In 1939, a group of business leaders in Dallas, Texas created Southwestern Medical Foundation to collect and disburse funds for medical education and research, with the right to own and operate a medical school. It was their hope to build the existing medical school, Baylor College of Medicine, into a great one. In 1943, Baylor University moved its medical school to Houston, and the Foundation, with some of the most eminent members of the Dallas community on its board, filled the void by creating Southwestern Medical College.
By 1949, under the Foundation’s leadership, Southwestern Medical College had grown to a faculty of 425 full-time and volunteer members and had 359 graduates. But to achieve excellence, the leadership of the Foundation recognized that the long-term success of their new medical school was dependent on its affiliation with a university.
When the Texas State Legislature approved creation of a second state medical school in 1949 (the first was in Galveston), the Texas Medical Association was given the authority to choose where to establish the new school. They selected Dallas. The Foundation gave Southwestern Medical College to The University of Texas System, aware that the affiliation would help the fledgling school thrive. And indeed it has.
Today, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (UT Southwestern) ranks among the top academic medical centers in the nation. Each year, its three schools train approximately 4,000 medical, graduate and allied health students, residents and postdoctoral fellows. The UT Southwestern faculty includes four Nobel Prize winners and 15 members of the National Academy of Sciences and 17 members of the Institute of Medicine. In its efforts to bring the latest laboratory findings to the patient's bedside, UT Southwestern supports more than 2,500 research projects totaling more than $340 million each year.
Although Southwestern Medical Foundation passed the ownership and day-to-day management responsibilities of the medical school to the State more than 50 years ago, the Foundation continues to play an important role in the success of UT Southwestern. As UT Southwestern’s philanthropic partner, the Foundation provides funds for salary supplements, endowed research centers, chairs, and professorships, recruiting events, research grants, community programs, student scholarships and other vital activities that help transform a good medical school into one that is truly excellent.
Through this partnership, UT Southwestern is able to develop and maintain strong ties to the community, offer donors the opportunity to have their gifts invested by a local foundation, and have access to funds that can be used to pay expenses for which there is no other source. In addition to its strong support of UT Southwestern, the Foundation also receives and manages funds for the benefit of related institutions that have an important impact on the work of UT Southwestern faculty and staff including UT Southwestern University Hospitals, Parkland Health and Hospital System, and Children’s Medical Center.
