Decade Well Spent
Texas Tech Health El Paso: Our past as a prologue
Dr. Richard Lange is president of Texas Tech Health El Paso and dean of the Foster School of Medicine.
In December, we wrapped up our year-long celebration of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso’s 10-year anniversary by welcoming over 1,000 El Pasoans to a colorful, holiday-themed winter wonderland on our campus, capped off by a spectacular fireworks display.
The Lighting Campus for Hope event honored cancer warriors and capped off our fall fundraiser that raised $67,750 to provide 366 free breast cancer screenings for underserved women within our region. By promoting access to health care, Lighting Campus for Hope was a fitting conclusion to our anniversary, and a wonderful thank you to the community that made our university a reality in 2013.
Texas Tech Health El Paso is here thanks to our community’s vision of “growing our own” physicians, nurses, dentists and researchers to close a long-existing gap in health care accessibility. This vision includes high levels of education, high-paying jobs, upward mobility for families and an economic engine to power El Paso’s future.
The cornerstones were laid by generous community leaders, forever remembered through our four schools: The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing, the Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine and the L. Frederick Francis Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Over the past decade, we’ve also been honored to have the support and friendship of donors and partners from our community who help fund scholarships, research and health care outreach programs.
Our university has attracted hundreds of world-class faculty who prepare the next generation of health care providers while caring for patients at Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso clinics, the Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic and our affiliated teaching hospitals. Additionally, our university has created rewarding careers for over 1,500 staff who contribute to our success. A 2022 analysis measured our annual economic impact on our region at $634 million, with 3,813 jobs created.
In our first decade, we’ve educated a diverse workforce of nearly 800 physicians, more than 1,100 nurses and more than 150 biomedical researchers. Next year, our first cohort of dentists will graduate.
Most of our students have roots in our region, and more than half of our graduates identify as Hispanic. Many decide to stay here and care for their community, while others will practice elsewhere. Regardless of where they go, they bring an educational experience that includes unique cultural competence, including medical Spanish proficiency from our physicians and dentists.
Our first decade ended on a high note with the announcement of the future Steve and Nancy Fox Cancer Center to be built on our campus. This new cornerstone is possible thanks to $65 million from the Texas Legislature and a transformative $25 million investment from the Fox family, long-time El Paso business and community leaders.
When completed, the Fox Cancer Center will be a beacon of hope for patients. It will house comprehensive care at one location, reducing inconvenience, stress and expenses for patients and their families while leading to improved outcomes. Families won’t have to travel long distances to receive world-class cancer care, and it will create opportunities to research new cancer treatments and cures.
Speaking of research, 2023 delivered a boost in the form of the $6 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, or CPRIT, to launch our Impacting Cancer Outcomes in Hispanics project. ICOHN will study cancer and cancer-related health disparities in Hispanic populations along the U.S.-Mexico border. CPRIT also supported our cancer prevention efforts, awarding a $2.5 million grant to De Casa en Casa, our community-based cervical cancer screening program serving West and South Texas.
It’s a great start to our second decade. Moving forward, Texas Tech Health El Paso will continue fulfilling the vision of a healthier, more prosperous region with every graduate, every research breakthrough and every life touched. Thank you for joining us in this journey of hope and promise.
Dr. Richard Lange is president of Texas Tech Health El Paso and dean of the Foster School of Medicine.