Eminent cardiologist David Hillis, M.D., will join the UT Health Science Center in January as chairman of the Department of Medicine.
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San Antonio (Oct. 15, 2007) – L. David Hillis, M.D., a widely published and respected academic physician and administrator in Dallas, today was named chairman of the Department of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. William L. Henrich, M.D., M.A.C.P., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at the UT Health Science Center, announced the recruitment, which culminated an extensive national search.

Dan Parman Distinguished Professor
Dr. Hillis will be the Dan Parman Distinguished Professor at the Health Science Center. He currently holds the Daniel W. Foster Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine and is vice chairman of the Department of Medicine at the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Eminent cardiologist, teacher and mentor
“Dr. Hillis is one of our country’s most eminent cardiologists and leaders in academic medicine,” Dr. Henrich said. “He is known as a superb clinical investigator, teacher and mentor. These are qualities we sought for the person who would hold this strategic position.”

After graduation from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Hillis was a house officer in medicine at UT Southwestern and served as chief medical resident under Dr. Donald Seldin. He completed his cardiology training at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital under the tutelage of Dr. Eugene Braunwald. Dr. Hillis joined the faculty at UT Southwestern, where he is known as a leading authority on ischemic heart disease and coronary artery disease.

Author of many peer-reviewed articles
Dr. Hillis is the author or co-author of more than 350 original articles, reviews, books and book chapters and serves on the editorial boards of the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Journal of Cardiology, to name two. Throughout his career, he has regularly won teaching awards in both medicine and cardiology.

To join UT Health Science Center in January
He is an elected the member of several of the country’s most prestigious scientific organizations, including the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He will assume his new position shortly after Jan. 1, 2008.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $576 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields.