Facility Grand Opening Lauds New Horizons in Health Care, Veterinary Medicine Education for Rio Grande Valley
Story by Laura Tolentino, Texas A&M Health
Texas A&M University marks the expansion of its McAllen campus to include state-of-the-art nursing and veterinary medicine & biomedical sciences facility.
Photo by Palacios Photography
The grand opening of the Nursing Education and Research Building (NERB) put a bow on a collaborative effort to bolster education and health care opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley with a ceremonial ribbon cutting Thursday at the Texas A&M University Higher Education Center at McAllen (HECM).
The 61,000-square-foot facility houses both the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ One Health Hub and the Texas A&M College of Nursing.
Celebrations included remarks from Texas A&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar and District 20 Texas State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa.
“Today celebrates years’ worth of collaborative efforts to amplify the best of Texas A&M education, research, and resources across Texas,” Hegar said. “As we recognize the need for enhanced educational opportunities and maximized health care access in the Valley — a cultural, agricultural and economic hub for our state — it only makes sense that the Texas A&M Colleges of Nursing and of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences would step up to the plate. Aggies answer the call, and we’re proud to mark this important milestone for Texas A&M and the McAllen community today.”
The Texas A&M System Board of Regents authorized construction of the nearly $50 million facility in 2023, which includes 5,000 square feet of space that will be leveraged by the VMBS for One Health programming, accessing learning and outreach opportunities and research laboratories exploring transboundary diseases, zoonotic diseases, veterinary public health, and large animal biosecurity efforts. The VMBS also plans to expand opportunities for dual-language programs in public health outreach and education.
Veterinarians, scientists, students and community partners all play an important role in keeping Texans safe from infectious diseases that affect both animals and humans, said Dr. Bonnie Rush, The Carl B. King Dean of Veterinary Medicine at the VMBS.
“Our research scientists, students, and community partners play an important role in identifying novel solutions to recognize, prevent, and treat high-consequence pathogens that affect both animals and humans. They are also developing mitigation strategies to prevent transmission of pathogens that threaten the safety of the U.S. food supply,” she said.
“Our faculty researchers working in South Texas intend to use this resource to develop biosecurity strategies to combat emerging, transboundary, zoonotic, and infectious diseases,” she said. “With the opening of this outstanding facility, they will use our new research laboratory to screen wildlife and domestic animals for signs of transboundary diseases like New World Screwworm and African Swine Fever — diseases that are not currently in the U.S. but are knocking on the door.”
The VMBS also will be able to expand research opportunities for its 143 McAllen-based biomedical sciences majors, as research faculty will work closely with the McAllen-based students while collecting border samples in South Texas.
Finally, the VMBS’ One Health hub will serve as a “home away from home” for its Veterinary Emergency Team (VET) during South Texas deployments, emergency planning activities and annual participation in Operation Border Health (OBH), the State of Texas’ disaster readiness exercise that allows Texas A&M entities to provide no-cost preventive care to Rio Grande Valley residents and pets.
Having already treated thousands of animals during OBH — providing more than 4,000 total veterinary services during the 2024 operation alone — VET looks forward to returning to Raymondville in July for its fifth OBH, Rush said.
The event also celebrated the building’s first semester of operation as it hosts an inaugural cohort of 24 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students in South Texas.
Through its four-semester traditional BSN program delivered entirely at HECM, the College of Nursing expects to add 100 students to the nursing workforce annually.
Texas A&M has had a presence in McAllen since 2004, beginning with Texas A&M Health. HECM launched programming in 2017 before opening its campus a year later and now offers 10 academic programs.
Even as the Valley community and Texas A&M System come together to celebrate the long-anticipated program growth and facilities provided by the NERB, in true Aggie form, focus stays planted firmly on the horizon. Plans for expansion include a state-of-the-art research facility, where Texas A&M AgriLife Research will conduct research ranging from local health needs to biosecurity.
During Thursday’s ceremony, speakers from across the Texas A&M System — in addition to Hegar, Hinojosa, and Rush — lauded the milestone as a mark of collaborative innovation:
- Ernest Aliseda, JD, LLM, chief operating officer and associate vice president for the Texas A&M Higher Education Center at McAllen.
- Glenn Hegar, Texas A&M University System chancellor.
- Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, Texas state senator, District 20.
- Indra K. Reddy, PhD, interim chief operating officer and senior vice president of Texas A&M Health.
- Leann Horsley, PhD, MBA, RN, dean of the Texas A&M College of Nursing.
To learn more about Texas A&M Health’s programming at the Higher Education Center at McAllen, read Laura Tolentino’s full article on Vital Record.
