Health Science Center Works to Aid Displaced Students

Patricia Starck, D.S.N., dean of the UT School of Nursing at Houston, talks with nursing students from Louisiana and Mississippi about meeting their needs after they are displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Michele Mocco

In various telephone calls and e-mails in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, officials of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston reached out to their sister schools to address the needs of students, faculty and trainees. The new Alliance of South Texas Academic Health Centers was created as a single entity to work with Tulane University officials to offer support for the school’s needs in medical education, training and research. Alliance members include the UT Medical School at Houston, as well as Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine and the UT Medical Branch at Galveston.

The Office of Academic Affairs is working on behalf of the UT Health Science Center to coordinate institutional efforts to assist the displaced students. At press time, academic affairs Executive Vice President L. Maximilian Buja, M.D., said that meetings were being held with Tulane administrators to address the needs of their medical and public health students and students from other affected institutions who are pursuing degrees in nursing, public health and the biomedical sciences. “For students in the fields of public health, nursing and biomedical sciences, we have developed a streamlined process for provisionally accepting and enrolling students in our academic programs and for applying for financial aid assistance in order to get these students in our classrooms and their lives back to normal as soon as possible,” Buja said.

Tulane University School of Medicine officials met with local medical school leaders in Houston to coordinate a plan for setting up temporary quarters for the New Orleans school displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Tulane officials were briefed by alliance members on what facilities and services they could offer to the medical school, and Tulane outlined its immediate needs in arranging for the education of medical students, training of residents, and continuation of research programs. “Our goal is to quickly continue our programs by locating in the Houston area on an interim basis until we can return to our home campus in New Orleans,” said Ian Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the Tulane School of Medicine. “The relocated programs will continue to be under the direction of Tulane administrators and faculty.”

Meanwhile, UT School of Public Health Dean Guy Parcel, Ph.D., hosted visitors from the Tulane University School of Public Health, and UT School of Nursing at Houston Dean Patricia Starck, D.S.N., hosted nursing students from Louisiana and Mississippi to assess their educational needs. Likewise, at press time, UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston Dean George Stancel, Ph.D., is in discussions about the needs of biomedical sciences students. UT Dental Branch at Houston Dean Catherine Flaitz, D.D.S., offered support from the Dental Branch to the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry, which was making plans to relocate to Baton Rouge.