El Paso School of Medicine Receives $50 Million Gift

        The El Paso School of Medicine will be named in honor of Paul L. Foster, president and CEO of Western Refining, Inc.   Foster donated $50 million to the El Paso School of Medicine, the largest gift ever to be received in the Texas Tech University System.  

        The funds provided will initially help finance faculty recruitment, salaries, and state-of-the-art equipment for cutting-edge research.   The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine will create new opportunities vital for research and advances in healthcare that will profoundly affect the region, state, nation and world.

        “We are so grateful to Mr. Foster for making an extraordinary gift to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso. His generosity and foresight will enhance the El Paso community and touch future generations of physicians and researchers as they pursue cutting-edge advances in border health and other health care initiatives,” said Texas Tech University System Chancellor Kent Hance.

     TTUHSC President John C. Baldwin, M.D., said “Mr. Foster’s gift to the El Paso School of Medicine is an outstanding example of the support this community has shown Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. We are honored to be the recipient of such a generous gift. Its impact on El Paso will be profoundly positive.”

         Foster founded Western Refining Inc., an independent refinery and marketing company headquartered in El Paso, Texas, in 1997.  In 2000, Foster, a native Texan, moved to El Paso as Western Refining acquired the assets formerly owned by El Paso Refinery, L.P.  And in 2003, Western bought Chevron Texaco’s refinery in El Paso.

Left to Right, Paul L. Foster, Kelly Overly, Rick Francis and Chancellor Kent Hance