward to working with him to achieve that goal.

10/30/2020

The Rio Grande Valley has less than 5% of the Texas population but more than 17% of the State’s COVID-19 deaths.

It almost killed me. A story of criminal neglect and mass death in South Texas.Image above: Jesus Torres digs graves at La Piedad Cemetery in McAllen, Texas.At half past one on the morning of July 1, my 60th birthday, I awoke shivering. Since summertime chills are rare in South Texas, I immediately....

05/22/2020

Our Class of 2020 graduates are already getting national attention as they begin their medical careers in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Congratulations and best of luck to Dr. Daniella Co**ha.

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Daniella Co**ha, who is headed to Presbyterian Hospital in New York City to begin her medical residency.

05/09/2020

One of the best measures of the quality of education provided by a medical school is the residency programs in which the school's graduates match. All 39 of UTRGV's graduates in the Charter Class of 2020 matched in great programs around the country (including a few right here in the Rio Grande Valley). That is quite an accomplishment for the first graduating class of a brand new medical school. Here is a sampling of the graduates and their next stop in residency. The video is introduced by Dr. Francisco Fernandez who was the founding dean of UTRGV School of Medicine and is still a member of the faculty. Dean Fernandez had the wonderful opportunity to personally telephone and invite each of the Class of 2020 to help launch this medical school. Credit to Dr. Shawn Izadi who created the video, is a member of the Class of 2020, and is on his way to a residency in General Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

On the first day of medical school, the inaugural class at UTRGV SOM sat in the auditorium and took their first official roll call - beginning our incredible...

05/09/2020

It is official. There are 39 new doctors in the world thanks to their hard work and the years and years of persistence and dedication from so many in the Rio Grande Valley who struggled to make this dream a reality. Thanks to all of you.

05/08/2020

I had the good fortune to meet Ramiro during his initial interview for admission to UTRGV School of Medicine. I knew then that he would make the Valley proud and he has certainly done so for the last four years and will continue to do so for years into the future. Valley natives like Ramiro are one of the principal reasons why so many in our communities worked so hard for the medical school for so many years.

As a young boy growing up in Brownsville, Ramiro Tovar knew early on that medicine was his future.

05/08/2020

Tomorrow is a day that the Rio Grande Valley has been waiting on and dreaming about for almost three-quarters of a century. At 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 9, 2020, the charter class of the UTRGV School of Medicine will graduate and will celebrate with the school's inaugural Commencement Ceremony. An outstanding group of talented young men and women will officially become doctors of medicine and will dedicate themselves to a life of healing and caring for the health and well-being of others. It is true that the ceremony will not occur in the way we have always imagined and that the graduates will "walk across a stage" only in a virtual sense. Although that is disappointing and will deprive them and their families of that lasting memory and image, in some way I actually find the virtual nature of tomorrow's ceremony, while practicing social distancing to the extreme, to be both fitting and ironic. These graduates will be the very first group of alumnae of UTRGV School of Medicine after almost seventy-five years of struggle by the region to reach this moment. Equally significantly, however, these graduates, along with those from other medical schools across the country and even across the world, will be the first in over one hundred years to grab their M.D. diplomas and embark on their careers in the midst of a global pandemic. The members of the Class of 2020 could never have imagined being thrust into such a dramatic challenge at the outset of their careers as physicians. I got to know something of the men and women of this charter class during their interviews and early days of medical school and have followed their progress over the last four years. I have absolutely no doubt that they are up to the Covid-19 challenge they face. I am confident that, just as they promised at the beginning of this journey, each of them has now become an advocate for their future patients -- a skill that will set them apart and that will be critical in dealing with victims and potential victims of the pandemic.

If you are interested in watching the livestream of the Commencement Ceremony tomorrow morning, go to

WATCH LIVESTREAM. UTRGV School of Medicine Virtual Commencement will be held on May 9, 2020, at 10 am.

03/28/2020

Just one more benefit from having a medical school in the communities of the Rio Grande Valley.

“Starting Monday, UT Health RGV will be opening two COVID-19 drive-thru screening sites at the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses by appointment only. To receive a phone screening and/or schedule drive-thru appt.: 1-833-887-4863, Monday - Friday, from 8-7 PM”