School that prepares students ‘for the world’ dedicates new home
DeBakey High opens doors to $67M campus in the Medical Center
When Diana Tran-Yu first came to the U.S. as a refugee, her dreams of working in the health field were far off.
The 47-year-old, who escaped from Vietnam by boat with her family at just 6 years old, could never have imagined that many years later she would be teaching students how to build robots as part of a United States Navy program. Tran-Yu’s decision was cemented during a career fair at HISD’s Jackson Middle School where she first heard about Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions. She learned the school was for students interested in working in health care.
“The school embraced diversity, minorities, and DeBakey embraced students from impoverished neighborhoods,” Tran-Yu said. “My parents could’ve never afforded to put me in private school. I think the curriculum I gained (at DeBakey) was even better than most private schools.”
Tran-Yu, who graduated from DeBakey in 1988, is just one of many students who have been impacted by the educational institution started more than 40 years ago. The school held its official ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday afternoon to celebrate its new location at the edge of the Texas Medical Center. The $67 million-dollar project features new medical training equipment with teaching labs for dentistry, rehabilitation and patient care. Students will also be able to learn in mock hospital rooms and innovative science labs.
The project is part of HISD’s 2012 bond program, allowing 40 schools to be rebuilt or renovated. Construction is underway on three dozen other projects in the district. Eight projects are supposed to open for the 2017-2018 school year.
The education that students are receiving at DeBakey High will one day make “them people that will solve cancer, the people that will solve the issues of health that plague us as a society, as a race,” HISD Superintendent Richard Carranza said during the ceremony. “These are the students that will one day be leading medical technology in ways that we’ve
never known.”
The school is named for pioneering cardiovascular surgeon Michael E. DeBakey, who created the “roller pump” a device that provided continuous blood flow during operations, making open-heart surgery possible. DeBakey also established the concept behind the coronary bypass.
He would go on to serve as professor of surgery and chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, eventually becoming president and then chancellor.
The school was established in 1972 through a partnership with HISD and Baylor College of Medicine. DeBakey wanted to attract students to the health care field early on and also establish opportunities for students from under-represented backgrounds.
“The genesis of the idea for DeBakey High School was commitment, vision and partnership,” said Alicia Monroe, Baylor College of Medicine provost. “Our students are not afraid of hard work. Our teachers set a high bar of commitment and they invest in our students to make sure they learn in an the environment that inspires them to achieve.”
Tran-Yu has taken those values to heart since her time at DeBakey, even working with the famed surgeon. She now is part of the Navy City Outreach program, in which she assists in recruiting people to the Navy from diverse backgrounds. She also teaches students across the country from impoverished neighborhoods like where she grew up in southeast Houston, creating a passion for the sciences similar to the one she developed during her time at DeBakey.
“(DeBakey) impacted us immensely, profoundly, not just the preparation of college or graduate school,” said Tran-Yu. “It prepared us for the world.”