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Looking for a better way to understand and appreciate the HSC’s 50-year journey? Spend a few minutes with Danny Jensen. Jensen joined the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1984 as its governmental affairs lead. Thirty-six years later, he continues to spearhead legislative strategy but now on behalf of a large and much more diverse HSC. As a direct contact to local, state and federal officials, his voice carries our story into offices, hallways and meeting rooms across Fort Worth, Austin, and Washington.

Legislative appropriations remain the funding lifeblood of state institutions. Jensen has been instrumental in gaining state support that has added to campus the Gibson D. Lewis Library, Health Pavilion, Center for BioHealth, Medical Education and Training Building (MET), and most recently, Interdisciplinary Research and Education Building (IREB). His efforts also were key to establishing the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, School of Health Professions, and UNT System College of Pharmacy.

Beyond the facilities and programs that serve HSC academic and research needs, Jensen’s work also has bolstered efforts to better serve needs outside our walls. Most notable was his role in identifying funds to establish the Center for Human Identification, the HSC’s accredited forensic laboratory that is globally recognized for its leadership in forensic identification.

“Danny’s heart is as big as the State of Texas – a state he dearly loves and serves,” says 19-year HSC colleague Susan Ross. “He is a great HSC historian, and storyteller and more importantly, friend.”

That is a view shared by all who have come to know Danny Jensen well. In celebrating 50 years of HSC history, this hero’s work is inseparable from the growth in size and stature of the health science center he so proudly serves.

Honor your HSC hero today! Please make a tribute gift, submit a photo or share a story that you value. Join us throughout 2020 as we celebrate the people, events and innovations that made UNTHSC all it is today — and look ahead to the next 50 years. For the 50th anniversary, team members nominated people whose contributions make them HSC Heroes. Each week, a new Hero will be revealed. View the list of all our Hero profiles published so far this year. There is a new one each week.

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