Academic Enterprise Announcements

Michael B. Whitehead, DHSc, PA-C, DFAAPA, has been named Chair of the Department of Physician Assistant (PA) Studies in the John Sealy School of Medicine. Dr. Whitehead has served as the Interim Chair since January 2025. A member of our PA faculty since March 2021, Dr. Whitehead served as Associate Program Director in the department prior to this appointment.

Matthew Hutter, MD, MPH, MBA, will join UTMB as Chair of the Department of Surgery in the John Sealy School of Medicine this September. Dr. Hutter is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the quality movement in surgery and in the field of metabolic and bariatric surgery.

Richard (Rick) Pyles, PhD, and Shikha Wadhwani, MD, MS, FASN, have been appointed as Assistant Research Officers. Dr. Pyles will serve as the inaugural Assistant Research Officer for Research Development and Administration. Dr. Wadhwani will serve as the inaugural Assistant Research Officer for Clinical Research.

Rebekah Viner, MS, MBA, has been appointed Associate Vice President of Academic and Research Affairs in the Office of the Dean, John Sealy School of Medicine, effective May 1, 2025. Ms. Viner has been an integral member of the UTMB community for the past 15 years, consistently demonstrating outstanding leadership, professionalism, and commitment.

Brian K. Walsh, PhD, RRT, RRT-NPS, RRT-ACCS, RPFT, FAARC, has been appointed as the Chair of the Department of Respiratory Therapy, effective February 1, 2025. Dr. Walsh brings with him an impressive 29 years of experience in respiratory therapy and has been a significant asset to UTMB since 2022.

Janice Jones Endsley, PhD, has been named the next Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, effective March 1, 2025. An accomplished microbiologist, educator, and academic leader, Dr. Endsley has been an asset to the department for nearly two decades. She has the vision and experience necessary to lead its next chapter.

Mandy Hill, DrPH, MPH, has joined School of Public and Population Health as the inaugural Chair, Department of Population Health and Health Disparities. She has more than 20 years of research and experience in public health practice and a long history of NIH funding with a current R34 from the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Darpan Patel, PhD has been appointed as the School of Nursing's Vice Dean for Research and Scholarship. Dr. Patel joined our school in January 2023 as Assistant Dean for Translational Science and has served in the interim capacity for the Vice Dean for Research and Scholarship over the last seven months.

Sanja Sever, PhD, has joined UTMB as Vice President, Drug Discovery and Director of the Sealy Institute for Drug Discovery (SIDD), effective March. 1. This Institute has been funded by a generous gift from the Sealy & Smith Foundation. Dr. Sever is a prominent figure in the field of nephrology, most recently affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School.

We are excited to share that Salim Hayek, MD, has joined UTMB as Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer, effective March 1. In this critical capacity, Dr. Hayek reports directly to Dr. Vicente Resto within the Faculty Group Practice, where he will lead pivotal transformation initiatives aimed at elevating patient care, enhancing clinical outcomes, streamlining operational efficiency, and advancing clinical research throughout our esteemed institution. Dr. Hayek is also a standing member of the President’s Executive Committee.

We are excited to welcome Susan Chubinskaya, PhD, as Vice President and Executive Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professional Development. She is a tenured Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation and holds the Peaches and Shrub Kempner Distinguished Professorship in Health Disparities.

We are excited to share that Alan Landay, PhD, has joined UTMB as Vice President of Team Science, effective Feb. 1. He will bring research and clinical experts together to create collaborations at UTMB and with institutions across the region, state, and world.

Please join me in congratulating Majka B. Woods, PhD, on her appointment as the inaugural Chair of the Department of Medical Education in the John Sealy School of Medicine (JSSOM), effective immediately.

We are very excited to welcome Vineet Gupta, PhD, as UTMB’s inaugural Vice President for Innovation, Technology Development and Transfer. Dr. Gupta joined us Dec. 1. In this role, he is positioned to elevate UTMB’s fourth mission area, innovation.

Katie Branch, PhD, MSN, RN, CHSE, has been tapped to serve as Vice President for Interprofessional Education and the Health Education Center. She will join UTMB on or about Sept. 25, 2023.

M. Kristen Peek, PhD, has been named Senior Vice President and Dean of the School of Public and Population Health (SPPH), effective June 1. Dr. Peek has provided outstanding leadership as Dean ad interim of the school since October 2021.

Elizabeth Lyons, PhD, MPH, has been named Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Rehabilitation Sciences, effective June 1. Dr. Lyons, who has been at UTMB since 2011, has served as interim chair for the past year.

Nausheen Jamal, MD, will serve as Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the John Sealy School of Medicine, effective this summer. Dr. Jamal joins UTMB from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine.