Mission Statement

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Leadership for the Health Challenges of Tomorrow


We aspire to be the model health sciences university for the 21st century, dedicated to improving the health of the people of the State of Texas and the nation.
 
Health care is on the threshold of a new age in which we can do vastly more to understand and prevent illness, promote health, and restore normal function. These new abilities will require new approaches to education, research, and patient care.
 
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston will meet these new challenges by developing programs that embody four critical values: they must be comprehensive, incorporating the whole person in his/her physical, social, and genetic environments; humanitarian in their concern for patients; altruistic in their concern for society; and inter-professional in fostering a team approach to the prevention and treatment of illness.
 
In education ... we will instill in our students and faculty the commitment to a lifetime of learning, while empowering them to understand and to meet the evolving health needs of all segments of our society.
 
In research ... we will continue to create and evaluate new knowledge, particularly as it relates to the cause, prevention, and treatment of disease, and to the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health.
 
In patient care ... we will strive to provide appropriate, effective, and compassionate care that is accessible, affordable, and culturally sensitive--and that in all these qualities will serve as a model for others in Texas and across the nation.
 
In community service ... we will play a leadership role in educating the public about health, in fostering informed health policy, and in bringing real value to the health care system.
 
In institutional and personal development ... we will seek to develop in our institution and in our faculty, staff, and students those qualities that will be critical in meeting the broad challenges of health education, research, and care in the 21st century: collegiality, creativity, professionalism, compassion, cultural diversity, and a capacity for leadership.