In 1966, the first Shriners Burns Institute opened at the University of Texas Medical Branch on Galveston Island. The institute was the first facility completely devoted to child burn treatment in the world. It offered state-of-the-art facilities and treatment to severely burned children without any charge to the families.

Since the Galveston burn institute's opening and that of several others throughout the late 1960s, a burned child's chances of survival have increased more than 50 percent.

Grace Cynkar's presentation will discuss the historic events, trends and people that led the Shriners to select Galveston as the first location of their revolutionary treatment center, followed by an examination of the first Shriners Burns Institute itself.