Allied Health school renamed to School of Health Professions

The Academic Council and Board of Trustees at Baylor College of Medicine have approved the renaming of the School of Allied Health Sciences to the School of Health Professions.

Established in 2005, the Baylor College of Medicine School of Health Professions was founded to administer the long-standing Physician Assistant Program and Doctor of Nursing Practice Program in Nurse Anesthesia. Since then, an Orthotics and Prosthetics Program opened in 2013 and a new Genetic Counseling Program, established in July 2017, will welcome its first class this fall.

“We needed a more inclusive and comprehensive name for our School,” said Dr. Robert McLaughlin, dean of the School of Health Professions at Baylor. “We reviewed inclusive academic units at academic medical centers nationwide and collected names from top-tier institutions that our School commonly benchmarks and then formally presented the name change to College leadership.”

In the future, McLaughlin hopes to rightsize the current programs to reflect the growing need across the spectrum of health professions, expand the platform of degree programs and add certificate programs in concert with the School’s education mission strategic plan. The new name will better describe this vision.

“The name change reflects the evolution in healthcare delivery and the important role that health professionals play in the delivery of high quality patient care,” said Dr. Alicia Monroe, provost and senior vice president of academic and faculty affairs at Baylor. “It also emphasizes the importance of team based care to optimize quality, efficiency, effectiveness and the patient experience. All team members have to be involved in the delivery of healthcare to optimize the patient experience.”