The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine in Lubbock has awarded more than 3,000 Doctor of Medicine degrees since its first graduating class in 1974. The school was commissioned to train physicians to help meet the health care needs of residents of West Texas, a population that now includes more than 2.5 million people. When the school opened, West Texas had one physician for every 1,300 residents. Currently, the ratio is about one physician for every 750 residents. Students spend their first two years of study in Lubbock and their last two years studying in Amarillo, Odessa or Lubbock. A self-proclaimed major initiative for the school is to "recruit creative, innovative research faculty and to develop graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for lifelong careers in medical research."
The school has campuses in Lubbock, Permian Basin, Highland Lakes, and Abilene; and it educates more than 1,000 students each year. Bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in nursing are issued by the school. The School of Nursing offers the only Doctor of Nursing Practice program in West Texas. The school is known for its alternatives to traditional educational opportunities including online coursework for a registered nurse to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a second-degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing program for students with a bachelor's degree in another subject, and a Veteran to Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree for veterans with military medical experience who wish to earn a nursing degree but already have considerable knowledge that distinguishes them from a traditional nursing student.
The School of Pharmacy’s administrative hub is located in Amarillo and the school has regional campus sites in Lubbock, Dallas and Abilene. The school has two Dallas-area regional sites: one located on the grounds of the North Texas Veterans Administration Medical Center and the second located within the central Dallas medical district. Lubbock faculty and residents also operate the TTUHSC Pharmacy, which provides medications and biologicals to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Montford Unit Regional Medical Facility; the TTUHSC International Pain Institute; the Garrison Geriatric Education and Care Center; and TTUHSC clinics in Lubbock, Odessa and El Paso. The TTUHSC Pharmacy also provides telepharmacy services to the rural communities of Turkey and Earth, Texas. The first telepharmacy prescription dispensed in Texas occurred September 18, 2002, between the TTUHSC Pharmacy and the Turkey Medical Clinic.
Department of Pharmacy Practice
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Campuses
Institutes & centers
F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health
Garrison Institute on Aging
The Institute of Environmental and Human Health
Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health
Center of Excellence for Geriatric Scholarship, Training, and Faculty Development
Center of Excellence in Evidence-Based Practice
Center for Innovation in Nursing Education
Center for International and Multicultural Affairs
The presence of TTUHSC has impacted the access to health care in West Texas. Over 20% of the physicians currently practicing in West Texas are TTUHSC medical school or residency graduates. The schools of Nursing and Health Professions impact West Texas, with most of their graduates remaining in West Texas to pursue their chosen profession. Over 80% of School of Pharmacy graduates have chosen to practice in Texas.
Usually held in August, a new group of first-year medical students participate in the White Coat Ceremony each year. This event is a rite of passage for first-year medical students as they don their coats and take a Hippocratic oath affirming their commitment to the highest standards of ethics and patient care. At the TTUHSC School of Medicine in Lubbock, the ceremony is held at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.
