With small-town hospitals closing across Texas, many communities are rethinking their approach to health care. Some are looking into community health models with a more entrepreneurial lens, and there’s regular talk about improving broadband access to help with telemedicine.
In Tyler, there’s a new health college in the works, and the East Texas city has seen population growth amid excitement about local opportunities in the medical field. This type of focus and innovation around rural health care follows targeted legislation and investment.Â
In this Texas Tribune conversation, we’ll look at how communities like Tyler are taking on health care challenges, what is happening at the state level to support these efforts and how the future of health care will look in rural Texas.
Join us at 12 p.m. Friday, February 16, in Tyler, TX at Tyler Junior College, or online for this conversation.
Moderating the conversation is the Tribune's East Texas reporter, Jess Huff. Confirmed speakers include Kirk Calhoun, MD, president of UT Tyler and board chair of UT Health East Texas;Â Kristina Childress, senior public health official and administrator of Angelina County and Cities Health District; and Doug Curran, MD, of East Texas Community Clinic and former president of the Texas Medical Association.Â
DIRECTIONS:
From 5th Street turn north on Baxter St and parking in lot S-4, which will be on the right. Parking lot S-4 is next to Rogers Student Center (RSC), and the event is in the Apache Meeting Room on the first floor.
Doors will open at noon for lunch and the hourlong conversation will begin at 12:30 p.m. Complimentary lunch will be provided.
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This in-person event will be live streamed for virtual attendees and will be available to watch on demand afterwards at texastribune.org/events.
Email us at events@texastribune.org
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Calhoun serves as president of The University of Texas at Tyler and chairman of the UT Health East Texas board of directors. In 2020, UT Tyler administratively merged with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, combining the academic and health operations to form a new comprehensive university serving east Texas. The new UT Tyler School of Medicine, which enrolled its first class of students in 2023, is the first medical school in East Texas. From 2002 to 2020, Calhoun served as president of UT Health Science Center at Tyler, during which time the campus grew significantly. He is a Professor of Medicine and has an MD from the University of Kansas.
Childress, currently serving as the senior public health official in Angelina County, is committed to ensuring compliance, strategic planning and effective public health services. She brings 16 years of experience in emergency preparedness, health promotion, community education and leadership, with a focus on evidence-based approaches to drive the development, implementation, and improvement of programs and services.
Curran, chief medical officer at East Texas Community Clinic, has practiced family medicine for over 40 years. He is currently working to obtain Federally Qualified Health Center status for East Texas Community Clinic, to fill the gaps of medical care in East Texas, and working with UT Northeast in establishing a family medicine residency program in Athens, Texas.
Jess Huff joined the Tribune in 2023 and is based in Lufkin, Texas. She grew up in Utah and has also lived in Arizona and the Netherlands. Her latest adventure brought her to East Texas where she worked for The Lufkin Daily News, leading the publication to numerous awards for investigative reporting in the region. Jess attended Northern Arizona University on a debate scholarship and fell in love with the journalism program after a course on alternative storytelling devices. Her work has been published in the Arizona Daily Sun, The Associated Press, The Lufkin Daily News, Capital & Main and a number of local outlets across Texas.
