Events

Join us in learning about the First Recorded Surgical Operation in North America at the first medical school on the US/Mexican border. Dr. Alan Tyroch, founding chair of surgery and trauma medical director, will explore Cabeza de Vaca’s journey as recorded in La Relación. Cabeza de Vaca was one of Tom Lea’s recurring characters. For the 50th anniversary of the Texas Surgical Society in 1965, he created a sketch that can be found in the lobby of Medical Sciences Building II on the TTUHSC El Paso campus, gifted by El Paso plastic surgeon Ronald Gum and his wife, Mary Ann. The ink wash painting is on display at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and the drawing at the Medical Sciences Building II. Dean Jeanne Novotney believed in the nobility and determination of Lea’s historic heroes, which helps inspire nursing students today. See the archetypes of El Paso history from Tom’s 1938 Pass of the North mural in the lobby of the Nursing Building on the TTUHSC El Paso campus. Dean Stephanie Woods and President Rick Lange will join us for wine and Native American light bites afterward, celebrating TTUHSC El Paso’s inclusion on the Tom Lea Trail.