The University of Texas System Board of Regents today appointed Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD, as the next president of The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in a special called board meeting. Reiser was named sole finalist for the position on April 27, as Texas law requires a 21-day waiting period between the time a sole finalist is selected and can be officially appointed.
Reiser is a world-renowned healthcare, innovation, and research leader with more than 18 years of progressive responsibility in various academic health systems and university environments. Currently, he serves as the chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush University Medical Center and holds the Ralph C. Brown, MD, Professor of Medicine position at Rush University in Chicago.
Through his membership on Rush's medical group executive committee, Dr. Reiser co-managed approximately 1,000 Rush-employed physicians. He played a direct role in a significant transformation of Rush, including system-wide tasks such as clinical redesign, coding and changes in quality and safety structures. Reiser also directed an NIH-funded research laboratory focused on discovering causes of kidney disease and developing novel therapies to combat renal diseases.
"We are delighted to welcome Jochen Reiser, whose broad expertise, vision, and energy will serve The University of Texas Medical Branch very well," said UT Board Chairman Kevin P. Eltife. "We express our deepest gratitude to Interim President Charles Mouton for leading UTMB’s tremendous progress during this period.”
Reiser's candidacy was recommended to the Board of Regents by a presidential search advisory committee, chaired by Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs John Zerwas, MD. The search committee included representation from the UTMB faculty, students, alumni, community leaders, as well as UT presidents and regents.
"As an outstanding teacher, researcher, clinician and administrator, Dr. Reiser understands and has championed innovation and achieved much success," said UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken. "From the search advisory committee to the regents, there is great enthusiasm for Dr. Reiser’s ability to lead UTMB to the next level in the complex world of modern healthcare."
Before joining Rush in 2012, Reiser served the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine as a professor of medicine, anatomy, and cell biology. He held positions as the vice chairman for research in the Department of Medicine and the chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension. He also served as the interim chairman of medicine at Miami.
Reiser graduated from the Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg, Germany, and completed his residency in internal medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He pursued his fellowship in nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School. He then served as an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and was the founding director of the program in glomerular disease at Mass General.
“I am grateful to The University of Texas System and the UT Board of Regents for providing me this exciting opportunity to serve as the next president of The University of Texas Medical Branch,” Reiser said. “At UTMB we will build on the fundamental strength of the institution and strive to reach new heights of excellence as we work tirelessly to fulfill our missions of health care delivery, research and education in service to our communities, the state of Texas, and the world.”
Reiser will begin his duties at UTMB on August 15.