Table of Contents
Zhang Appointed First Holder
of Dr. Doris L. Ross Professorship
A pioneering woman who spearheaded the creation of The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston (SHIS) has been honored by having the school’s first endowed position, The Dr. Doris L. Ross Professorship, named for her.
Doris Ross, Ph.D., and Jiajie Zhang, Ph.D.,
enjoy a reception recognizing the establishment
of The Dr. Doris L. Ross Professorship and the
appointment of Zhang to hold the position.
Photos by Ester Fant
Doris Ross, Ph.D., led the team that established SHIS starting in 1997. At that time, Ross was interim dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS) and had just successfully completed the closure of that school at the request of M. David Low, M.D., Ph.D., then-president of the health science center.
“After the school was closed, I said to President Low, ‘I’ve got it done’ and he said, ‘What’s next?’” Ross recalled.
She had begun working in the Texas Medical Center in the late 1960s and was director of the clinical laboratory at Memorial Hermann Hospital, then director of the Hermann Hospital School of Medical Technology and a faculty member at the UT Medical School at Houston. Ross watched the evolution of medical technology and even helped to establish new diagnostic technologies and treatment monitoring methods.
Ross realized the value of technology and the potential of informatics. Health informatics brings together the engineering, computer and biological sciences to advance biomedical research and improve health care.
“I proposed to President Low that we have a school of health information sciences for all students of the health science center,” Ross said. “Others had mentioned it, so it wasn’t my original idea, but I guess I became the one who pushed and finally got it done.
“It was something I was very passionate about because I firmly believed that the health science center needed a school of health information sciences. I guess I was right,” Ross said.
Ross retired as the first dean of SHIS in 2002, handing over the reins to one of her first recruits to the new school, Jack Smith, M.D., Ph.D. Another faculty member Ross recruited in the early days of SHIS was Jiajie Zhang, Ph.D., now professor and associate dean for research at the school and the first holder of The Dr. Doris L. Ross Professorship, funded in part by the John P. McGovern Foundation.
UT School of Health Information Sciences Dean Jack
Smith,
M.D., visits with Katherine McGovern, wife of
John P. McGovern,
M.D., longtime benefactor to the
UT Health Science Center at
Houston.
“Dr. Jiajie Zhang is an outstanding example of a great professor. He was one of our core faculty members when the school was established and is a good, solid professor,” Ross said.
Smith added, “As a new school and the only school of our kind, endowments are particularly important to build a financial base for the school to recruit and retain the best and brightest faculty and students. Dr. Jiajie Zhang exemplifies this excellence through his long list of academic accomplishments in humancentered design applied to health care and biomedical discovery. His research puts the human perspective into human-computer interaction to enhance clinicianto- patient communication and the quality of care.
“The endowment will provide protected time for him to pursue more innovative research in his discipline, which will no doubt lead to new breakthroughs in usable and effective technology designs in health care and biomedical research,” Smith said.
Zhang said he is particularly honored that the endowment bears the name of the school’s first dean and one of its founders.
“Since this is our first endowed position, this is a landmark for our school and a landmark for me,” Zhang said. “I think this is the best recognition we can give to Dr. Ross. She is certainly deserving of this honor.”
Smith said that it is fitting that the school’s first endowed position be named for Ross, whom he called “a true pioneer her entire career.”
“This award also affirms her vision of the importance of informatics to the future of health care and the principles of adaptive interdisciplinary collaboration she envisioned for our school that still guide us,” Smith said.
Ross humbly accepted the accolades during a reception held in her honor in November.
“I’m really honored and really appreciate it,” Ross said. “I told Jack Smith that he gave me too much credit when he announced the professorship.”
She said since her retirement, she has “enjoyed seeing what the school has done each year” and looks forward to watching the school further evolve and grow in years to come.
“I expect it will change over time even more, as it must, to meet the needs of health information,” Ross said.
Reflecting upon her time and efforts spent to establish SHIS, a task that took more than two years to complete, Ross said, “It’s a credit to the health science center and to UT System that an entire school could be established in such a short period of time. "
It seemed like a long time to me, but then I was running around talking to various people and pulling it all together.
“I enjoyed every minute of it. It was a lot of work, but well worth it,” Ross said.
By Wendy K. Mohon, Institutional Advancement