Facts & Figures

UT Southwestern Medical Center ranks among the top academic medical centers in the world. Its faculty members – who are responsible for a broad array of groundbreaking biomedical research advances – are respected for their dedication to teaching. UT Southwestern's physicians provide patients with the highest quality of care throughout the medical center's university hospitals and clinics, and its affiliated hospitals.

The Medical Center has three degree-granting institutions: UT Southwestern Medical School, UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and UT Southwestern School of Health Professions. 

  • The schools train nearly 4,600 medical, graduate and allied health students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows each year.
  • Ongoing support from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, along with foundations, individual, and corporations provide more than $417 million a year to fund about 3,500 research projects.
  • Faculty and residents provide care to more than 100,000 hospitalized patients and oversee nearly 2 million outpatient visits a year.
  • UT Southwestern has approximately 11,400 employees and an operating budget of nearly $1.79 billion.

UT Southwestern Medical School

One of four medical schools in the UT System and one of eight in Texas, UT Southwestern admits about 230 students each year.

Medical students are taught the basic sciences and fundamental mechanisms of disease during the first two years, along with basic clinical skills. For the second two years, they pursue clinical courses in a variety of medical specialties at UT Southwestern’s affiliated teaching hospitals and clinics.

The Medical Scientist Training Program prepares individuals for medical careers that will include biomedical research as well as the application of research discoveries to the practice of medicine. The program awards combined M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. With major financial support from the National Institutes of Health, the program provides fellowships to more than 100 exceptionally talented medical scientists.

Faculty members continue to educate physicians beyond medical school. They annually train more than 1,300 clinical residents who are supplementing their MD education with postgraduate specialty and subspecialty training, the largest training program in Texas. Faculty members also provide continuing medical education. Attendance last year totaled nearly 38,600 participants at almost 260 activities.

Faculty members also serve as educational resources to thousands of science teachers at hundreds of schools in North Texas through the Science Teacher Access to Resources at Southwestern (STARS) program.

UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

The Graduate School, with almost 650 students enrolled, educates biomedical scientists, counselors, engineers and communicators. Programs lead to Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees.

Ten programs in basic sciences form the Division of Basic Science. Future scientists are trained to investigate basic life processes from the molecular level to the whole animal. Students pursue their majors in the laboratories of some of the world's most distinguished researchers.

Ph.D. programs are offered in 10 areas: Biological Chemistry, Cancer Biology, Cell Regulation, Genetics and Development, Immunology, Integrative Biology, Molecular Biophysics, Molecular Microbiology, Neuroscience, and Biomedical Engineering (a joint program with UT Arlington).

The Division of Clinical Science offers programs in Clinical Psychology-Ph.D.; and Clinical Sciences-MCS

UT Southwestern School of Health Professions

In addition to physicians, a myriad of professionals care for the sick and injured, perform diagnostic tests, and provide therapy for physically and mentally challenged individuals. These are allied health professionals, and their jobs span many areas of health care.

More than 350 students are enrolled in the UT Southwestern School of Health Professions. The school offers bachelor's degrees in Medical Laboratory Sciences and Radiation Therapy; master's degrees in Clinical Nutrition, Prosthetics–Orthotics, Physician Assistant Studies, and Rehabilitation Counseling; a doctoral degree in Physical Therapy and certificate programs in Blood Bank Technology, Emergency Medicine Education (EMT/Paramedic), Medical Laboratory Sciences, and Radiation Therapy.

Outstanding Faculty

The excellence of any educational institution is determined by the caliber of its faculty. UT Southwestern's faculty has many distinguished members, including:

  • Five Nobel Prize recipients since 1985.
    • In 1985 Drs. Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of the basic mechanism of cholesterol metabolism. Dr. Goldstein is chairman of molecular genetics at UT Southwestern. Dr. Brown directs the Erik Jonsson Center for Research in Molecular Genetics and Human Disease. 
    • Dr. Johann Deisenhofer, professor of biochemistry and investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UT Southwestern, shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in chemistry for using X-ray crystallography to describe the structure of a protein involved in photosynthesis.
    • Dr. Alfred G. Gilman, currently chief scientific officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for the discovery of G proteins and the role they play in the complex processes by which cells communicate with each other. A Regental Professor Emeritus of pharmacology, Dr. Gilman last served UT Southwestern as dean of UT Southwestern Medical School and chairman of pharmacology.
    • Dr. Bruce A. Beutler, director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at UT Southwestern, shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with two other scientists for their immune system investigations. Dr. Beutler was honored for the discovery of receptor proteins that recognize disease-causing agents and activate innate immunity, the first step in the body's immune response.
    • 20 members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors attainable by an American scientist.
    • 18 members of the Institute of Medicine, a component of the NAS.

Research

Research is the cornerstone upon which world-class medical education and patient care are built.

Investigations into cancer, neuroscience, heart disease and stroke, arthritis, diabetes, and many other fields keep UT Southwestern at the forefront of medical progress.

The Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center has National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation, an elite distinction held by only the top-tier cancer centers nationwide. The Simmons Cancer Center is the only medical center in North Texas to attain this prestigious “gold standard” status, which the NCI bestows upon the nation’s top cancer centers in recognition of innovative research and excellence in patient care.

The medical center has 12 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators on campus, continuing a 25-year collaboration. In 1986, the HHMI selected UT Southwestern to house one of its 12 principal laboratories nationwide. Counted among the nation’s largest philanthropies, HHMI has invested more than $8 billion over the years for the support, training and education of the country’s most creative and promising scientists.

At UT Southwestern, research on basic life processes and research on specific diseases go hand in hand. Investigators’ discoveries form the foundation for new ways to prevent or treat disease.

By Summer 2010, 57 researchers have come through the medical center's acclaimed Endowed Scholars Program in Medical Science, and combined have obtained more than $73 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Four of the scholars also have become HHMI investigators at UT Southwestern.

Patient Care

The physician faculty of UT Southwestern offers patient care at UT Southwestern University Hospitals & Clinics, Parkland Health & Hospital System, Children’s Medical Center, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, VA North Texas Health Care System, and other affiliated hospitals and clinics in Dallas, Fort Worth and North Texas communities. Faculty physicians provide $401 million in unreimbursed services annually.

In the U.S. News & World Report’s 2012-13 America’s Best Hospitals issue, UT Southwestern was nationally ranked in two specialty-care areas: urology and neurology/neurosurgery and gained “high-performing” recognition for cancer, cardiology/heart surgery, diabetes/endocrinology, ear/nose/throat, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, orthopaedics, and pulmonology care.

The UT System Board of Regents and the Texas Higher Education Board have approved plans for a new $800 million state-of-the-art University Hospital, slated to open in late 2014.

The University’s 452-bed hospitals offer patients superior care and outstanding service provided by a highly trained staff. Part of UT Southwestern since 2005, the hospitals are a crucial component to the medical center’s further development and its delivery of world-class patient care.

The Zale Lipshy University Hospital is home to one of the world’s premier neurological treatment centers. Its neuroangiography unit is a vitally important factor in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disease. Physicians specialize in diagnosing and treating patients with hematologic malignancies. Other specialties include urology, ophthalmology and rehabilitation.

Within St. Paul University Hospital are specialty practices in cardiology, emergency medicine, internal medicine, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and orthopaedics. It also houses the Heart and Lung Transplant Program, as well as a level III neonatal intensive care unit.

Parkland Memorial Hospital, a 983-bed facility, is the primary teaching institution of UT Southwestern, whose faculty is responsible for caring for all of the hospital’s patients. More than half of the doctors practicing in Dallas received some or all of their training at Parkland and UT Southwestern. Parkland’s Level I Trauma Center and Burn Center are internationally recognized, and its centers of excellence include specialty medicine clinics for epilepsy treatment, arrhythmia management and diagnostic cardiology. Parkland was ranked the third-best hospital by U.S. News & World Report in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Children’s Medical Center is the primary pediatric teaching hospital for UT Southwestern, whose pediatric faculty are members of Children’s medical staff. Children’s is licensed for 406 beds, has more than 50 pediatric specialty programs, and is the only pediatric hospital in the Southwest with a designated Level I trauma center.

In July 2011, the Medical Center’s focus on safety and quality of patient care earned its University Hospitals & Clinics “Most Wired” recognition by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the flagship publication of the American Hospital Association. The Clinical Services Initiative is not only enhancing health care at UT Southwestern but also leading the way nationally in returning the practice of medicine to its patient-centered roots. Examples of this effort is MyChart, which allows patients to have secure Internet access to their health records, and UT Southwestern’s leadership in implementing ‘meaningful use’ of electronic medical records – including radiology images, laboratory reports, clinic notes, medications, discharge papers and summaries of previous visits to any physician – throughout the UT Southwestern Health System.

Clinical Expertise

Physicians and researchers at UT Southwestern are seamlessly integrating breakthroughs in basic science, advances in compre­hensive clinical services and the development of innovative educa­tion and prevention programs to propel overall excellence and set the Medical Center apart.

A few examples of the Medical Center’s encompassing care include:

The expertise of the physicians at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center extends to every cancer, from breast, urologic, gynecologic, lung, gastrointestinal, head and neck, brain, and skin to lymphomas, leukemia, and bone marrow transplantation.

Heart, lung and vascular disease treatment is a collaborative effort between UT Southwestern faculty and community physicians. Seamless, individualized care is available for adult congenital heart disease, cardiac imaging, cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, electrophysiology, general cardiology, heart failure, heart and lung transplant, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, lung transplant pulmonology, mechanical circulatory assistance, preventive cardiology, pulmonary hypertension, and vascular and endovascular surgery.

UT Southwestern neurological services comprise several areas of excellence. Neurological surgeons have performed more surgeries to prevent aneurysmal hemorrhage than in any other medical center in the U.S. Neurosurgeons and neuroradiologists work together with the most sophisticated technology available to plan recovery treatments and prevent future strokes. Clinicians and researchers also work together to treat and to find the root causes of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, epilepsy and dystonias.

Transplantation programs for heart, lung, kidney and liver have been certified by the federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This certification ensures broad access to the distinctive multidisciplinary approach provided by UT Southwestern’s experts in the full range of related fields, including surgery, infection control, immunity and rejection. Surgeons from the Medical Center performed Texas’ first kidney transplant in 1964 and are responsible for many innovations that have become the accepted practice throughout the nation.