University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

The story of UT Southwestern Medical Center is one of commitment to excellence, dedication to discovery, and service to the community. It's also a story of phenomenal growth, fueled by exceptional people with an extraordinary vision: to establish an academic medical center second to none.

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.

When a new state medical school was proposed after World War II, leaders of Southwestern Medical Foundation offered the college's equipment, library, and certain restricted funds to The University of Texas provided the University would locate its new medical branch in Dallas. The Board of Regents accepted this offer from the Foundation, and in 1949 the college became Southwestern Medical School of The University of Texas. In 1954 the name was changed to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. The present campus site on Harry Hines Boulevard was occupied in 1955 upon the completion of the Edward H. Cary Building. This placed the Medical School faculty next to the newly built Parkland Memorial Hospital.