New DeBakey High School to rise in Houston’s medical center

HOUSTON – The Houston Independent School District will build a new 195,000-sf DeBakey High School for Health Professions to house up to 1,000 students in the Texas Medical Center. It is expected to be completed by fall 2016.

The new five-story school will be built on the Edwin Hornberger Conference Center site, near Pressler St. and Holcombe Blvd., as well as part of the location for the old Shamrock Hotel.

The "heart of the school" will be an atrium, which will go through the center of the building, and on the first floor will be a cafeteria and gathering center for events. Floors two through five will be dedicated to academics.

The new school will feature teaching labs for dental, rehabilitation and patient care with mannequins similar to what community colleges and universities use, and the sciences labs are designed to feel more like a research lab instead of a high school science classroom.

The current DeBakey School is located on Shenandoah St. near the South Fwy. Its purpose is to prepare students for a career in the health care industry. It recently ranked as one of the best schools in the state for STEM programs.

Read more at the Houston Business Journal.