This school was established on May 5, 1943, by Southwestern Medical Foundation to serve Dallas and North Texas. The foundation, organized in 1939 by Dr. Edward H. Cary, E. R. Brown, Karl Hoblitzelle, and Dr. Hall Shannon, promoted quality medical education in Dallas that met the standards of the nationally-accepted Flexner Report. Dr. Cary, the driving force behind the school and foundation, served as president of the foundation until his death in 1953. Classes for 200 students began on July 1, 1943, and within six months the school was accredited with a top rating by the American Medical Association. Classes were held here in pre-fabricated military buildings near Parkland Hospital, its main teaching hospital partner. During World War II, the school became the army specialized training unit for the Eighth Service Command of the United States Army. Third- and fourth-year students were classified as army soldiers and many worked as military medical officers. In 1949, Southwestern became affiliated with the University of Texas (UT), introducing the school to additional resources. Beginning in 1968, dean Dr. Charles C. Sprague guided a period of growth fueled by funding from the UT system, the State of Texas, and Southwestern Medical Foundation donors to double the size of the campus and number of students, as well as enlarge the center’s educational, clinical, and research abilities. The important research work of the school, now named UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been honored with five faculty awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine between 1985 and 2013, along with one awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1988. (2017)