Finalist Declared for HSC Presidency

Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar, experienced medical practitioner and fifth-generation Texan chosen to lead Health Sciences Center.

John Baldwin

Facts at a glance:

Harvard University, Summa cum laude

Rhodes Scholar

M.D. from Stanford School of Medicine

Residency at Mass General

Successor to Dr. Michael DeBakey at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston

Dean, Dartmouth Medical School

Currently Harvard professor of surgery and chief executive officer of the Immune Disease Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School

Read full biography

John C. Baldwin, M.D., was named the sole finalist for the position of president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Texas Tech University System. State law requires that 21 days must pass before final action is taken. The appointment becomes final on or after July 19.

Baldwin, who is currently professor of surgery at Harvard University and president and chief executive officer of the Immune Disease Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, was selected as sole finalist after an extensive national search, working in consultation with an advisory committee, appointed by Chancellor Kent Hance.

Baldwin earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard where he was one of 12 students to be elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society as a junior. After graduating summa cum laude from Harvard, Baldwin was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford.

He received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He succeeded Dr. Michael DeBakey as head of surgical programs at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He has served as dean of the Dartmouth Medical School and as the university's associate provost for health affairs. Baldwin has extensive business experience in biotechnology and bioengineering, intellectual property, technology transfer, pharmaceutical and device company start-up, health insurance, banking and nonprofit organizations.

"I was given several extremely well-qualified candidates from which to pick, but John Baldwin stood out to me as the person best suited to lead the Health Sciences Center," said Hance. "His medical skill and knowledge of the healthcare system is unparalleled. His business and leadership experience is extensive. John Baldwin is the right person to lead the Health Sciences Center here in Lubbock and at all six state-wide campuses, including our new and second medical school in El Paso. He is a fifth-generation native Texan, and we are pleased to welcome him back home to Texas to assume the presidency."

Baldwin said, "The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, a regionally and nationally preeminent institution, has greatly honored me with this opportunity. The responsibility to lead this great university, in its many components, is an exciting prospect."

Bernhard T. Mittemeyer, M.D., continues to serve as interim president of the HSC. He began his duties July 1, 2006, when M. Roy Wilson, M.D., left to become chancellor of the newly consolidated University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.

Jan 15, 2020