Round Rock preps for new med school

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) - Despite the troubling economic times, there is some good news out of Williamson County. Texas A&M University is expanding its medical school and Thursday officially broke ground on the new building in Round Rock.

When completed, the new Health Science Center will sit near FM 1460 and County Road 112. Local representatives such as Sen. Steve Ogden helped lobby for the $55 million project.

At a time when Central Texas is growing and aging faster than future doctors can be trained, many at the ceremony said investing in education and healthcare is the smart thing to do. The family of Dr. Nelson Avery helped the project along by donating and selling land from the Avery family farm. Ancestors of the Avery family settled on the land after arriving from Sweden in 1854.

"This is an infrastructure that reaches everyone," said Avery. "Everyone needs healthcare, and for those of us that are fortunate enough to send our children to higher education, we want it to be affordable and we'd like it to be close by."

The building will be completed in fall 2009, but already 35 medical students are going through rotations in Williamson County.