Coming home
UT System chancellor to return to HSC
Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D. Photo courtesy of The University of Texas System.
After five years as the leader of one of the nation’s largest university systems, Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., is returning to the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.
The former Health Science Center president, who is chancellor of The University of Texas System, announced Feb. 10 that he will return full time to the Health Science Center as director of pediatric transplant surgery once a new chancellor is selected. He will be a member of the University Transplant Center, a partnership of the Health Science Center and University Health System.
During his 14 years as an executive-level administrator, Dr. Cigarroa continued taking surgical calls at least once a month at University Hospital.
“When initially approached by the Board of Regents to consider the chancellorship more than five years ago, I was inclined to say no, but I considered the similarities between health and education,” Dr. Cigarroa said in a statement from Austin. “Like surgery, education saves lives on many levels, and I thought I could bring value to the UT System with that perspective in mind.”
Highlights of his tenure in Austin include White House visits, the creation of an online dashboard of accountability by UT campuses and the establishment of two new medical schools for the state—the Long School of Medicine at UT Rio Grande Valley and the Dell Medical School at UT Austin. Dr. Cigarroa, a Laredo native, said the creation of the Valley medical school ranks among his proudest achievements.
“Dr. Francisco G. Cigarroa has made many impressive and lasting contributions as the chancellor of the UT System, and we are thrilled to have him back as a full-time pediatric transplant surgeon,” said William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of the Health Science Center. “This is a position in which he distinguished himself previously and from which he will continue to make lives better—one child and family at a time.”
