Johnston: Med School a "Rare Opportunity

AUSTIN—The opening of the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin is sure to be a game-changer for the city.

No one knows that more than neurologist Clay Johnston, the school's inaugural dean who will give the keynote address, “What a Health Care Revolution Looks Like in Austin,” at GlobeSt.com's inaugural RealShare AUSTIN conference on June 2 at the W Hotel.

In his role at the medical school, Johnston's primary focus is helping to make the city—and its health care system—healthier.

“I've focused for the last several years on encouraging and catalyzing new models and discoveries that can help people to get healthy and stay healthy,” Johnston told GlobeSt.com. “I'm now focused on transforming the health care system in Austin in ways that help make this a model healthy city.”

And he knows that the medical center is likely to have a great impact on the city's development.

“There's no question that a number of projects and initiatives will benefit from proximity to the Dell Medical School, and that will create demand for growth, particularly in underutilized parts of downtown,” he says. “I'm hopeful that this growth will proceed in a healthy, coherent way that benefits all of our neighbors as well as the city and county as a whole.”

For attendees at the upcoming RealShare conference, Johnston hopes his address inspires, as well as offers a unique perspective.

“I hope [attendees will] come away with an appreciation for the rare opportunity that we have in building a medical school from scratch in this dynamic city,” he says, “as well as a vision for the health ecosystem and model healthy city that we're trying to create.”

Click here to register for RealShare Austin.