Galveston Island is recognized worldwide for its health care and medical research advances. Island residents have peace of mind knowing that the most advanced health care technologies and the best-trained medical professionals are easily accessible.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) is a major academic health center dedicated to improving the lives of others through health sciences education, clinical care and biomedical research. Opened in 1891, UTMB combines a rich history of service with a forward-thinking spirit to define the future of health care nationally and internationally.
Its membership in the Texas Medical Center (TMC) formalizes the health care and biomedical research partnerships UTMB has forged with other TMC member institutions in the Galveston/Houston region. UTMB’s Health System provides comprehensive care through a growing network of campus- and community-based clinics, in its Galveston-based inpatient care complex and Level I trauma center, and in collaboration with clinical partners in mainland Galveston County and beyond. Areas of clinical excellence at UTMB include the Texas Transplant Center, burn care, women’s health, stroke care, cardiovascular services, geriatrics, metabolic disorders (including treatment for obesity and diabetes), and cancer.
With recent expansions, UTMB now has 80 clinics at more than 40 sites on Galveston Island and the mainland. Island clinics are moving back to the renovated Primary Care Pavilion, and the first phase of the John Sealy Hospital modernization, which includes a remodeled Comprehensive Maternity Center, Children’s Hospital and burn unit, is almost complete. New clinics in the rapidly growing League City area include the Specialty Care Center at Victory Lakes, the Multispecialty Center & Stark Diabetes Clinic and the Pediatric Specialty Care Clinic at Bay Colony. (www.utmbhealth.com)
Construction has begun on the new $438 million Jennie Sealy Hospital, which will provide a real-world “classroom’’ for students, expand UTMB’s inpatient capacity and provide an optimal healing environment for patients and their families when it opens in 2016. Medical research at UTMB delves into a broad range of promising topics that often have immediate application to patient care.
Areas of research strength include infectious diseases; biodefense and vaccine development; cancer; aging; diabetes; neuroscience and neurological recovery; environmental health and asthma; and molecular medicine, structural biology and proteomics. UTMB also is home to the Galveston National Laboratory, the first national lab of any kind in Texas and one of only two national bio-containment labs for the safe study of infectious threats to human health. (www.utmb.edu)
