For immediate release: Aug. 31, 2007
GALVESTON, Texas - The School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is one of the best medical schools for Hispanics, according to the September issue of Hispanic Business magazine.

UTMB was ranked fourth, behind the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. 

Dr. Garland D. Anderson, dean of the School of Medicine, noted that UTMB recently was recognized by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for the diversity of the student body.

"I am proud to say that UTMB's commitment to diversity is a long-standing value and tradition," Anderson said. "Our first Hispanic student, Daniel Saenz, graduated in 1921, and by 1978, half of all Hispanic physicians in the United States were UTMB graduates. We are committed to continuing this proud tradition, and to educating a student body that reflects the diversity of Texas."

The LCME is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs.

Other Texas medical schools on the list were the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in fifth place and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in the seventh spot.

According to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census, 35.1 percent of the state's 23.5 million people are Hispanic. Texas became a majority-minority state in 2005.

The magazine's criteria included enrollment statistics that counted the total number of Hispanic students at a medical school and the percentage of Hispanic students at a school. Other factors considered were the percentage of full-time faculty members who are Hispanic, recruitment and mentoring programs as well retention rates. In addition, all graduate programs were graded based on U.S. News and World Report ranking of their graduate programs in that magazine's Best Graduate Schools, 2007 Edition.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Public Affairs Office
301 University Boulevard, Suite 3.102
Galveston, Texas 77555-0144
www.utmb.edu