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, Ph.D.
Vice President for Academic, Faculty & Student Affairs
Robert A Hromas, MD, FACP
Dean, Long School of Medicine
Sonya Renae Hardin Ph.D., M.B.A./M.H.A., APRN, FAAN
Dean, School of Nursing
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.
Robert A Hromas, MD, FACP was named acting president in 2024, after serving as the dean of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs. 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 published more than 200 research papers with an H-index of 63. He has multiple patents and has started two biotechnology companies, Abfero and Dialectic Therapeutics, both with compounds in phase 2 clinical trials.
Hromas is the author of the business leadership book Einstein’s Boss — 10 Rules for Leading Genius. He has served as a member of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and as chair of Scientific Affairs for the American Society of Hematology. He is the founding chair of the board for the UT Health San Antonio Regional Physician Network Accountable Care Organization and the founding chair of the board for the UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital.
For these and other accomplishments, Hromas 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.
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.
Peter M. Loomer, D.D.S., Ph.D., MRCD(C), FACD
Dean, School of Dentistry
Vasan S. Ramachandran, MD, DM, FACC, FAHA
Dean, School of Public Health
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, 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.