UT System Officials to Announce Plans to Expand Medical Education
as a Path to Establishing a Free-standing Medical School in Lower Rio Grande Valley

AUSTIN – University of Texas System officials will be in Edinburg, Texas, on Friday, August 17, to announce details regarding plans to expand medical education as an important path to establishing a free-standing school of medicine in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

UT System Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., will deliver brief remarks beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Regional Academic Health Center Medical Research Division located at 1214 W. Schunior, Edinburg, next to the UT Pan American campus.

About The University of Texas System: Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking research and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States, with nine academic universities and six health science centers. Preliminary student enrollment exceeded 215,000 in the 2011 academic year. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees and educates nearly three-fourths of the state’s health care professionals annually. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $13.1 billion (FY 2012) including $2.3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With roughly 87,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.