Robert A. Hromas, M.D., FACP, currently chair of the Department of Medicine at University of Florida Health and vice president of the University of Florida Physicians Clinical Practice Association, has been named dean of the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio and vice president of the university for medical affairs.
The announcement was made Oct. 31 by President William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP. Dr. Hromas will assume his duties in February.
After a national search, said Dr. Henrich, “it was determined that Dr. Hromas has the requisite skills to launch a new era of excellence and propel the institution to the highest rank of academic medical centers.”
Dr. Hromas said he was “humbled and honored” by the appointment.
“I feel as if I have been training for this all my life, and that this is a remarkable opportunity to make a huge impact on health not just in San Antonio, but everywhere,” he said.
“UT Health San Antonio is poised to bring new treatments and new diagnostics to the patients for whom there has been little other effective therapies,” Dr. Hromas added. “Our goal is to bring hope to those who have had no hope before, and to relieve suffering that could not have been relieved before.”
Prior to his work at the University of Florida, Dr. Hromas served as chief of hematology-oncology and deputy director of the Cancer Center at the University of New Mexico, assisting that institution in achieving its designation as a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center. Before that, he was deputy director of the Indiana University Cancer Center, also assisting it in obtaining its first NCI designation.
He earned a B.S. in biology at Wheaton College in Illinois, and his medical degree at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He did a post-doctoral research fellowship in the regulation of immunoglobulin gene expression and a residency in internal medicine at the University of Iowa, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship in transcriptional regulation of hematopoiesis at the University of Washington.
Dr. Hromas has published over 160 scholarly research papers, has for two decades been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and has chaired several NIH and American Cancer Society study sections.
In his announcement, Dr. Henrich thanked Ronald Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., for serving as interim dean of the Long School of Medicine since Jan. 1. “Dr. Rodriguez, together with his leadership team, have served the institution exceedingly well as there have been many important achievements made during this time,” Dr. Henrich said.
The president also thanked former UT Health San Antonio president Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., who served as chairman of the 29-member search committee.
“It is my strong belief that the Long School of Medicine stands at a crossroads of many exciting opportunities,” Dr. Henrich said, “and my sense is that Dr. Hromas, with the help of our talented faculty, staff and students, and many at UT Health San Antonio and University Health System, will enjoy the brightest and most exciting of futures ahead.”