speaker biographies
April 12-13, 2005

Francisco Cigarroa, M.D., the first Hispanic in the United States to lead a health science university, is the third president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. This nationally renowned pediatric and transplant surgeon was on the surgical team that first split a donor liver for two recipients in Texas and headed the first successful pediatric small bowel transplant in South Texas. Dr. Cigarroa has received the Marshall K. Bartlett Surgical Research Award from Harvard, a certificate in pediatric surgery from the American Board of Surgery, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery. He serves on the medical staffs of numerous San Antonio hospitals, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Cigarroa received his bachelor's degree from Yale and his medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He was chief resident at Harvard's teaching hospital in Boston, and completed a fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

 

Fernando Guerra, M.D., M.P.H., is the director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District which is accountable for activities that provide overall direction and support for the operational functions of the district, as well as a leadership role in public policy development. With Metro Health, he works to promote health and prevent disease among the residents and visitors of San Antonio and Bexar County through community health assessment, identification of unmet health needs, development of policies to meet the needs, and follow-up on meeting those needs.

Dr. Guerra received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and a master's degree in public health from Harvard.

 

Michael Hudson is the former Deputy Administrator for the Health Care Financing Administration and founding partner of the Washington D.C. firm known as The Health Policy Group. Mr. Hudson has been a senior advisor to the governor of Texas on Medicaid, and has assisted other governors on national reforms pertaining to restructuring of federal/state relationships.

Mr. Hudson is also the former Executive Director of Public Policy Management for Merck & Co., Inc., where he chaired Merck's Health Care Reform Working Group. Mr. Hudson also served as the Assistant Secretary for Legislation in the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a principal assistant to Treasury Secretary James A. Baker, III during deliberations on the Tax Reform Act of 1985 and as a Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs in the White House. In addition, he served as Assistant Director for Legislative Affairs in the President's Office of Management and Budget.

 

Stephen Linder, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the University of Texas School Of Public Health at Houston in three divisions: Management Policy and Community Health, Health Promotion and Behavioral Science, and Environmental and Occupational Health. Dr. Linder is also the Interim Director of the Institute for Health Policy, a new entity based in the School of Public Health, devoted in part to bringing academic research findings into the worlds of policy-making and action. His recent publications focus on topics in social and political analysis including public- private partnerships, social marketing and adaptation to climate change, as well as on theoretical issues in science communication. He served on the faculty of UCLA and Tulane University before coming to the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston in 1984.

Dr. Linder received his doctorate in political science from the University of Iowa. He trained in mediation at the University of Texas Law School and in academic leadership at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

 

Chris Patterson is Director of Research at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and is responsible for planning and coordinating the foundation's research and scholar recruitment. She began serving in this position in 2001, after serving as Director of Education Policy for the Lone Star Foundation in Austin and Executive Director of Education Connection of Texas in San Antonio. She has written many studies, research reports and commentaries on public education. Before moving to San Antonio, Mrs. Patterson was the Executive Director of the Regional Action Phone, a crisis intervention and suicide prevention hotline.

Mrs. Patterson received her bachelor's degree in psychology and labor relations certification form the Cornell University School of Management Studies.

 

Ray Perryman, Ph.D., founder and President of The Perryman Group, is regarded as one of the world's most influential and innovative economists. The Perryman Group is an economic and financial analysis firm located in Waco, Texas, where Perryman uses complex modeling systems to form a basis for corporate and governmental planning around the globe. He was formerly a research chair-holder, university professor and Economist-in-Residence at Baylor University and Business Economist-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University. He has been a member of numerous state, federal, and international task forces; has served as editor of academic and trade journals; has led conferences in the field of economics, statistics, forecasting, modeling, and simulation; and has been an advisor to numerous governmental leaders.

Dr. Perryman received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Baylor University, and his Ph.D. in economics from Rice University.

 

Roberto Jimenez, M.D., is the Chairman of the University Health System Board of Managers. Dr. Jimenez is also Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Consultant for the San Antonio State Hospital, the Audie L. Murphy Veterans Administration Hospital Research Psychiatric Unit and the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. He is a member of the Texas Task Force on State and Local Drug Control, the admissions committee for The University of Texas Health Science Center and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Health Care Services.

Jimenez received his bachelor's degree in biology and philosophy from St. Mary's University and his medical degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

 

Nancy Murray, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Behavioral Sciences and a Scientific Coordinator at the Texas Prevention Research Center at The University of Texas Ð Houston Health Science Center's School of Public Health. Her current research focuses on adolescent smoking cessation through parent education and school-based multimedia programming. She also works in the area of school health, supporting pre-service training on coordinated school health programs and dissemination of effective coordinated school health programs.

Nancy received a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in developmental psychology from the University of Southern California. She received a Ph.D. in health promotion/health education from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.