UT Southwestern: a moving
experience
I visited UT Southwestern’s
Department of Radiology last week in Dallas, and had the pleasure of spending
time with the Chair, Neil Rofsky, who has been busy building a progressive,
innovative department over the last 3 years. He has recruited some top notch
talent who will soon have the unique opportunity of moving into two brand
spanking new hospitals brimming with the latest state-of-the-art equipment. While
the renewed emphasis on academics and original investigation was refreshing, I
was particularly impressed with the role that mentorship, particularly
leadership mentoring, plays within the department. In my opinion, adequate
leadership training is lacking in most radiology departments despite being
critical to the survival of our specialty, and I think that UTSW is putting its
eggs in the right basket. I was left with the impression that UTSW will rapidly
become a breeding ground for future Chairs and other leaders within our
specialty.
There’s an expression down in
Texas for big talkers who can’t deliver the goods that goes something like,
“He’s all hat and no cattle”. Well UT Southwestern has the hat AND the cattle
AND a few oil wells to boot. A little known secret is that the UT system
benefits from revenues produced on a 2.1 million acre piece of west Texas set aside
in the 1800s to fund public education. And when that land’s main source of revenue
went from cattle grazing to oil drilling, well, Yeeeehaw!
Everything is big in Texas, and
the new Parkland hospital is no exception. It’s so huge; it could hold all of
T. Boone Pickens’ cash (a big pile of which has gone to UT Southwestern in the
past) and still have room for all his ex-wives. At almost 1.3 billion dollars
to build, it also approximates T. Boone’s net worth. Regardless, it’s a really
cool looking building that dominates the local skyline. At around 2 million
square feet and over 800 beds, I’m pretty sure it is visible from the
international space station. Parkland is best known for being the place where President
John F. Kennedy, his assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, and Lee Harvey Oswald’s
assassin Jack Ruby, all spent their final hours. For conspiracy theorists,
Parkland is where President John F. Kennedy was abducted by aliens after faking
the moon landing to hide their existence (because, as we now know from the post-Kennedy
Apollo 18 mission, aliens live on the moon).
It was fun to see Texas again, as I’ve
spent a significant part of my life there. My wife and I met in Texas, and both
of my kids are native Texans. I still root for the Spurs (no offense, Dallas). However,
things have changed since I left in 2004- the world is just a scarier, less
friendly place. North Texas is so flat, there was a time when I could see
Mexico from any tall building. Now all I can see is a big fence. I tried to
bring my 10 gallon hat on the trip with me, and it was confiscated by airport
security because it wasn’t 3 ounces or less. In the two days I was there, not
one person said, “Howdy” to me. At least some things are the same- I almost got
gored by a pickup truck sporting a set of horns on the hood at the airport.
Because I visited when the new
residents were orienting, I didn’t get to spend as much time with the residents
as I would have liked. The ones I met seemed bright, enthusiastic, and happy to
be there. While the institution will likely continue to face some significant
challenges inherent to integrating a county hospital with a state academic
institution, the program has palpable energy flowing from the top throughout
every corner of the department that will ensure its success.
With Chair Neil Rofsky, SAR
members Lakshmi Ananthakrishnan and Gaurav Khatri, and a few of the UTSW residents
