During its final meeting in 2024, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Advisory Board Friday recognized a vital 100-year clinical and teaching partnership, celebrated 70 years of outstanding work by the Audiology and Speech Pathology Department in Knoxville, heard updates from the chancellor and college deans on programs and initiatives, and received an overview of the university’s current and future capital projects.
The meeting began with a moment of silence in remembrance of Ellie Young, a first-year medical student who was killed in late October. “It’s something I know the entire campus mourns,” said Board Chair Phil Wenk, DDS. “We hold her family in our hearts.”
The board also remembered James ‘JR’ Ross, the president and chief executive officer of West Tennessee Healthcare in Jackson, who died in September. Ross was recognized as a great partner and friend to the university and a true supporter of the community in Jackson. “I knew JR close to 10 years,” said Wendy Likes, PhD, DNSc, APRN-BC, dean of the College of Nursing, before virtually presenting his team attending via Zoom with a commemorative plaque. “He was truly a grassroots leader.”
Vice Chancellor for Strategic Partnerships Paul Wesolowski lauded the 100-year anniversary of the UT Health Science Center Center-Campbell Clinic Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program. “You exemplify the vision of what we are about,” he said, also presenting a plaque to Fred Azar, MD, professor and chief of staff for Campbell Clinic, and James Beaty, MD, professor and chair of the UT Health Science Center-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering. Campbell Clinic is a “world leader in orthopaedic procedures” and “literally wrote the book on orthopaedics,” he said.
“It’s an understatement to say how proud we are of our 100-year partnership,” Dr. Beaty said, adding Campbell Clinic has trained more than 1,000 residents and is now training physician assistant students, nursing students, and others.
“Thank you for making Memphis a mecca for orthopaedics,” Dr. Wenk said.
The Audiology and Speech Pathology Department in Knoxville, part of the College of Health Professions, was applauded for its outstanding seven decades of serving the speech and hearing needs of the people of East Tennessee. The department held a grand opening ceremony for its renovated state-of-the-art space at the UT Conference Center in Knoxville on October 25. The almost $20 million, four-year renovation increases the department’s space to approximately 65,000 square feet. Previously, the department operated in three different locations on the campus of UT Knoxville. The renovation brings the department’s academic, research, and clinical operations under the same roof for the first time in 40 years.
Representatives from the six colleges presented recent achievements from their colleges.
- Cindy Russell, PhD, vice chancellor for Academic, Faculty, and Student Affairs, standing in for Interim College of Medicine Dean Nick Verne, MD, reported the college received a 93% overall satisfaction rating for their medical education from 2024 graduates on the American Association of Medical Colleges Graduate Questionnaire. Additionally, she reported USMLE Board Exam Results are above the national average, with a 93% Step I pass rate and a 100% Step II pass rate and mean score of 252.
- Ken Tilashalski, DMD, dean of the College of Dentistry, said the college has a renewed vision – to take care of people – and mission – to transform lives through oral health. To meet the plan, the college has increased its first-year class size to 130, has a new holistic admissions rubric, is implementing new student culture initiatives, has new professional and leadership development opportunities, and has a new clinical site in Kingsport and future sites planned in Savannah and elsewhere to expand access to patient care.
- The College of Graduate Health Sciences is working on its 2025-30 strategic plan, is increasing engagement by its advisory board to help students build transferrable skills for the workplace, and has generated $100,000 in philanthropic gifts for awards for independent research projects by trainees, Dean Donald Thomason, PhD, said.
- Dean Stephen Alway, PhD, of the College of Health Professions, expanded on the significance of the new space in Knoxville for the speech and hearing program. “The community is being impacted from the work of this department,” he said.
- The College of Nursing increased Fall 2024 enrollment to 512 from 480 in 2023, Dean Likes said. The college received a $1.5 million grant from the Labor Department to support graduates’ transition to rural and underserved hospitals, is launching a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program for nurse executives, and earned a 10-year accreditation of its DNP and certificate programs from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
- Reggie Frye, PharmD, PhD, dean of the College of Pharmacy, said the college has extensive curriculum revision ongoing, and praised students for placing in the top four in the clinical skills competition of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, winning two awards at the APhA Midyear Regional Meeting, and winning a gold in the Kroger Skills Competition at the Student National Pharmaceutical Association.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Raaj Kurapati updated the board on capital projects, including current renovations and maintenance. The work underway includes $30 million construction of a new Gross Anatomy Lab in the General Education Building, ongoing $7.6 million roof replacement on multiple buildings on campus, the $22.7 million renovation of the Nash Building basement to provide consolidated vivarium research space for the Department of Physiology, and the $11.5 million buildout of the 4th Floor of the Nash Building.
Kurapati said the $19.4 million demolition project involving the old Holiday Inn hotel tower on Madison Avenue and the adjacent buildings at 955 and 959 Madison is also underway with the hazmat study completed. Demolition work should commence soon, with substantial completion in the spring of 2026.
Additional capital projects on the Memphis campus will include increased security lighting and brick and metal fencing to better outline the footprint of campus and increase security.
He said a comprehensive campus space utilization study is underway to help better understand how space is currently used, future needs, and provide a better picture of maintenance and upkeep required. The goal is to put the university in a more proactive position regarding the campus infrastructure, he said.
Kurapati closed the meeting by providing an overview of the next major project for the university – a $350 million College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building, which could be constructed across from the Madison Plaza building (910, 920, 930 Madison) between the College of Pharmacy Building and the old Holiday Inn tower location, which will be torn down. He noted work is underway to make the case for financial support for this much needed facility with the state.
The full advisory board meeting is available to view on the UT Health Science Center Advisory Board webpage.