HSC Regional Centers
Coastal Bend Health Education Center
The Texas A&M Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center, located in Corpus Christi and established in 1999 through Senate Bill 590, provides health education for present and future health professionals as well as for the greater Coastal Bend community. In delivering health education programs, HSC-CBHEC has been successful in regionalizing programs and resources by partnering with colleges, universities, and hospital systems. CBHEC’s initiatives address student recruitment into health careers, medical education for physicians, and community awareness on wellness and public health issues pertinent to the 19-county Coastal Bend region. CBHEC programs also address the area’s high priority health care issues such as diabetes care and access to prescription medications. The diabetes education program provides classes for patients as well as health care professionals. The center, in conjunction with the CHRISTUS-Spohn Family Medicine Residency program, offers clinical clerkships that expose residents to Rural Medicine as well as to prepare them in the management of diabetes. Finally, the Prescription Assistance Program helps the uninsured secure access to much needed prescription medications through federal assistance programs.
South Texas Center
The Texas A&M Health Science Center South Texas Center (STC), located in McAllen and established in 2004, seeks to address both critical health-related concerns facing the residents of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the health-related workforce shortages present in the region. The STC has fostered the establishment and delivery of educational programs in allied health and graduate education in public health through partnerships with South Texas College and the Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health. Other outreach programs and research initiatives offered through the STC focus on the unique health-related needs of individuals living in nearby colonias, environmental exposures impacting health, and factors contributing to the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Finally, in conjunction with the Health Science Center Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, the STC strives to help those in need obtain needed prescription medications and to decrease the critical shortage of pharmacists in the Valley.
