Last Wednesday, the UTRGV School of Medicine inaugurated the UT Health Rio Grande Valley Surgery and Women’s Specialty clinic in Harlingen with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the facility.
Ash Hilmy, a professor of surgery for the UTRGV School of Medicine, said the clinic will provide medical care for the residents of the Rio Grande Valley and also educate medical students.
“We do have medical school meetings here, we have students rotating with our faculty here, observing and participating in patient care,” Hilmy said. “We have a conference room, we give lectures for surgery students, so it’s a busy enterprise.”
Services offered at the clinic include general, bariatric, vascular and endocrine surgeries, and consultations and procedures related to gynecologic oncology and urogynecology.
“We are growing and there are more and more services offered here today than there were previously,” Hilmy said. “Patients don’t have to leave the Rio Grande Valley, they don’t need to go to San Antonio or Houston, because we are bringing more and more specialists to serve the needs of our community.”
During the event, Michael Patriarca, executive vice dean for the School of Medicine, said the clinic will potentially serve as a research site.
“This site will eventually serve as a clinical research site, where we gather data on patients and making findings on the Hispanic, understudied population that has needed it so
badly,” Patriarca said.
Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell spoke about the importance of the clinic, its impact on the community and on the students.
“This is a place where medical students who train less and less in the classroom and more and more in facilities like this are going to get to learn about practicing medicine,” Boswell said.
The Surgery and Women’s Specialty Center team includes:
Department of Surgery:
–Dr. Vijian Dhevan, general surgery
–Dr. Ash Hilmy, general and
vascular surgery
–-Dr. Henry Reinhart, endocrine and general surgery
–Dr. Minerva Romero Arenas, endocrine and general surgery
–Dr. Samuel Snyder, endocrine and general surgery
Department of Obstretrics and Gynecology:
–Dr. Laura Faye Gephart, female pelvic medicine and
reconstructive surgery
–Dr. Lyuba Levine, gynecology oncology
–Dr. Mark Reedy, obstetrics and gynecology.
The clinic is located at 614 Maco Dr. in Harlingen.
