Ruiz Replaces Guynn in Leadership Roles
at UT Medical School and UT-HCPC
HOUSTON – (July 26, 2007) – Pedro Ruiz, M.D., has been named interim chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and interim executive director of the UT Harris County Psychiatric Center, a 250-bed psychiatric hospital.
Pedro Ruiz, M.D.
Jerry Wolinsky, M.D., interim dean of the medical school, said Ruiz will assume his new duties Aug. 1. “I am certain that Dr. Ruiz is up to the exciting challenges that are in store for this department,” he said.
Ruiz’s appointment follows the resignation of Robert W. Guynn, M.D., who has been chairman of the department for 19 years and executive director of the psychiatric center for 17 years.
In announcing his resignation as chair, Guynn said he has been elected to the board of directors of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, which certifies qualified specialists in psychiatry and neurology. He will remain on the department’s faculty, where he has served for 34 years.
Ruiz also will be named interim chief of psychiatry at LBJ General Hospital and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, the primary teaching hospitals of the UT Medical School.
A faculty member for 14 years and a prolific academic author, Ruiz has just completed a one-year term as president of the 37,000-member American Psychiatric Association (APA), which is the oldest national medical specialty society in the United States.
Ruiz’s clinical interest is the treatment of affective and anxiety disorders. His research focuses on mental health services, cross-cultural psychiatry, psychiatric education and psychiatric administration.
“I look forward to helping move the department into its new phase, focusing on neurosciences, state-of-the art clinical care, and excellence in training and education,” Ruiz said.