Ciro V. Sumaya, MD, MPHTM
Professor, Health Policy and Management
Cox Endowed Chair in Medicine
Founding Dean, School of Rural Public Health
Texas A&M Health Science Center
Ciro V. Sumaya, M.D., M.P.H.T.M., a native of Brownsville, Texas, is the Founding Dean (1997-2008) of the School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center in College Station. He currently holds the John and Maureen Cox Endowed Chair in Medicine and is a Professor, Health Policy and Management at A&M.
Previous to becoming Dean of the School of Rural Public Health, Dr. Sumaya was a Presidential (Clinton) appointee at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He first served as Administrator of Health Resources and Services Administration, a federal focal point for innovation in health care delivery and health professions education, and subsequently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, spearheading the federal Initiative on the Future of Academic Health Centers.
In 1993 he was selected to serve on the Presidential Task Force on Health Care Reform.
Before federal service, Dr. Sumaya was Associate Medical Dean at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and also held an academic position at the Pediatric Infectious Disease Division, UCLA School of Medicine. As Associate Dean he established the South Texas Health Research Center, Area Health Education Center of South Texas, and Medical Treatment Effectiveness Research Center.
Dr. Sumaya has published more than 109 professional journal articles and book chapters on pediatric viral infections, emerging as a leading physician-scientist in childhood infectious mononucleosis. An additional 36 publications target national public health and policy issues.
Dr. Sumaya was one of the six Founding Scholars in Academic Administration and Health Policy of the Association of Academic Health Centers and an Executive Committee Member of the Surgeon General’s National Hispanic Health Initiative. He has served on multiple national-level biomedical and policy advisory committees sponsored by the Institute of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and Federal Drug Administration, among others.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree (1963) with high honors and selection to Phi Beta Kappa from The University of Texas at Austin. His Doctor of Medicine degree (1966) and selection into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society was obtained at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Following a pediatric residency at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he completed a postgraduate fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Tulane University School of Medicine. He also earned a Master in Public Health and Tropical Medicine degree from Tulane University School of Public Health.
Dr. Sumaya has received numerous honors and awards including the Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumni Award from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, Distinguished Fellow of the Public Health Advisory Board in Washington, DC, Juan Carlos Finlay Award from the U.S. Public Health Service, and was selected to the 101 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S. (2009)
He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Ascension Health, the largest nonprofit health system in the country. He also serves as Board Chairman for the National Hispanic Medical Association and has a member of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the principal recommending governmental body for vaccines administered to the American public.