For immediate release: Sept. 21, 2007
GALVESTON, Texas - A new exhibit honoring Dr. Hermann A. Barnett, III, the first African American to enroll and graduate medical school in Texas, will open on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at the Moody Medical Library, Ninth and Market streets on the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston campus. A reception will be held at 5 p.m. in the library foyer. The exhibit is open to the public and will be displayed through October.

Dr. Barnett graduated from UTMB in 1953. He was a man of many "firsts" including the first African-American to serve on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners and the first African American to be elected president of the Houston ISD Board of Trustees. Before medical school, Barnett served as a Tuskegee airman fighter pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps.

"Dr. Barnett was a remarkable, gentle man and a role model and mentor to many young people," said Patrice Yarbough, project director for the Barnett Memorial Exhibit. "His life is an example of what men and women of character can accomplish despite obstacles."

The father of five children, including Dr. Marcus Barnett who graduated from UTMB in 1984, Barnett died in an airplane crash in Kansas when he was 47 years old.

The university posthumously honored Barnett as a distinguished alumnus. A School of Medicine Memorial Scholarship student award is named in his honor and Clifford W. Houston, Ph.D. holds the Distinguished Professorship in microbiology and immunology endowed in Barnett's name.

"This is a working exhibit designed to travel to public schools in Galveston and Houston to encourage students to pursue careers in science and medicine," Yarbough said.

The exhibit is presented by the Minority Faculty, Administrative and Professionals Council. Sponsoring partners for the exhibit include the Departments of Anesthesiology and Surgery and the Office of University Advancement. The Office of Strategic Research Collaborations coordinated the exhibit.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Public Affairs Office
301 University Boulevard, Suite 3.102
Galveston, Texas 77555-0144
www.utmb.edu