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Up to the Challenge: Kaiser Hits the Ground Running
Larry R. Kaiser, M.D.
Surgeon, father, husband, leader, winemaker, country music fan and barbecue aficionado are just some of the words and phrases that describe Larry R. Kaiser, M.D., the fifth president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Determined, ambitious and open would apply as well.
“I am, as many surgeons are, fairly ambitious,” Kaiser admits. “I was running a great department of surgery, yet I felt there might be something else out there to challenge me.”
Kaiser, who began his tenure at the health science center on Aug. 1, succeeds James T. Willerson, M.D., now president of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital.
Kaiser spent the past 17 years at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia. Recruited to create a thoracic surgery division there, within two years he helped the university boost thoracic surgeries performed by faculty from 110 to 1,200 annually. He said that for the first few years on faculty at Penn, “I didn’t think about becoming a chair and I certainly didn’t think about having a leadership role like this one,” referring to his current role as president.
Development Board Member Huffington Leaves Lasting Impact on UT Health Science Center at Houston
Life member for past 27 years, was founding member of Lone Star Legacy Society, made gifts to the institution in excess of $5 million
Roy M. Huffington
Roy M. Huffington, 90, noted Texas oilman, was appointed ambassador to Austria during the presidency of George H. W. Bush and had been a life member since 1981 of the Development Board of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, as well as a founding member of the institution’s Lone Star Legacy Society. He died July 11 while visiting Venice.
Huffington made significant gifts to the health science center for several endowments, which include endowed chairs, professorships and lecture series as well as gifts to geriatric/gerontological research and care, molecular medicine research, stroke and heart research, asthma and hyperthermia research. His cumulative gifts to the institution exceed $5 million.
On May 15, The UT Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing honored Huffington as the school’s first million-dollar donor. A portrait of Huffington was unveiled in his honor. His cumulative contributions currently support 18 Doctor of Nursing Practice scholarships.
UT School of Nursing at Houston Dean Patricia Starck, D.S.N., said, “Mr. Huffington was a long-time and loyal friend of nursing who supported education and research at the School of Nursing. He was a very fine gentleman and we are saddened to hear of his death. We extend our sincerest condolences to his children. He will be fondly remembered by the faculty, staff, students and alumni at the School of Nursing.”