UT Memphis Gains Support for Facilities Upgrades

Ever since the Civil War, Memphis has been a health care center. Union forces used Memphis as a hospital zone for wounded combatants on both sides.

The University of Tennessee's medical school is here in Memphis. UT-Memphis is one of four medical schools in Tennessee along with Maherry and Vanderbilt in Nashville and East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. UT Memphis is hugely important to our region not only because of the doctors that it teaches but also because it is a major employer in the region and because of the biomedical research being performed there.

As important as it is to our region, UT Memphis' facilities have fallen behind the curve. The school needs an influx of cash and support. Help looks like it is on the way.

According to the Monday, April 7, 2008 Commercial Appeal, the Governor and key state legislators have recently toured the campus and have all come to the conclusion that capital funding for new buildings and for retrofits/upgrades is needed.

it doesn't look like there will be any help this year but the support of the Governor and key legislators is critical and a great sign that UT-Memphis will soon get what it needs to keep up in the facilities arm race at American medical schools.

The biomedical research park is going to be a key economic engine for Memphis in the years to come and a reinvigorated UT-Memphis will be a big part of that effort.