TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | m a r c h 2 0 1 5 18 The full force of the hurricane hit Sept. 8. By the time it was over, between 6,000 and 8,000 lives were lost in Galveston, and the majority of the island's struc- tures were destroyed. Nicholas Clayton rode out the storm in Galveston, and was shocked to find much of his life's work still standing, including Old Red. Though badly dam- aged, it fared better than most buildings on the island. The walls were intact, but most of the roof was destroyed, as was the dome. UTMB physicians tended to the injured. Just days after the storm, a telegram from Beauregard Bryan, a regent of the University of Texas, declared, "The University of Texas stops for no storm." It became a rallying cry for the campus, and two short months after the hurricane, UTMB opened its doors again. In fact, thanks to the UT regents' gen- erosity, UTMB was repaired and restored to be better than ever. The next decades saw a highly anticipated visit from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937, and new con- struction as the medical school outgrew Old Red. Another local disaster, the Texas City explo- sion in 1947, called upon UTMB physicians to care for about 800 of those who were injured when a ship carrying nitrate-based fertilizer exploded, killing nearly 600 and injuring over 3,000. Truman Blocker Jr., M.D., a professor and chief of plastic and maxillofacial surgery at the time of the disaster oversaw treatment of the victims. Blocker became world- renowned for his work with burn victims, much of which was inspired by the victims of the Texas City explosion, still to this day the worst industrial disas- ter in U.S. history. As a result, Blocker was largely responsi- ble for bringing the Shriners Hospitals for Children to the UTMB campus in the 1960s, making UTMB the location of the very first of the Shriners' burns institutes. In 1967, the UT regents named him the first president of UTMB. The burn treatment center in John Sealy Hospital, one of the world's lead- ing burn facilities, is called the Blocker Burn Unit. The mid-1900s represented a bit of a shift in focus for UTMB. Chauncey Leake, Ph.D., became dean of UTMB in 1942 and during his 13-year tenure brought an increased emphasis on research. Leake expanded academic programs on campus and offered increased laboratory space to faculty. "He really pushed that a medical school is not just a teaching school, it is a research institution," said Wooten. While the expansion of the university brought about excit- ing developments, it also nearly caused the demise of Old Red. In the 1960s, the building was set to be demolished in order to build a parking lot. "By the '60s, it was pretty much used for subsidiary offices or storage. It did not have the same importance anymore," said Wooten. "With technology advancing, Old Red couldn't han- dle it and became obsolete." Armond Goldman, M.D., a UTMB graduate and professor in the Department of Pediatrics for nearly five decades, recalled the discussion happening at the time. "The thought was, 'Well, there's this old building here, and we can use it to attract more SHRINERS HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN— GALVESTON opened on the UTMB campus in 1966 Medical staff and patients greet President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his 1937 visit to Galveston.

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