UNT Health Fort Worth, formerly the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC), is an academic health science center in Fort Worth, Texas. It is part of the University of North Texas System and was founded in 1970 as the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, with its first cohort graduating in 1974. The health science center has consisted of four colleges since a 2026 reorganization, and enrolled 2,410 students in fall 2025.
UNT Health serves as home to several NIH-funded research programs and currently leads all Texas medical and health science centers in research growth. UNT Health also houses the Atrium Gallery, a nonprofit public art exhibition space which holds eight to 10 arts shows each year.
History
UNT Health Fort Worth was founded in 1970 as the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM). TCOM was the first osteopathic medical school to be established in Texas. The college initially operated out of the Fort Worth Osteopathic Hospital as well as a small white house and its adjacent garage. In 1971, classes were moved into the converted Taverner Bowling Alley.
In 1975, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 216. This law transformed TCOM into a state-supported medical school under the direction of North Texas State University's Board of Regents. TCOM used its state funding to break ground on several new facilities for its Fort Worth campus, which at the time was 16 acres.
In 1993, TCOM established its Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and renamed itself University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC). In 1999, UNTHSC opened its School of Public Health.
In 2004, UNTHSC opened a new Center for Biohealth facility. That same year, the university also opened its School of Health Professions.
In 2013, UNTHSC opened its College of Pharmacy. Its inaugural class consisted of 82 students pursuing a PharmD. By this time, the university comprised five colleges and its campus had expanded to 33 acres. In 2015, UNTHSC and TCU announced the creation of a joint MD school, which began matriculating students in 2018. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNTHSC partnered with the Tarrant County Department of Public Health to perform contact tracing. The program included 90 students working part time to interview people who tested positive for COVID and find out where they had traveled as well as who they had been in contact with.
In 2022, UNT Health Science Center's Physician Assistant, Health Care Management, Public Health, and Physical Therapy programs were ranked #33, #65, #90, and #97, respectively, by U.S. News & World Report. That same year, UNTHSC opened its Regional Simulation Center, a facility that uses virtual reality technology in conjunction with mannequins and multi-functional spaces in order to simulate health care scenarios. The facility is used as a training tool for medical students as well as more experienced health care providers aiming to hone new skills. Also in 2022, the School of Biomedical Sciences started UNTHSC's first bachelor's degree program in Biomedical Sciences. In 2023, UNTHSC further expanded by opening its College of Nursing. The school was founded in part to address the shortage of trained nurses in Tarrant County.
In September 2024, NBC News revealed that UNTHSC had received around 2,350 unclaimed bodies from Dallas County and Tarrant County since 2019, of which more than 830 bodies were subsequently selected for dissection and study. Some of these studies occurred without the pre-death consent of the deceased or the consent of their survivors. The leasing of unclaimed bodies and body parts, as well as related laboratory space, to for-profit medical device makers and others generated revenue for UNTHSC of around $2.5 million a year. In response to inquiries by NBC News, UNTHSC announced the closure of the BioSkills Lab, the suspension of its Willed Body Program, and the firing of the program's leadership.
In November 2024, UNT Health Science Center received a cease-and-desist letter from the Texas Funeral Service Commission, which stated that it had discovered in an October 2024 inspection that UNT Health Science Center had been liquefying human remains using water cremation, which the Commission claimed to be illegal in the state of Texas. The university responded by citing a section of the Texas administrative code allowing for the practice while also indicating that it had proactively stopped water cremation in September 2024.
In January 2025, UNT Health Science Center was awarded tenth place in the Lown Institute's 2024 Shkreli awards, which seek to highlight profiteering and dysfunction in the healthcare industry.
In July 2025, UNTHSC renamed itself UNT Health Forth Worth.
In February 2026, the University of North Texas System Board of Regents unanimously approved a reorganization and consolidation that reduced UNT Health from six colleges to four, effective June 1, 2026. The change was expected to save about $600,000 a year in administrative costs. The four remaining colleges are the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Biomedical and Translational Sciences, and the UNT System College of Pharmacy and Health Professions. No academic programs were eliminated.
Academics College Specialized accreditation Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM) American Osteopathic Association's COCA (osteopathic medicine); Council on Education for Public Health (public health programs) UNT System College of Pharmacy and Health Professions Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (pharmacy); American Physical Therapy Association (physical therapy) College of Biomedical and Translational Sciences None College of Nursing
UNT Health Science Center is governed by the University of North Texas Board of Regents. Since the 2026 reorganization, the health science center has been organized into four colleges, offering doctorate-, masters- and bachelors-level programs focusing on healthcare delivery and biomedical science. Doctoral degrees offered include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), and Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD).
Master's degrees include Master of Science, Master of Health Administration, and Master of Physician Assistant Studies. In 2021, SBS received preliminary accreditation from Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to offer an online bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences. The initial cohort started in fall 2022, and was the first undergraduate program at UNT Health Science Center.
Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine The Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM) was founded in 1970. It is a public medical school and the first osteopathic medical school in Texas. As a primary care-oriented school, TCOM trains and graduates a large number of U.S. medical students entering general practice fields (e.g. family medicine, internal medicine, or pediatrics), and from 2018 to 2020, fifty-two percent of its graduates matriculated into these fields.
Medical curriculum TCOM's medical curriculum consists of two years of pre-clinical studies and two years of clinical rotations. The first year consists of introductory basic science (e.g. anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, and immunology) integrated with physiologic processes structured by body system (cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic, musculoskeletal, renal, neurologic, and endocrine). During this time, students also learn physical examination, doctor-patient interactions, and the principles of osteopathic, palpatory diagnosis and manipulative therapy.
After learning the physiologic foundations during the first year, the second-year curriculum shifts focus to disease processes and pathology, which are also organized by body system. TCOM's systems-based, two-pass preclinical curriculum, piloted by Bruce Dubin, DO, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, has remained the same since conception in 2010 and is now widely replicated at sister osteopathic medical schools (e.g. RVUCOM, KCUMB-COM, etc.). After the first two years, medical students are assigned a third year base site for third year clinical rotations in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, psychiatry, and pediatrics.
COMLEX Board Scores TCOM medical students achieved the highest exam score average, relative to students from all other U.S. osteopathic medical schools, on their COMLEX-USA ("Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States") Level 1 Exam in 2019, 2020, and 2022. Level 1, the osteopathic counterpart to NBME's USMLE Step 1, is the first of three exams required for board certification of osteopathic physicians from U.S. medical schools granting the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree. Annual tuition fees since 2020 have covered a 6-month subscription to USMLE World ("UWorld") and TrueLearn ("COMBANK") test bank questions.
Teaching hospitals
Primary teaching hospitals JPS Health Network in Fort Worth – The primary teaching institution of Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM). Anchored by a 578-bed acute care hospital, the network includes more than 25 community-based clinics. John Peter Smith Hospital is home to Tarrant County's first Level I Trauma Center and its only psychiatric emergency services site, which is also the second-busiest psychiatric ER in the country. It is one of two Level I Trauma Centers in Tarrant County. Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth – The primary pediatric teaching institution for TCOM, this hospital is licensed for 430 beds and is one of the largest freestanding pediatric medical centers in the U.S. The hospital also has an ACS verified level II pediatric trauma center. Texas Health Resources (THR) Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth – Awarded the highest advanced certification by The Joint Commission as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, the 726-bed hospital is also the first in the country to earn the prestigious designation as a Joint Commission Primary Heart Attack Center. Texas Health Resources is the largest faith-based, nonprofit health system in North Texas in terms of inpatients and outpatients served. It is considered a Level I Trauma Center. Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Dallas – Home to one of Dallas County's 3 Level 1 Trauma Centers and to a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Methodist Dallas is licensed for 556 beds. Awarded a Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission, the hospital serves more than 175,000 patients per year. Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi – Driscoll Children's Hospital is a 191-bed pediatric tertiary care center with more than 30 medical and surgical specialties offering care throughout South Texas, including Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley, Victoria, and Laredo. The hospital remains the only free-standing children's hospital in South Texas. In 2020, Driscoll had almost 122,000 patient visits, including almost 28,000 patients seen at South Texas' first emergency room created exclusively for children. Medical City Fort Worth and Medical City Dallas – Medical City Fort Worth and Medical City Dallas are 2 of 10 Medical City Healthcare Hospitals to be recognized with an "A" Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade in 2021. The former is licensed for 348 beds; the latter, 668 beds. Part of the Texas Stroke Institute's Stroke Care Network, the hospitals are designated Comprehensive Stroke Centers and Joint Commission-certified chest pain centers.
Satellite campuses Medical City Weatherford (Weatherford, TX) CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi - Shoreline and Corpus Christi Medical Center (Corpus Christi, TX) HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe (Conroe, TX) Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center - Longview (Longview, TX)
Affiliated foreign teaching hospitals Daeyang Luke Hospital, Malawi