UTMB gets grant for Hispanic students

GALVESTON, TX — Building upon its role as a leader in minority student recruitment and retention, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has received a $3.2 million grant that will continue to support academic, clinical and mentoring programs for Hispanic high school, college and medical school students and faculty.

The grant from the Health Research Service Administration will sponsor various UTMB programs through the Hispanic Center of Excellence to encourage and prepare Hispanic students aspiring toward careers in medicine.

UTMB officials have maintained a longstanding partnership with the Hispanic Center of Excellence. Since 1992, the program has contributed funds that have helped UTMB to continue diversifying its student population.

Of the state’s medical schools, UTMB ranks first in overall minority enrollment, with 21 percent of its 826 medical students coming from underrepresented groups.

UTMB, founded in 1891, enrolled its first Hispanic students in 1917 and its first black student in 1949, five years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that deemed segregated education unconstitutional.

In July, Black Issues in Higher Education magazine listed UTMB as the top producer of Hispanic physicians in the United States.

Only the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus and Universidad Central del Caribe graduated more Hispanic students.

The current grant will benefit approximately 400 students each year for the next three years.

The grant will support programs that introduce high school students to health careers, prepare college undergraduates for medical school admissions tests and provide academic support once they begin medical school, as well as provide faculty development to UTMB’s Hispanic junior faculty.