Tuesday, March 18, 2025
  Health, Announcements

By News and Internal Communications

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – MARCH 18, 2025 – UTRGV announced Tuesday the departure of Michael Hocker, MD, MHS, Dean of the School of Medicine and Senior Vice President of UT Health RGV.

Hocker will assume a new appointment as Executive Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in July 2025.

Hocker joined UTRGV in 2021 and during his tenure he achieved many milestones, including:

  • Securing full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME).
  • Expanding Graduate Medical Education by launching a consortium of 10 new residency/fellowship programs.
  • Overseeing the opening of the Institute of Neurosciences and the Human Genomics Center.
  • Guiding the $156 million UT Health RGV Cancer and Ambulatory Surgery Center project, which opens later this year.

“We are deeply grateful for Dr. Hocker’s remarkable service and vision,” UTRGV President Guy Bailey said. “His commitment to innovation, education and community health has propelled our medical school to new heights. We thank him for his dedication to our region and wish him every success in his new role.”



ABOUT UTRGV

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.