Funding set aside for Hunt School of Dental Medicine
When Texas lawmakers recently approved a $250.7 billion, two-year state budget, they also includes an appropriation of $20 million to establish the Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso.
The Hunt School of Dental Medicine is expected to welcome its first class of students in 2021 with administrators already busy making staff and curriculum selections.
“We are very pleased that our state lawmakers recognized the need to close the gaps of dental health disparities in West Texas and support the creation of the Hunt School of Dental Medicine in El Paso,” said TTUHSC El Paso President Richard Lange. “I applaud our El Paso legislative delegation for their work in pursuing funding for the school, and thank the community for supporting our vision of improved dental health care for the Borderland and West Texas.”
The dental school will be a welcome addition to the Borderland where El Paso has a 57% shortage of general dentists compared to the national average.
Additionally, El Paso has been designated as a Dental Health Professional Shortage Area by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Hunt School of Dental Medicine will be housed in the five-story Medical Sciences Building II which is now under construction on the TTUHSC El Paso campus.
