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Ophthalmology Department to be Named for Ruiz
The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved changing the name of the UT Medical School at Houston’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science to the Richard S. Ruiz, M.D., Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at its Aug. 12 board meeting in Houston.
UT Medical School at Houston Dean Stanley Schultz,
M.D., left, congratulates Richard S. Ruiz, M.D., on
having the Department of Ophthalmology named
for him.
Photo by Colleen O’Brien
“I am pleased that the Board of Regents has given its approval to honor Dr. Ruiz in this way,” said Dean Stanley Schultz, M.D. “Dr. Ruiz has done so much for the Medical School, and this is a way that the Medical School can show its gratitude.”
The new department name honors Ruiz, who has been the only chair of the department since the school opened in 1970. He holds the John S. Dunn Distinguished University Chair in Ophthalmology and serves as chief of ophthalmology at Memorial Hermann Hospital.
In 1968, Ruiz established the Hermann Eye Fund, a nonprofit, tax-exempt foundation to help underwrite indigent patient care, teaching, research and public service. Under Ruiz’s leadership as president of the Hermann Eye Fund, contributions have grown to more than $15 million. Through the efforts of the Eye Fund Board of Directors, Ruiz has created more than 20 endowed positions totaling approximately $10 million within his department.
The department’s name change is effective upon the retirement of Ruiz from the UT Health Science Center at Houston.
“This is a great honor, and I am very humbled,” Ruiz said. “And, I want to let everyone know that the name change won’t happen anytime soon because I
have no immediate plans to retire.”
— By Darla Brown, Medical School