Texas Gov. Rick Perry was in El Paso Thursday afternoon for a ceremonial bill signing of the $45 million tuition revenue bond authority that was officially approved last week for a new four-year medical school.
Dr. M. Roy Wilson, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center president, said Perry's trip to El Paso demonstrates his endorsement of the new medical school.
"It's an opportunity for him to show the people of El Paso he's supporting this," he said.
Dr. Jose Manuel de la Rosa, regional dean for TTU El Paso, said Perry's visit was a major event for El Paso. Security was present when Perry signed the bill on the El Paso campus.
"Gov. Perry signing this bill in El Paso is the equivalent of Preston Smith signing the medical bill in Lubbock," he said. "What that did for Lubbock, this will do for El Paso."
De la Rosa said Wilson has convened a planning group that will address the accreditation standards needed for the El Paso medical school. The group met for the first time on Thursday.
Funding for the construction of the new medical school has not been allocated yet, but it is expected to become available after the next Legislative session in 2005. Though construction of classroom and faculty buildings has not yet begun, preliminary plans for the buildings are in the works.
Last week, when the bond was first approved, Cathy Reynolds, director of marketing, and news and publications for TTU El Paso, said El Paso would deeply benefit from the construction of a medical school.
"We have an incredible need for extended health care along the border in areas such as infectious diseases and diabetes," she said. "Our entire region is an underserved area."
De la Rosa said the medical school will not only benefit El Paso by providing health care for the people on the border, but it will also provide El Paso with an opportunity to train physicians in the area.
"It will be good for economic development, too," he said.
The medical school will be the first new institution to be built in Texas in 30 years. It will be the only medical school on the border between Texas and Mexico.
De la Rosa said he is looking forward to the completion of the institution in the coming years.
"I think this is something we can all be proud of," he said.
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