Office of the Provost
W. P. Andrew Lee, M.D.
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean, UT Southwestern Medical School
Holder of the:
- Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science
W. P. Andrew Lee, M.D., an international leader in hand transplantation, joined UT Southwestern as Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean, UT Southwestern Medical School in February 2019. Dr. Lee is responsible for advancing the academic mission of UT Southwestern’s four degree-granting schools, while leading a faculty of approximately 3,400. He also oversees the more than $640 million in annual biomedical research funding awarded to faculty.
Prior to joining UTSW, Dr. Lee served as Director (Chair) of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research has focused on tolerance strategy for vascularized composite allo-transplantation (VCA) to ameliorate the need for long-term systemic immunosuppression. Dr. Lee established multidisciplinary programs for hand transplantation at Johns Hopkins and University of Pittsburgh using an immunomodulatory protocol based upon his laboratory investigation, and led surgical teams that performed the first double hand transplant (2009) and first above-elbow arm transplant (2010) in the United States, as well as the world’s first total penis and scrotum transplant (2018).
He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and completed medical school and a general surgery residency at Johns Hopkins, followed by plastic surgery training at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Lee was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has served as the President of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, Chair of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, President of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation, President of the American Association for Hand Surgery, and President of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons.
Joan W. Conaway, Ph.D.
Vice Provost, Dean of Basic Research, and Professor of Molecular Biology
Holder of the:
- Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology
Joan W. Conaway, Ph.D., a distinguished biomedical researcher, has been Vice Provost and Dean of Basic Research since July 2021, providing strategic leadership for UT Southwestern’s state of the art basic biomedical research and guiding the expansion and coordination of resources that support investigations at the forefront of innovation.
Dr. Conaway was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2020 and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2002. Her research lab studies molecular mechanisms responsible for the regulation of RNA polymerase II transcription, a process that, when disrupted, can lead to cancer and other diseases.
Before joining UT Southwestern, Dr. Conaway was an investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Mo., and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She also has been an associate investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
She received her undergraduate education from Bryn Mawr College, majoring in Chemistry and in Biology with honors from Haverford College. She earned her doctorate in Cell Biology from Stanford University School of Medicine, and completed post-graduate training as a research fellow at the DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Palo Alto, Calif.
Alyssa Hasty, Ph.D.
Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Career Development; Professor of Internal Medicine
Holder of the:
- George A. and Nancy P. Shutt Professorship in Medical Science
Alyssa Hasty, Ph.D., and her team assist departments with procedures related to faculty recruiting, hiring, and promotions. In addition, they work to elevate the faculty experience by identifying needs, researching approaches taken by others, implementing innovative programs, and evaluating results. Throughout her career, Dr. Hasty has focused on excellence as a scientist, mentor, and leader. She enjoys connecting people to resources that promote their professional development and creating new resources as the needs of faculty evolve.
Dr. Hasty joined the UT Southwestern faculty in August of 2024, and in addition to her Vice Provost, Senior Associate Dean, and Professor roles is a member of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research. She received her doctoral degree in pathology from Vanderbilt University where she emerged as a leader in the field of immunometabolism, determining the role of the immune system in obesity-accelerated diseases. Dr. Hasty completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Tokyo University.
Her research has been continuously funded by agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Affairs, and American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, and The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. She has published more than 120 original papers.
Sherry C. Huang, M.D.
Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Education and Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Sherry C. Huang, M.D., is Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Education. In this role, Dr. Huang is responsible for the successful leadership, strategic management and overall quality of education and training within the UT Southwestern campuses of the School of Medicine, the School of Health Professions, the O’Donnell School of Public Health, and the Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Huang also plays a pivotal role as the educational liaison across the clinical partners for UT Southwestern.
Prior to joining UT Southwestern, Dr. Huang served as the inaugural Vice Chancellor and Enterprise-Wide Designated Institutional Official (DIO) at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences at Rutgers University. Her responsibilities included advancing the training of the 1,700 Graduate Medical Education (GME) residents and fellows in the Rutgers Health System – comprising 70% of all GME learners in the state of New Jersey. She guided the implementation of innovative curricula and training paradigms in the clinical learning environment to ensure alignment with the missions and priorities of the medical schools and health system.
A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Huang earned her medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed residency training in pediatrics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) followed by a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition, and postdoctoral research training with a focus on cancer genetics. Dr. Huang then joined the faculty of UCSD, pursuing a career as a physician-scientist while promoting medical education in progressive leadership roles, first as the Program Director for the Pediatric Residency Program and then as Associate Dean for GME and the DIO for UCSD.
Her research – funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Gastroenterological Association – focused on tumorigenesis in early onset colon cancer. She worked to identify families at risk and created a regional registry for polyposis syndromes. Most recently, Dr. Huang’s research employed computational models to predict genetically predisposed colon cancer patients who can benefit from targeted prevention. Dr. Huang is nationally recognized as a medical educator and serves as a member of the ACGME Clinical Learning Environment Committee.
Saad B. Omer, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., Ph.D., FIDSA
Founding Dean, Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health and Professor
Holder of the:
- Lyda Hill Deanship of the School of Public Health
Saad B. Omer, M.B.B.S, M.P.H., Ph.D., FIDSA, an internationally recognized epidemiologist and policy adviser whose work has positively impacted communities around the world, became the Founding Dean of the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health in June 2023.
Dr. Omer joined UT Southwestern from Yale University, where he was inaugural Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health. He served as the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases at the Yale School of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. Previously he was the William H. Foege Chair of Global Health at Emory University and Associate Director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
His research includes epidemiology of respiratory viruses such as influenza, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19); vaccine trials, immunization coverage, and acceptance; and public health preparedness strategies to effectively respond to large emerging and reemerging infectious disease outbreaks. Dr. Omer’s work has been cited in global and country-specific public health policy, practices, and legislation.
He has served on the boards of trustees of Gavi, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and on advisory panels including the World Health Organization Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Vaccines, U.S. National Vaccine Advisory Committee, the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria-Vaccine Innovation Working Group, and multiple National Academy of Medicine panels. As part of the WHO’s working group on COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Omer played a leading role in drafting the prioritization road map for global vaccine allocation.
In 2022, Dr. Omer was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Omer received his medical education at the Aga Khan University Medical College in Pakistan. He completed an M.P.H. and a Ph.D. in global disease epidemiology and control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Eric Peterson, M.D.
Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research, Vice President for Health System Research, and Professor, Internal Medicine
Holder of the:
- Adelyn and Edmund M. Hoffman Distinguished Chair in Medical Science
Eric Peterson, M.D., M.P.H., an internationally acclaimed leader in cardiovascular clinical research, joined UT Southwestern Medical Center in November 2020 as the inaugural Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research and as Vice President for Health System Research.
Dr. Peterson joined UT Southwestern from Duke University, where he was a distinguished tenured professor in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine from 2006 through October 2020 and where he served as Executive Director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. At Duke, Dr. Peterson led numerous multicenter clinical trials, prospective registries, and implementation programs.
He currently serves as Principal Investigator of the Analytic Centers for American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiac Database, the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines Database, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ National Cardiac Surgery Database. He also is Principal Investigator of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Spironolactone Initiation Registry Randomized Interventional Trial (SPIRRIT) in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction and leads several ongoing industry-sponsored clinical trials, registries, and implementation research studies.
With more than 1,400 peer-reviewed publications to date, Dr. Peterson ranks among the top 1 percent of published researchers in clinical medicine and has been named one of the most highly cited researchers in the world by Thomson Reuters.
Dr. Peterson earned his medical degree from University of Pittsburgh and completed his residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also completed a fellowship in general internal medicine at Harvard University and a fellowship in cardiology at Duke University.
Cameron W. Slocum, M.B.A.
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Academic Affairs and the UT Southwestern Medical Group
As Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Academic Affairs and the UT Southwestern Medical Group, Cameron W. Slocum, M.B.A., focuses on administrative, strategic, and financial functions to support UT Southwestern’s academic and research missions. His reporting relationships to the leadership of Academic, Medical Group, Health System, and Business Affairs allow him to align strategy, operations, and physician management with our institution’s overall operating and financial goals.
Prior to joining UT Southwestern Medical Center in September 2014, Mr. Slocum held the position of Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the University of Texas Medical Branch Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Professions, and the Graduate School, where he also worked as Executive Director of the Faculty Group Practice Plan during his 16-year tenure with UTMB.
He is the author of “UTMB: From Disaster Planning to Long-Term Recovery,” which appeared in the Domestic Preparedness Journal. In 2012, Mr. Slocum was honored by the Houston Business Journal with a “40 under 40” award, which recognizes the top 40 young professionals in the Houston region. He is an active leader in the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Group on Business Affairs and served as National Chair in 2014 and 2015.
Mr. Slocum earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston – Clear Lake.
Jon Williamson, Ph.D.
Dean, School Of Health Professions and Professor
Holder of the:
- Arnold N. and Carol S. Ablon Professorship in Biomedical Science
As Dean of the UT Southwestern School of Health Professions, Jon Williamson, Ph.D., is responsible for overseeing the school’s academic programs, budget and finances, strategic planning, clinical operations, and research programs. He has previously served as Interim Dean, Chair of the Department of Health Care Sciences, Assistant Dean for Research, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, as well as the Director of a Center for Interdisciplinary Research and a Center for Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Williamson received his Ph.D. from the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, completed his training as a research fellow in cardiology at UT Southwestern, and joined the faculty in School of Health Professions in 1995. He is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and his research programs have focused on neural control of the circulation, neuroplasticity, and cortical remapping following injury and rehabilitation. As a Distinguished Teaching Professor, he also has keen interest in interprofessional education, health care teams, and student performance.
Andrew Zinn, M.D., Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professor
As Dean of the UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Andrew R. Zinn, M.D., Ph.D., oversees the education needs of more than 600 doctoral students and 500 postdoctoral fellows and supervises the graduate program chairs.
A noted human geneticist, Dr. Zinn began his research career working in protein synthesis before earning his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from UT Southwestern. He later completed postdoctoral training in human and mouse genetics as a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He returned to UT Southwestern in 1993 as an independent postdoctoral fellow and joined the faculty in 1996.
Dr. Zinn, who is also a Professor with the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, and his laboratory discovered the genetic basis of an inherited form of obesity and recently identified the cause of a rare genetic disorder affecting multiple organs, including skin and the immune system.