FOR RELEASE: Sept. 25, 2006

GALVESTON, Texas — Dr. T. Samuel Shomaker, the first dean of Austin programs for the University of Texas Medical Branch, will be introduced to Travis County physicians and UTMB alumni from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 25, at the Headliners Club. Shomaker holds a law degree from Georgetown University and a medical degree from the University of Hawaii. He became dean on Sept.1.

"As the first dean of Austin medical programs, Dr. Shomaker will lead efforts to expand academic medicine in Austin and increase clinical, research and educational opportunities in the region," said Dr. Garland Anderson, UTMB's interim dean of medicine.

Shomaker will oversee UTMB's graduate medical residency program, which already draws hundreds of new physician specialists to the Austin area. He will work in close collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin, the Seton Healthcare Network, UT System and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in Central Texas, Anderson said.

Shomaker comes to Texas from Hawaii where he was acting dean for the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii. Earlier he served as vice dean for academic affairs and as vice president and chief operating officer for University Clinical, Education and Research Associates. In Hawaii, he was able to secure funding from the National Institutes of Health to build translational research at the University of Hawaii. Translational research is the discipline that aims to move basic science discoveries to clinical applications as quickly as possible.

Previously, Shomaker served as a faculty member at the University of Utah, where he was a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, residency program director for anesthesiology, associate dean for curriculum and minority affairs, and senior associate dean for academic affairs before serving as interim dean in 1998-99. At the University of Utah, he was recognized for outstanding service in the cause of advancing diversity.

He is a member of the Council of Deans, Association of American Medical Colleges and a fellow in the American College of Legal Medicine. He has also served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves. His wife, Dr. Suzanne Yandow, is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. They have three children.
 

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