President William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, received his doctor of medicine degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1972. The kidney disease specialist has held many leadership positions, including dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio prior to being named president in 2009.
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Contact: Will Sansom, 210-567-2579

SAN ANTONIO (April 9, 2011) — William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, received the Baylor College of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award in Houston on April 9.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award is presented to alumni who make outstanding contributions to biomedical and/or medical science through clinical service, research, education and/or administrative leadership. Distinguished Alumnus Awards are presented in three categories: medical, graduate and allied health sciences. Dr. Henrich was one of two alumni receiving the Medical School Distinguished Alumnus Award this year.

Educational background
Dr. Henrich received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1968 and his doctor of medicine degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1972. He then completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Oregon Medical School and a fellowship in nephrology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Leadership
From 1978 through 1995, Dr. Henrich held many positions at the UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, including professor of internal medicine, associate chief of staff for research and development at the VA Medical Center in Dallas, and attending physician at Zale Lipshy University Hospital.

From 1995 to 1999, he served as professor and chair of medicine at the Medical College of Ohio and chief of the medical service, Medical College Hospital, in Toledo, Ohio. Subsequently, he served as the Theodore Woodward Professor and chair of the department of medicine at The University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore from 1999 to 2006.

Dr. Henrich served as the dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio prior to being named president in 2009.

Kidney disease specialist
Dr. Henrich is a specialist in kidney diseases, with expertise in dialysis therapy, blood pressure regulation and the effects of atherosclerosis on kidney function. He is the editor of the popular dialysis textbook, “Principles and Practice of Dialysis,” and has research currently funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

He is the author of 280 scientific contributions and has been elected to several prestigious scientific societies, including the Association of American Physicians.

Dr. Henrich has been honored with numerous teaching awards by fellows, residents and students. He is active as a scientific reviewer for kidney research for many journals and has served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the NIH.

He served as president of the prestigious American Society of Nephrology in 2006-2007. He remains clinically active, serving as an attending physician on the renal consult service at University Hospital and the Audie L. Murphy Division of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, and is active in kidney research sponsored by the NIH.

As president of the Health Science Center, he oversees a $744 million budget, 5,783 employees and activities such as the construction of the $106 million Medical Arts and Research Center, a state-of-the-art ambulatory care center that opened in 2009 in the South Texas Medical Center. Later this year, the Health Science Center will dedicate a $150 million research building, the South Texas Research Facility.

The Medical Arts and Research Center is the primary location of UT Medicine San Antonio, the practice of School of Medicine doctors.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving U.S. federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.