Mural Depicts History of UT Health Science Center at Tyler as it Confronts Public Health Issues
August 30, 2019
In a sun-filled room in the School of Health Professions building at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, a huge mural covers one wall.
A series of panels illustrate the history of the facility that was founded during the uncertain years of World War II and is moving into the future with an increased emphasis on improving public health.
“I see it (the mural) in terms of our mission then and now,” said Dr. Kirk Calhoun, the health center president.
“As we move forward, our mission continues to change,” Calhoun said.
In May 2017, the UT regents approved $39 million to build the School of Community and Rural Health on the medical campus north of Tyler.
Among other things, the 89,000-square-foot building houses classes for students seeking master’s degrees in health administration and public health.
Calhoun said the college will play an important role in the center’s goal of improving the health of residents in East Texas, a region with high rates of heart disease, stroke and respiratory disease.
“The greatest gains in improving health have come from innovations and training in the public health sector,” said Calhoun, who began his tenure in 2002.
In a UT Health Science Center publication, Calhoun added, “Our new school is the platform to launch the next wave of health professionals into our community, equipped to solve the challenges we face here in East Texas. … Our goal is to lift entire groups of people. This is what community health is all about.”
The health center commissioned L.C. Kitchen, a Kilgore artist, to paint the mural, which was completed in 1991. For many years, it was on view in a research building on campus. It eventually was taken down and stored in a warehouse.
“Unfortunately, it sustained some water damage and damage from dust,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun knew one day the mural would have a new home on campus. The large conference room on the ground floor of the college was the perfect choice, he said.
The mural was retrieved from storage. Nancy McCain, a painting restoration specialist, repaired the damage and the Gold Leaf Gallery put it in a new frame more suited in the building on the nearly 80-year-old medical campus.
The health center opened in 1943 as a hospital at Camp Fannin, a camp north of Tyler that once housed tens of thousands of men being trained to fight in World War II.
The opening panel shows a young soldier standing in front of a barracks at the camp.
After the war, the hospital continued with a new mission.
The next panel, dated 1947, shows it as the East Texas Tuberculosis Sanitarium, one of the few facilities in Texas that treated tuberculosis, an often deadly lung disease.
A panel dated 1951 shows the hospital during its time as East Texas Tuberculosis Hospital.
The panel dated 1971 is labeled East Texas Chest Hospital and shows researchers focusing on pulmonary disease.
The panel dated 1977 depicts the hospital as The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler, a facility that provided patient care, community health education and biomedical and clinical research.
Since then, developments have continued.
In 1980, a six-story addition to the hospital was completed, and in 1987 a $9 million Center for Biomedical Research opened.
In 2005, the four-story outpatient Riter Center for Advanced Medicine was completed. In 2008, the institution’s name was changed to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, and the following year the $67 million Academic Center was built, housing a cancer treatment and prevention center.
The master’s program in public health was launched in 2016 with classes originally held in a different space.
Classes in the School of Community and Rural Health building began in August.
The building will be dedicated in a ceremony set for 10 a.m September 19.
Original story by Danny Mogle, Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Photography by Cara Campbell, Tyler Morning Telegraph.
To view the original story, click here.