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The TCU and UNT Health Science Center School of Medicine, which is scheduled to open in 2019, has named Evonne Kaplan-Liss as an assistant dean of communications. She will focus on training students and faculty “to be effective communicators and empathetic scholars.”

Kaplan-Liss will also develop the curriculum and create an environment that teaches medical students to communicate more effectively with patients, colleagues, the community, media, donors, and policymakers, according to UNTHSC. When working with faculty, she will lead communication training and work to incorporate the communication curriculum within the medical school.

Kaplan-Liss previously served as founding medical director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science in New York state. There, she developed the curriculum and led national and international workshops to educate students, faculty, and administrators.

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In addition to the rigors of medical school, studying for board exams and applying for residency programs, medical students are strapped with an additional worry: growing student debt.

The average medical school debt upon graduation is $192,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. For many, that’s a mortgage.

The inaugural class of TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine students, expected to arrive July 2019, will be able to breathe a little easier, thanks to a generous gift made by pharmaceutical executive, business investor and entrepreneur Paul Dorman.

The H. Paul Dorman Charter Scholarship Program will provide full first-year tuition to 60 students, known as Dorman Scholars. Dorman’s gift will change the lives of these future physicians and the countless patients they will care for in the future.

Dorman is chairman and CEO of DFB Pharmaceuticals, a Fort Worth-based holding company that during the last 20 years has successfully invested, developed and operated multiple pharmaceutical businesses. His entrepreneurial ventures have helped develop life-saving drugs, advance research and improve quality of life for patients. He and his associates are currently actively involved in leading edge development of nanoparticles of chemotherapy drugs for improvement in the treatment of cancer and have four clinical trials in progress.

“I understand the need for exceptionally trained physicians and I believe the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine team is creating the right formula to prepare students to practice medicine in the future,” Dorman said. “This school will change the medical and economic landscape of our community and I can’t wait to meet the students who will make up the first class.”

Providing tuition support not only helps relieve debt, it also allows students to pursue all areas of education without feeling pressured to focus on the highest paid specialties. Supported students will lead to passionate physicians.

“The importance of philanthropic support for our future medical students is profound and I am grateful and humbled by Mr. Dorman’s generous gift,” said Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., founding dean of the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. “The value and meaning of this gift to our first class are immense. The Fort Worth community continues to amaze me with its generosity and support and Mr. Dorman’s gift wonderfully exemplifies this.”

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The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, set to open in 2019, will have a $100 million to $150 million economic impact on Fort Worth when it reaches maturity in about 10 years, but that shrinks into insignificance when the overall impact of an academic medical center is considered, says consultant Paul Umbach.

“When you look at the economic impact of a medical school, you really just start with the medical school itself. That’s the teaching of medical students, and it’s the faculty and the folks that come together,” Umbach said at a Leadership Fort Worth community event on April 18 at the Fort Worth Club and at a later news conference. Both focused on health care.

“But when you start to look across the country at all of the academic medical centers, the average is about $1.7 billion a year for each of those,” Umbach said. “Keep in mind, that’s every year; so, every year there’s $1.7 billion that circulates throughout the regional economy from a fully developed academic medical center.”

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Texas Christian University and UNT Health Science Center have selected a dean to lead the new medical school the two institutions are establishing in Fort Worth: Dr. Stuart Flynn, current dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix.

In his new role, Flynn will lead development of an education model focused on teamwork, with the goal of improving patient care and the business of medicine. The dean said he sees an opportunity for innovation that can impact healthcare in Texas for generations.

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A new M.D. school expected to open here in 2018 is more than an academic addition to TCU and the University of North Texas Health Science Center: It represents a shift toward more prestige and a higher profile nationally and globally for the universities and the city.

The private Texas Christian University, with its nationally recognized football and baseball teams, already seems to be constantly on the move — upgrading the campus, investing in academics and getting national attention. Plans for the new medical school are an indicator to many that the momentum is continuing.

“It means that we are advancing and expanding our prominence in the country and in the state,” said Ali Medders, a senior majoring in biology at TCU. “TCU has done great in football and baseball, and now we are showing that we are also a huge group that is going to have a lot of influence in Texas and the country.”

There are just two medical schools in the D/FW area, but that will soon change thanks to a collaboration between two Fort Worth institutions.

Texas Christian University and UNT Health Science Center officially announced plans on Monday to develop a new medical school which will offer MD degrees.

It’s something both schools have looked at and sought since 2008 to 2009. Mayor Betsy Price says she’s been working on the medical school for the last two years, but that six to eight months ago is finally when the two universities started talking about working together.

“I think it’s a wonderful addition for the city, but moreover, it’s a wonderful addition to the academic program of both universities,” said Victor Boschini, TCU Chancellor.

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