The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center provides the state with health education, outreach and research. Its five components, located in communities throughout Texas, are:

• Baylor College of Dentistry
• College of Medicine
• Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
• Institute of Biosciences and Technology
• School of Rural Public Health

This youngest of Texas’ health science centers is different from other health science centers in several important ways. One is its geographic dispersion around the state. Another is its orientation toward service and outreach with particular attention to Texas’ rural and underserved areas. The health science center’s School of Rural Public Health, the only one with such an identified rural emphasis in the nation, and the HSC’s partnership in initiatives with Texas Cooperative Extension and community-based organizations, give it an unparalleled capacity for providing outreach and education programs to the most far-flung parts of Texas.

Another symbol of the HSC’s focus is the College of Medicine’s emphasis on primary care – the majority of its graduates choose to specialize in primary care areas like family medicine and pediatrics.

The HSC is involved with a number of distance education programs, through the School of Rural Public Health, that provide virtual learning opportunities for health professionals and others in remote areas. Baylor College of Dentistry is another setting for vital outreach programs, with numerous community-based training programs for clinical care, health education and disease prevention. The dental school’s Center for TeleHealth, and its Oral Health Screening and Sealant Program for Dallas-area school children, are two examples. Meanwhile, College of Medicine students operate Martha’s Clinic in Temple under faculty supervision, and provide volunteer assistance at Health For All Clinic in the Bryan/College Station area.

The A&M System HSC is also home to numerous exciting research initiatives. The Institute of Biosciences and Technology in the Texas Medical Center in Houston has biomedical research progressing on birth defects, prostate cancer, skeletal deformities, inherited neurological diseases and the effects of environmental toxins. The College of Medicine is the setting for groundbreaking work in areas such as cardiovascular medicine, fetal alcohol syndrome, proteins and genetics. Researchers at Baylor College of Dentistry, meanwhile, are exploring such life-enhancing issues as bone regeneration, implant technology, optimum treatments for gum recession and salivary dysfunction and better treatment options for babies born with craniofacial deformities. Major research initiatives at the School of Rural Public Health include the Health Services Research Program
and Active For Life, a national initiative that will fund programs to increase the number of adults, 50 and older, who engage in regular physical activity.

Accomplishments such as a nearly two-fold increase in research funding, continuing exemplary performance on professional licensing exams, and new degree offerings such as the School of Rural Public Health’s new Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.) program, are all evidence of the HSC’s growing momentum. The A&M System’s health sciences university is well on its way to becoming a premier institution – within the System and statewide.