VP AFSA & Deans Council

The Vice President for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs (VP AFSA) and the Deans of our six schools at UT Health San Antonio (Deans Council) collectively provide the vision and support required for LINC’s success. Progress towards QEP goals is reviewed regularly by this senior leadership team, with direction and guidance provided to ensure that momentum is built and sustained for key initiatives, programs, and projects.

Jacqueline Lee Mok, PhD

Jacqueline Lee Mok, Ph.D.
Vice President for Academic, Faculty & Student Affairs

Sonya Hardin

Sonya Renae Hardin Ph.D., M.B.A./M.H.A., APRN, FAAN
Dean, School of Nursing

Robert Hromas, MD, FACP

Robert Hromas, M.D., FACP
Dean, Long School of Medicine
Vice President for Medical Affairs

Jacqueline Lee Mok, Ph.D., has served since September 2014 as Vice President for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs. In this role, she is the Chief Academic Affairs Officer for UT Health San Antonio, working in close collaboration and partnership with the university’s senior leadership to promote academic, faculty and student success. Prior to her arrival at UT Health San Antonio, Dr. Mok was Vice President/Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Board of Trustees at Johns Hopkins University, where she also was a presidential research fellow in 2013. She has also held administrative positions with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the U.S. Foreign Service, and The University of Washington. At The University of Arizona, where Dr. Mok served for fifteen years, she worked not only as an assistant and associate dean, she became Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff. Dr. Mok earned her baccalaureate degree at Middlebury College; master’s degree at The University of North Texas; and Ph.D. degree from New York University. She has as well participated in the Bryn Mawr/HERS Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration and the Harvard University Management Development Program. In 2012, Dr. Mok received the national Chang-Lin Tien Education Leadership Award from the Asian Pacific Fund, in recognition of her outstanding contributions in higher education leadership.

Sonya Renae Hardin Ph.D., M.B.A./M.H.A., APRN, FAAN has been the Dean for the School of Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio as of June 2022. Prior to UT Health, she served as Dean of the School of Nursing at University of Louisville Health Sciences Campus where she was also a partner of the Clinical Leadership Team of the University of Louisville Medical Center and member of the Hospital Board. She has a robust background in academics, practice, and hospital administration.  She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and has served as in leadership positions for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.  She received her Bachelors of Nursing and Masters of Medical Surgical Nursing from the University of North Carolina – Charlotte, an M.B.A./M.H.A. from Pfeiffer University, and a Ph.D. from the from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

Robert Hromas, M.D., FACP, is the Dean at the Long School of Medicine and the Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Texas Health Center in San Antonio. The Long School of Medicine has over 1200 faculty, 900 medical students, and 800 residents and fellows, and cares for over 2 million patients annually. Prior to that, he was Chair of the Department of Medicine at University of Florida Health, where he is also Vice President of the University of Florida Physicians Clinical Practice Association, and a member of the UF Health Hospital Executive Board. He has personally trained 29 graduate students or fellows, most of which have entered academic careers, and 21 junior faculty, almost all of which have obtained tenure, with three obtaining Hematology-Oncology Division Chief Positions. He has served on editorial boards of Blood and Stem Cells. He has won numerous teaching and patient care awards, including the Indiana University Humanism in Medical Education Award, the Indiana University Board of Trustees Outstanding Teacher Award, and the People Living Through Cancer Caring Award. He has served as Chair of Scientific Affairs for the American Society of Hematology, and one of their congressional and media representatives. He has published over 165 research papers, been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over two decades and has chaired several NIH and American Cancer Society study sections. He has multiple patents and sits on two biotechnology company boards. His laboratory has isolated and characterized multiple novel cytokines and several DNA mutations leading to leukemia. He has identified several key components of DNA repair pathways. He created a drug development consortium that is translating University science to the clinic. He is the author of the business leadership book, Einstein’s Boss: 10 Rules for Leading Genius. For these and other accomplishments he has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, Association of Professors of Medicine, the American Clinical and Climatologic Association, and the Association of American Physicians.

Peter M. Loomer, DDS, PhD, MRCD(C), FACD

Peter M. Loomer, D.D.S., Ph.D., MRCD(C), FACD
Dean, School of Dentistry

Dr. Ramachadran

Vasan S. Ramachandran, MD, DM, FACC, FAHA
Dean, School of Public Health

Peter M. Loomer, DDS, PhD, MRCD(C), FACD

David C. Shelledy, Ph.D., FAARC, FASAHP
Dean, School of Health Professions

Peter M. Loomer, D.D.S., Ph.D., MRCD(C), FACD, joined UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry as Dean on February 1, 2019. He previously served as chair of the Ashman Department of Periodontology & Implant Dentistry and Director of the Center for Global Oral Health Sciences at New York University College of Dentistry. Dr. Loomer was also affiliated faculty in the New York University Global Institute of Public Health. Dr. Loomer is a graduate of the University of Toronto where he obtained his BSc, DDS, PhD (Biochemistry) and specialty training. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology and the Royal College of Dentists of Canada. Over the past 25 years, he has studied the microbiome of periodontal diseases. Dr. Loomer is an expert in health professions curriculum, which has been a major focus of his international research program. His work in global oral health is focused on interprofessional education, student international education and global research experience, faculty development and curriculum reform in developing nations with an emphasis on East Africa and the Middle East. He also has several projects in Africa and Brazil focused on improving oral health in children of poverty.

Vasan S. Ramachandran, MD, DM, FACC, FAHA is the founding Dean of the School of Public Health in San Antonio and a Professor of Medicine and Population Health at the UT Health San Antonio. Prior to UT Health he served as the Chief in the Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology in the Department of Medicine and Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health (BUSPH).  He has served as the Principal Investigator of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) between 2014 to 2022. Dr. Ramachandran is currently the Principal Investigator of the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal (RURAL) Study (one of the youngest cohort studies in the US). He directs the FHS echocardiography-vascular imaging laboratory. He is a trained mentor and served as the PI of a Post-doc T32 program in ‘Interdisciplinary Training in Cardiovascular Epidemiology’ (from 2016-2022), and the PI of BU’s R38 program (Stimulating Access to Research in residency) from 2020-2022, which is focused on training medical residents in research. He served as an Associate Editor for Circulation from 2002-2016, and was the founding Editor-in-Chief for its daughter journal, Circulation Cardiovascular Genetics, from 2008-2018.

David C. Shelledy, Ph.D., FAARC, FASAHP, was appointed as the Dean of the School of Health Professions at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in July of 2014. Prior to coming to San Antonio, Dr. Shelledy served as Dean of the College of Health Sciences and professor of health systems management and cardiopulmonary sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he provided leadership for more than twenty degree and certificate programs in allied health. He has authored and co-authored extensively, including 95 abstracts and papers in peer-reviewed journals, and 12 books or book chapters. He has given 75 presentations based on original research and delivered more than 95 additional scholarly speeches or lectures. Among his many academic appointments, Dr. Shelledy served as the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs for the College of Health Professions at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences from 2004 to 2007. Dr. Shelledy is a Fellow of the American Association for Respiratory Care (FAARC) and the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (FASAHP). He also has held appointments as a director for the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, commissioner for the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs and is a past president of the American Association for Respiratory Care and the Coalition for Baccalaureate and Graduate Respiratory Therapy, which represents 70 college and university based respiratory care programs in the US.

David S. Weiss, PhD

David S. Weiss, Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Dielmann Chair in Basic Biomedical Investigation

Davis S. Weiss, Ph.D., originally trained as a neuroscientist and electrophysiologist, has investigated the structure and function of inhibitory neurotransmitter-activated receptors found in the brain to learn how these GABA receptors play a role in communication of neurons since the beginning of his scientific career. He also investigates how GABA receptors are altered by a variety of therapeutic drugs such as sedatives, anxiolytics, and anesthetics. Abnormalities in GABA-mediated inhibition have been implicated in brain disorders such as epilepsy. Dr. Weiss was the recipient of a NIH Javits Award for his cutting-edge research in neuroscience. His works are published in top tier journals in his field such as Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Journal of Physiology, and the Journal of Neuroscience. Dr. Weiss served on the faculty of the University of South Florida School of Medicine and the University of Alabama at Birmingham before being named Chair of the Department of Physiology in 2005 UT Health San Antonio. In December 2010, he was appointed as Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and named the current holder of the Dielmann Chair in Basic Biomedical Investigation. In September 2011, he was also named Vice President for Research at the UT Health Science Center and served in that role until 2014.

Jacqueline Lee Mok, PhD, has served since September 2014 as Vice President for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs. In this role, she is the Chief Academic Affairs Officer for UT Health San Antonio, working in close collaboration and partnership with the university’s senior leadership to promote academic, faculty and student success. Prior to her arrival at UT Health San Antonio, Dr. Mok was Vice President/Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Board of Trustees at Johns Hopkins University, where she also was a presidential research fellow in 2013. She has also held administrative positions with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the U.S. Foreign Service, and The University of Washington. At The University of Arizona, where Dr. Mok served for fifteen years, she worked not only as an assistant and associate dean, she became Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff. Dr. Mok earned her baccalaureate degree at Middlebury College; master’s degree at The University of North Texas; and Ph.D. degree from New York University. She has as well participated in the Bryn Mawr/HERS Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration and the Harvard University Management Development Program. In 2012, Dr. Mok received the national Chang-Lin Tien Education Leadership Award from the Asian Pacific Fund, in recognition of her outstanding contributions in higher education leadership.