Contact: Will Sansom
Phone: 210-567-2579
E-mail: sansom@uthscsa.edu

Harold Timboe, M.D., looks over family photos before packing them up for his retirement.
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After five years at the Health Science Center as associate vice president for administration, and later as associate vice president for research, Harold Timboe, M.D., M.P.H., is retiring on July 15.

National biodefense lab for San Antonio
Dr. Timboe said that even though he and his wife will be moving to Arkansas, he will continue to be involved in several initiatives in San Antonio, including the city’s quest to land a new, high-profile national bio- and agro-defense facility in 2008. On Wednesday, July 11, the local consortium received word that San Antonio was selected as one of five sites for final consideration. The proposed 100-acre site is across the street from the Health Science Center’s Institute of Biotechnology in the Texas Research Park.

“I am grateful to Dr. Cigarroa to have had this opportunity for service and to be a catalyst for positive change at the Health Science Center and in the San Antonio community during these dynamic times. It has been a real blessing,” Dr. Timboe said. “As it turns out, 11 of our 13 kids and grandkids have landed in northwest Arkansas. Their grandma and I feel God is leading us to be there, too,” he said.

Community leadership
In addition to leading the city’s biodefense facility bid, the retired Army major general will continue with several special projects, including the exciting opportunities resulting from the growth of military medicine in San Antonio ― education, research and trauma care. “I envision our collaborations with military medicine to be an important component of the Health Science Center’s application for the National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award,” Dr. Timboe said.

“I am very grateful to Dr. Timboe for his service to the Health Science Center over the past five years. We and the entire San Antonio community have benefited greatly from his leadership and operational knowledge in many efforts, and I am thrilled that he will continue to be engaged in helping the Health Science Center continue to prosper. I am also very grateful for his advice in enhancing relationships with our outstanding military partner and positioning us to be the center for military medicine education,” said Health Science Center President Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D.

Health Science Center alumnus
Dr. Timboe’s roots at the Health Science Center and in San Antonio run deep. After serving in Vietnam, Dr. Timboe graduated from the Health Science Center medical school in 1978. “We really enjoyed our four years here,” he said. “These were the early days of San Antonio becoming a city of academic medicine with the University Hospital and Audie Murphy both newly opened. Classes were smaller than today, and we still got a great deal of our clinical experiences at the Brady Green. And the health professional schools were just organized into the Health Science Center as a distinct university within The UT System.”

“When it came time to select a residency, I knew I wanted to be part of the new specialty of family medicine and the Army had a residency program in Hawaii,” the family medicine specialist said. “We had part of our honeymoon there and were there for R & R during Vietnam. But once we got there, my wife was homesick for San Antonio and its people. For us it’s a special place.”

This is the second retirement for Dr. Timboe, who retired as a major general in the Army before coming to the Health Science Center in 2002.

Commander of Brooke Army Medical Center
Gen. Timboe was not reassigned to San Antonio until 1997, when he was named commander of the Great Plains Regional Medical Command and Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. In 1999, the Health Science Center honored him as the Distinguished Alumnus of the School of Medicine.

Expert in emergency situations
During his career, Dr. Timboe successfully handled several mass-casualty situations, including the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks while he was commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. “After Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, it was my responsibility to ensure that the 200 casualties were swiftly attended to, triaged and transported to area hospitals, and that families were well cared for,” he said.

Joins the Health Science Center after military retirement
Dr. Timboe retired from the military in 2002 and joined the Health Science Center to assist Jim Kazen in overseeing facilities, safety and university police, as well as to focus on the newly important homeland security issues, bioterrorism research and the university’s partnership with the military medical community. “Part of my job was to be an ambassador for the Health Science Center to the community and a liaison to the military community, while raising the profile of the university as the engine of the health care and bioscience sector of San Antonio. The university sets the standard in clinical care, is key to developing the health care workforce and is the foundation of biomedical research,” he said. “I served on the boards of Brooks City Base, the Bexar County Medical Society Foundation, the San Antonio Medical Foundation, the Christian Medical and Dental Associations and BioMedSA, among others.”

Office of the vice president for research
“He has been involved in many activities at the Health Science Center, but one of his most important roles was helping to organize and launch the office of the vice president for research,” said Brian Herman, Ph.D., vice president for research. “His vast experience in leading major military organizations was instrumental in the organization of the office and he has played a significant role in the recruitment of the current staff, many of whom have made significant contributions in their own right.

Strengthened Health Science Center's military ties
“Dr. Timboe also has been invaluable in strengthening the Health Science Center’s ties with military medicine and in leading medical and research initiatives in the community,” Dr. Herman continued. “He is an individual of exceptional integrity, honor and duty, and always looks for positive ways to move the mission forward. Both I and the institution have benefited significantly from his presence.”

Many civilian accomplishments
During his five years on campus, Dr. Timboe:

• Assisted in the development of 10 new buildings, three new campuses and several major renovations, including the addition of a Bio-Safety Level 3 lab and an expansion of Lab Animal Resources.
  
  
• Attracted more than $1 million in grants for disaster and emergency preparedness programs, including the establishment of the Regional Medical Operation Center (RMOC) in 2003, which served as the medical communication and “nerve center” for major city events and terrorist-related and natural disasters. “The center proved its worth in responding to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, when we handled more than 10,000 refugees and over 500 inpatients from New Orleans,” Dr. Timboe said. San Antonio is about to open its own $24 million emergency response center, which will include the RMOC.
  
  
• Activated the first Medical Reserve Corps/State Guard unit in the nation ― the Texas Medical Rangers. Initiated through the six academic health centers in the state, the Texas Medical Rangers is a volunteer organization of health professionals that responds to emergency situations. The organization now has 500 people located throughout Texas.
  
  
• Helped establish and organize the office of the vice president for research, which was created in late 2004 to bring together the diverse research support and administrative activities of the university under one central accountable official. The objective was to help the Health Science Center better focus its growing research efforts, ensuring compliance, policy development, external collaborations, and better, more responsive support to the research community.
  
  
• Worked with several international non-governmental organizations, which included making several visits to Iraq to assist Iraqi physicians and the Iraqi Ministry of Health in reforming their health system and professional societies. He also led Project HOPE volunteers on the Navy hospital ship Mercy in response to the 2005 tsunami disaster in Indonesia.

“This is a good time to move into semi-retirement and turn to family interests now,” Dr. Timboe said. “Dr. Herman has assembled an outstanding leadership team that is professionally very competent in their own specialized area and who work very well together for the benefit of the entire Health Science Center. I am proud to have served with them. The university has a great future.” he said.