Over the four years since Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, local and national press has centered around the recovery efforts at the University of Texas Medical Branch on the island. However, this past week the school not only triumphed in making an institutional recovery, but also in honoring its 2012 graduates. Students who had only just begun their medical training when the hurricane arrived. Also among these students though were some special transfer students (now doctors) who have been taken in by UTMB after a storm of a completely different kind impacted their own medical school in Puerto Rico.
The Weather Channel recently interviewed several members of the graduating class of 2012 who experienced the schools, tragic fall, as well as triumphant recovery throughout their time as students. (Weather Channel video below)
And on Friday, KTRK 13 News profiled seven new doctors who transfered to UTMB from San Juan Bautista Medical School in Puerto Rico, after that school lost its accreditation. A situation which left fourth year students from that institution not only in an educational bind, but also in a professional and financial bind that UTMB was able to help them resolve. (KTRK 13 News)