DR. KIM MONDAY - Key Persons
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- Residency / Fellowship Program Coordinator II
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- Senior Administrative Assistant
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- Senior Program Manager / Research Administration
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- Medical School in 1974 As Clinical Associate Professor
C. Frank Webber, MD, was named dean by Health Science Center President Roger Bulger following Dr. Ernst Knobil's resignation.
Webber joined the Medical School in 1974 as clinical associate professor of family medicine and was chair of the Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine from 1975 to 1984 and assistant dean for community affairs 1982-84. He also served as vice president for health affairs and senior executive associate to the president of the Health Science Center. He was the director of medical education for the Memorial Hospital System for a decade.
He received his medical degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He completed an internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and a residency in surgery there. He graduated from the School of Aerospace Medicine and was a flight surgeon with the XVIII Airborne Corps at Ft. Bragg, NC.
He died due to heart-related illness just 5 months into the dean role.
The green space between the Medical School and the Jesse Jones Library Building is dedicated in honor of C. Frank Webber -Webber Plaza.
There, inscribed on a granite plaque is a poem written in remembrance of Webber by former chair of the Department of Surgery, Dr. Frank Moody:
Job Titles:
- Senior Administrative Assistant
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- Senior Administrative Manager / Administration
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- Residency / Fellowship Program Coordinator II / Vascular Neurology
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- Manager, Business Development / Administration
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- Credentialing Coordinator / Administration
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- Senior Program Manager / Administration
An internationally known pediatrician and a champion of pediatric global health, Dr. Barbara J. Stoll served as the first woman dean of McGovern Medical School from Oct. 1, 2015 to June 30, 2020.
During her tenure as dean, Dr. Barbara J. Stoll oversaw extraordinary growth in the Medical School size and research initiatives and the transformation of educational programs. The faculty increased by 13 percent and research expenditures grew by 26 percent from $133M to $168M, which importantly reflected an increase in the number of NIH grants by 83 percent from 145 to 266. The extraordinary expansion and development of new programs was uniquely enabled by the transformational McGovern gift, an enduring and powerful legacy that was initiated during her tenure.
Stoll joined UTHealth from Emory University School of Medicine, where she spent the previous decade as the George W. Brumley, Jr., Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics. She also served as the president and CEO of the Emory-Children's Center and director of the Pediatric Center of Georgia, a joint venture between Emory and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
The Medical School's third dean, Dr. Ernst Knobil was a giant in the field of neuroendocrinology. His research provided the basis for our understanding of the female reproductive function.
Born in Berlin, Germany, he moved with his parents to Paris in the 1930s, where he spent his childhood. In 1940, the family departed Europe for the United States on the USS Manhattan, the last ship to leave Genoa for Ellis Island prior to World War II. He served two years in the U.S. Army before completing his undergraduate degree in Animal Science and a Ph.D. in zoology (1951) at Cornell University.
As a student working in the laboratories of Dr. Samuel L. Leonard at Cornell and later, Dr. Roy O. Greep at Harvard, Knobil's early research and teaching experiences set the stage for a lifetime of discovery and scholarship as an endocrinologist and systems biologist. In 1953, he received his first faculty appointment as an instructor at Harvard Medical School. There he was named a prestigious Markle Scholar and quickly rose through the ranks while teaching physiology to many of the leading academic leaders in medicine today.
From 1961 to 1981, Knobil built the Department of Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine into an internationally recognized program as the first Richard Beatty Mellon Professor of Physiology and chair of the new department. He trained nearly 70 postdoctoral fellows and six graduate students, many of whom are today leading departments of physiology at universities and research facilities around the world. His students refer fondly to their training in the "Knobilab."
In 1981, Knobil joined The University of Texas Medical School at Houston Medical School (now McGovern Medical School) as dean. During those years, he took the challenge of raising tenure and academic standards for faculty that reached beyond one medical school to influence the entire University of Texas System. Following his tenure as dean, he remained active in the laboratory and classroom until his death on April 13, 2000.
In 1994, his fellows organized The Ernst Knobil Symposium at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, requiring an entire weekend for colleagues around the world to summarize his impact on their training and careers. As the H. Wayne Hightower Professor of the Medical Sciences and director of the Laboratory for Neuroendocrinology at the Medical School, he was named an Ashbel Smith Professor by the UT System Board of Regents in 1989 for his lifetime contributions to academic medicine.
His research, spanning five decades, localized the pulse generator in the hypothalamus controlling the neuropeptide gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) that serves as the basis for our understanding of the 28-day ovulatory menstrual cycle. This led to the successful treatment of women suffering with infertility of hypothalamic origin with over a 90 percent successful pregnancy rate.
His many research contributions also included an understanding of the species specificity of growth hormone, which led directly and for the first time to the successful treatment of human pituitary dwarfs.
An internationally known researcher and pediatrician, Dr. Giuseppe N. Colasurdo became dean and H. Wayne Hightower Distinguished Professor in the Medical Sciences of The University of Texas Medical School (now McGovern Medical School) Sept. 1, 2007. He was named president and the Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Oct. 22, 2012, and continued to serve as dean until his successor was appointed, Oct. 1, 2015.
Born in Morrone Del Sannio, Italy, Dr. Colasurdo completed his undergraduate education at Liceo Scientifico Galileo Galilei in Pescara, Italy. He earned his medical degree summa cum laude from G. D'Annunzio School of Medicine in Chieti, Italy. Determined to achieve the best medical training in the world, Colasurdo decided to come to the United States in 1988.
He completed his residency at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and his fellowship at the University of Colorado Health Science Center and the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. In Colorado, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Gary L. Larsen and initiated his studies on the autonomic regulation of the airway smooth muscle, the biology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, and ontogeny of airway dysfunction and inflammation in childhood asthma.
Colasurdo joined the Medical School's faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine. He became the division head in 1997 and started directing the fellowship training program in pediatric pulmonary medicine in 2001. He was named chair of the Department of Pediatrics in 2005. He was appointed president ad interim of UTHealth April 1, 2011.
Colasurdo specializes in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), pediatric asthma, and other lung disorders in infants and children. Dr. Colasurdo has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Children's Miracle Network, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
His numerous awards include the Dean's Excellence Awards, the David W. Smith Trainee Award from the Western Society for Pediatric Research, and the Basic Scientist Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. In 2008, he received Houston's Executive Communicator of the Year Award from the International Association of Business Communicators; the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Department of Pediatrics at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB); was elected to faculty membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society-Houston Delta Chapter; received the Facolta di Medicina e Chirurgia Award from the G. D'Annunzio School of Medicine in Chieti, Italy; and received the Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, presented by the Consul General of Italy.
In addition to publishing more than 120 manuscripts, abstracts, book chapters, and review articles, Colasurdo holds editorial reviewer positions on several scientific journals, including The American Journal of Physiology, The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and Pediatric Pulmonology.
A strong proponent of preserving and promoting the best in medical education, Colasurdo brought to our school two fellowship training programs recognized by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education: pediatric pulmonology and pediatric critical care. He has trained numerous fellows and junior faculty currently holding positions in academic centers. He created a Division of Medical Education in the Department of Pediatrics dedicated to focusing on new strategies and technologies for resident learning.
As dean, Colasurdo created a structure to promote health care quality and safety throughout the clinical, research, and educational missions of the Medical School. He also promulgated a Scholarly Concentrations Program aimed at helping medical students enrich their academic pathways into medical specialties. Under his leadership, the UT Physicians clinical practice of the Medical School has expanded beyond the confines of the Texas Medical Center and into the neighborhoods of Houston and surrounding areas.
Licensed to practice medicine in Italy, Texas, and Colorado, Colasurdo remains an active clinical pulmonologist and has hospital privileges at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, and MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is the CEO and president of UT Physicians, the medical practice of McGovern Medical School.
Dr. Louis Faillace joined the Medical School as the school's founding chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 1971, and was recruited by Dr. Cheves Smythe.
Faillace served as interim dean of the Medical School following the resignation of Dr. Ernst Knobil. He played a key role in several important clinical affiliations and decisions in the formative years of the Medical School, including the UT affiliation with the Harris County Psychiatric Center, the Medical School's affiliation with the Harris County Hospital District's Lyndon Baines Johnson General Hospital, and the transfer from the state of the Texas Research Institute for Mental Sciences to the UT Mental Sciences Institute in 1985.
He earned his medical degree from Marquette University School of Medicine and completed an internship at Boston City Hospital. He was an assistant resident at Bellevue Hospital in psychiatry and completed research fellowships at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and Harvard University. He completed an additional residency in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. He served as chair of the Department of Psychiatry until 1987.
He presently is a professor emeritus of psychiatry. The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences was named in his honor in 2019, making it the Louis A. Faillace, MD Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Dr. Robert Tuttle was recruited to the Medical School by Dr. Cheves Smythe in 1971 as professor of microbiology and the associate dean for academic affairs. As associate dean, his job was to create the Medical School's curriculum with a thin faculty and virtually no facilities or resources. Faculty recruitment as well as student recruitment also was a top priority for the start-up school.
Tuttle was named acting dean in March 1975, and he then focused his attention on completing phases II and III of the Medical School Building, which added 852,000 feet of lab, classroom, and administrative space to the John Freeman Building, which was phase I. Tuttle was named permanent dean in December of 1975.
Tuttle came to the Medical School from Bowman Gray School of Medicine in North Carolina. He received his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and did an internship in medicine at the Strong Memorial Hospital of the University of Rochester. He also pursued training in tropical medicine at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Bowman Gray School of Medicine.
He resigned from the Medical School in 1981. He died Nov. 26, 2004.
Job Titles:
- Senior Administrative Coordinator / Administration
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- Administrative Assistant / Mitchell Center
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- Senior Administrative Assistant
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- Senior Residency / Fellowship Program Coordinator / Residency Program
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- Senior Program Manager / Research Administration
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- Senior Administrative Assistant
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- Research Coordinator I / Mitchell Center
Jerry S. Wolinsky, MD, former interim dean of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston (now McGovern Medical School), was the holder of the Bartels Family and Opal C. Rankin Professorship of Neurology. He was named interim dean of the Medical School in June 2006.
He also was a faculty member of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the director of the Multiple Sclerosis Research Group and the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Analysis Center. Wolinsky received his doctorate degree from The University of Illinois in 1969.
Residency training in clinical neurology, a fellowship in experimental neuropathology and faculty appointment at The University of California San Francisco followed. While in San Francisco, his research interests concentrated on the pathogenesis of viral infections of the nervous system, and his clinical efforts began to focus on experimental therapeutics of infections of the central nervous system and multiple sclerosis. He subsequently joined the faculty of The Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine and School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1978 before settling in Houston in 1983. In Baltimore, he applied more molecular tools to his basic investigations and became more interested in the primary and secondary immunopathogenesis of neural disease.
He was active in the design, implementation, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials of multiple sclerosis and conducts basic and applied research in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging in demyelinating diseases.
He served on review and advisory committees of the National Institutes of Health, the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation, the Food and Drug Administration, numerous pharmaceutical houses, and the Sylvia Lawry Centre for Multiple Sclerosis Research. He chaired the Research Programs Advisory Committee of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and was the chair of Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS). He was an associate editor of ACP Medicine and on the editorial board of Multiple Sclerosis: Clinical and Laboratory Research. He has been recognized in The Best Doctors in America and America's Top Doctors. He has authored well over 200 publications dealing with issues of relevance to neurovirology and neuroimmunology, clinical trials, and the imaging of multiple sclerosis.
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- Clinical Research Coordinator
Serving from 1986-1995, Dr. John Ribble, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, has the distinction as longest-serving dean of the Medical School. In addition to dean, he jointly served the role of interim president of the UT Health Science Center (UTHealth) from 1987 to 1989.
A native of Paris, Texas, he received his medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and completed postdoctoral training at Parkland Memorial and Johns Hopkins hospitals, where he completed a fellowship in infectious diseases. He served as an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service with the Epidemic Intelligence Service.
Prior to coming to Houston, Ribble was director of clinical programs for the Department of Pediatrics at Cornell University Medical College in New York and was associate dean of admissions at Cornell.
He joined the Medical School in Houston in 1978 as professor of pediatrics and was appointed associate dean for academic affairs in 1983. He served as deputy dean in 1981, acting for the newly appointed dean who had not yet assumed his duties.
Actively involved in curriculum and educational programming in leadership roles in the Office of Educational Programs until his retirement, Ribble is a founding member of the Office of Educational Programs' Academy of Master Educators.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School As an Assistant Professor
Dr. L. Maximilian Buja, joined The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston faculty in 1989, and is a former executive vice president for Academic Affairs. Internationally recognized for his research in cardiovascular pathology, he is author of over 240 research articles, 150 book chapters, and two books in his scientific field. Buja served as dean of the UT Medical School at Houston from 1996 to 2003.
As the former chair of the Department of Pathology at the Medical School (1989-96), Buja held the Distinguished Chair in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. In 2000, he was named dean and the H. Wayne Hightower Distinguished Professor in the Medical Sciences.
Buja earned a bachelor of science degree in biology, graduating magna cum laude from Loyola University of the South in 1964. In 1967, he earned an medical degree with honors from Tulane University School of Medicine. In 1968, he received a master's of science degree in anatomy from Tulane's graduate school.
Buja served a medicine internship at Charity Hospital in New Orleans from 1967-68. From 1968-70, he was a staff associate in the pathology section of the National Heart and Lung Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. From 1970-72, he was a resident in pathology with the National Cancer Institute, and from 1972-74 a senior investigator at the National Heart and Lung Institute. He was certified in anatomic pathology by the American Board of Pathology in 1972 and re-certified in 1997.
In 1974, Buja joined The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School as an assistant professor in pathology. By 1981, he was appointed a professor of pathology and was selected to hold the school's A. J. Gill Professorship of Pathology.
Buja is a member of numerous scientific societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Heart Association, American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Society for Investigative Pathology, International Academy of Pathology, Society for Cardiovascular Pathology, and International Society for Heart Research. He also holds membership in the American College of Cardiology (Fellow), American Society of Clinical Pathologists, College of American Pathologists, Texas Society of Pathologists, and Houston Society of Clinical Pathologists. He is a member of the Harris County Medical Society, the Texas Medical Association, and the American Medical Association.
Buja also holds an appointment as chief of Cardiovascular Pathology Research at Texas Heart Institute.
In April 1997, Buja received the Harlan J. Spjut Award presented by the Houston Society of Clinical Pathologists. He was also elected to the rank of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1997. In 1998, he received the Award of Merit from the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
Genetic Counselor: Leslie Dunnington, MS, CGC, (713) 500-5667, leslie.a.newman@uth.tmc.edu
Job Titles:
- Director, Business Development / Research Administration
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- Assistant
- Chairman
- Executive Assistant
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- Residency / Fellowship Program Coordinator II / Neuromuscular
Job Titles:
- Residency / Fellowship Program Coordinator II
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- Senior Administrative Assistant
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- Senior Administrative Assistant
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- Interim Chair of Numerous Departments at the Medical School
- Senior Vice President for Clinical and Faculty Affairs
Richard Andrassy, MD, was named executive dean ad interim effective July 1, 2020. The longest-serving chair of a U.S. department of surgery, Andrassy was appointed chair of the Medical School's Department of Surgery in 1994 and continues to serve in that role.
Andrassy joined the McGovern Medical School faculty in 1985 as a professor of surgery and the director of the Division of Pediatric Surgery - a title he held until 1995. He also serves as surgeon-in-chief at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, one of the Medical School's primary teaching hospitals.
Over the course of his career at McGovern, Andrassy has served as interim chair of numerous departments at the Medical School, including the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, and the Ruiz Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science.
His current titles include the Mayfield Distinguished University Chair, the Ruiz Distinguished University Chair, the Cooley Chair, and the H. Wayne Hightower Distinguished Professor in the Medical Sciences.
A graduate of the Medical College of Virginia, Andrassy completed postgraduate training at Wilford Hall U.S. Air Force Medical Center in San Antonio and at Children's Hospital - University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Andrassy served as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps until 1983, when he relinquished his commission voluntarily and was honorably discharged.
Prior to joining the Medical School in Houston, he served on the faculty of The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.
He has served as not only an active member but in leadership roles in countless professional organizations, including the American College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Pediatric Surgical Association, and the Harris County Hospital District Medical and Dental Staff District.
A pediatric and general surgeon, he maintains his clinical practice, specializing in hernia and abdominal reconstruction, surgical oncology, and endocrine surgery.
Job Titles:
- Senior Administrative Assistant
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- Director, Management Operations II / Administration / Chair 's Office
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- Chairman
- Senior Project Manager
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- Associate Professor / Director, Neurohospitalist Fellowship Program / Chief, General Neurology Service, Memorial Hermann Hospital - TMC
Dr. Shaun Smart attended the University of Miami where he received undergraduate degrees in Biomedical Engineering, Physics and Philosophy while being part of the University of Miami Honors College. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School. He completed his residency in Neurology at the University of South Florida. Subsequently, he attended Duke University where he completed a 2 year fellowship in Neurophysiology and Epilepsy. He has worked in Miami, Florida at Baptist Hospital as the Assistant Medical Director of the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit and at Palmetto General Hospital as the Medical Director of the Epilepsy division. Dr. Smart is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth where he is neurohospitalist and works closely with the Epilepsy division to expand their continuous EEG program. He is also Co-director of the Neurohospitalist Fellowship Program.
Education
Medical Degree
University of Michigan Medical School - Ann Arbor, MI
Job Titles:
- Coordinator II, Educational Programs / Neurology
Stanley G. Schultz, MD, was appointed dean of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston (now McGovern Medical School) in June 2004, following a year of service as interim dean.
A faculty member at the Medical School since 1979, Schultz was the former chair of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology (1979-1995) and held the Fondren Family Chair in Cellular Signaling. He also served as associate dean for institutional advancement before his retirement in 2010.
He is widely recognized as both an outstanding scientist and educator who made numerous contributions to our understanding of epithelial ion transport. His early work demonstrated, for the first time, sodium-coupled sugar and amino acid absorption by the small intestine. These and subsequent findings established the "sodium-gradient" hypothesis and provided the rationale for the later development of oral rehydration therapy. He was also one of the first to recognize the roles of paracellular pathways in epithelia and suggested, with colleagues, a cellular model for chloride secretion by epithelial cells that is now widely accepted. His many contributions including popular textbooks have placed his name on lists of the 1,000 most-cited contemporary scientists and the 35 most-cited contemporary physiologists by the Institute for Scientific Information.
A native of New York City, he received his baccalaureate, summa cum laude, from Columbia University and his medical degree from New York University. After serving an internship and residency in internal medicine, he became a fellow in cardiology and developed an interest in electrocardiography. This interest prompted him to learn more about membrane biophysics and led him to join the Biophysical Laboratories of the Harvard Medical School under the direction of A. K. Solomon in the late 1950s.
In 1962, he was inducted into the Air Force as a captain in the Medical Corps and was stationed at the Brooks Aerospace School of Medicine in San Antonio, Texas, where he taught radiation biology, monitored research contracts, and conducted research regarding the biological effects of radiation. This work led to his lifelong interest in epithelial transport.
Returning to Harvard as an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association in 1964, he was recruited within three years to join the Department of Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as an associate professor and was promoted to the rank of professor.
Since his arrival at the Medical School, he was recognized continually for his research, administrative leadership, and popularity among the students and faculty for his teaching abilities. His lectures were known to bring standing ovations, and his enthusiasm and dedication to teaching resulted in numerous teaching and faculty awards. In 1999, he received the President's Scholar Award from UTHealth for his many teaching accomplishments.
A member of the American Physiological Society three decades, Dr. Schultz served as president from 1992-1993. Among his many editorial roles for professional journals in his field, he served as editor of the American Journal of Physiology and the Journal of Applied Physiology (sections on gastrointestinal physiology), Physiological Reviews, and News in Physiological Sciences. Through his popular textbooks and nearly 200 professional publications, he was well-recognized throughout the scientific community.
In 2000, the American Physiological Society honored his many contributions with their prestigious Daggs Award. He was elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians in 1981; he was granted an honorary fellowship in the American Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics in 1985; and in 2004 Dr. Schultz was elected to membership in the European Academy of Sciences. On January 31, 2007, he received the 2006 Prince Mahidol Award in Medicine from the King of Thailand in Bangkok in recognition of his work that established the scientific foundation of oral rehydration therapy (ORT); ORT has been credited with saving over 75 million lives of patients suffering from dehydration due to diarrheal diseases during the past five decades. In 2012, the World Health Organization found ORT second only to vaccinations as a life-saving intervention. In September 2007, he received the "Seeds of Hope" award from RESULTS for his contributions benefiting child health. He died Oct. 23, 2014.
Job Titles:
- Manager, Business Development / Research Administration
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Manager / Research Administration