University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas)

History

Since its formation in 1943, Southwestern Medical School has grown from a small wartime medical college into UT Southwestern Medical Center, a multifaceted academic institution nationally recognized for its excellence in educating physicians, biomedical scientists, and health care personnel.

Under the leadership of the late Edward H. Cary, M.D., and Karl Hoblitzelle, a group of prominent Dallas citizens organized Southwestern Medical Foundation in 1939 to promote medical education and research in Dallas and the region. When Baylor University elected to move its school of medicine from Dallas to Houston in 1943, the Foundation formally established Southwestern Medical College as the 68th medical school in the United States with Parkland Memorial hospital as the main site for clinical medical education.

Important Dates in Parkland’s History:

1872: Three Dallas physicians open the first permanent hospital to care for indigent patients in the midst of a “red light district" at Wood and Houston streets

1872: The city of Dallas hires a physician to care for prisoners. After he finishes his rounds he treats paupers on the jailhouse steps.

Apr. 2, 1957: Parkland cares for 175 patients in two hours after a tornado ravages Dallas.

1961: Parkland opens one of the largest civilian burn units in the U.S., designating four, four-bed wards as a burn treatment area.

1874: A new hospital is built on the corner of Columbia and South Lamar streets. It comprises a one-room, 25-by-50-foot house with an adjoining kitchen and a bathroom. All the patients — men, women and children — are bedded, fed and treated in one 18-bed ward, and surgery is performed there by lamplight.

Nov. 22, 1963: President John F. Kennedy is brought to Parkland after he is shot by an assassin.

1983: Parkland is certified as the first Level I Trauma Center in Texas.

1985: Parkland plays a leading role, with state lawmakers Jesse Oliver and Ray Farabee and Farabee’s wife, Helen, in passing legislation to ban “patient dumping” – the practice of transferring medically unstable patients because of inability to pay. The document became a model for national legislation signed into law on April 7, 1986, by President Ronald Reagan.

November 2008: Dallas County voters overwhelmingly voted by 82 percent to support the construction of a new hospital partially funded through bond proceeds.

Aug. 20, 2015: The new Parkland Memorial Hospital officially opens its doors to patients. The state-of-the-art 862-bed, 17-story structure largely replaces the aging Parkland Memorial Hospital that opened in 1954.

Leadership

• Department Chair: Deborah B Diercks, MD, MSc
• Program Director: Larissa Velez, MD
• Associate/Assistant Program Director: Lynn Roppolo MD
• Associate/Assistant Program Director: Walter Green, MD
• Associate/Assistant Program Director: Dustin Williams, MD
• Research Director: Ahamed Idris, MD

Training Locations

Primary Hospital

• Parkland Memorial Hospital

Secondary Hospital

• Children's Medical Center
• William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital

Electives

• New Zealand: Hawke's Bay Hospital in Hastings

Fellowships

• Pediatric Emergency Medicine
• Toxicology
• EMS
• Global Health
• Ultrasound

Contact Information

1. UTSW EM Resident Website: Dallas EM
2. Chief Resident's Welcome
3. UTSW: Department of Emergency Medicine

See Also

• Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD)
• Emergency medicine residency programs