Our History

Medical ethics has long been a part of UTHSCSA's approach to medical education and a number of generous donors over the years has supported this effort with endowment gifts. These enabled the formation of the current Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics in 2002 under Steven Wartman, MD, then Dean of the School of Medicine, who recruited physician-writer Abraham Verghese, MD as its first director. Today, Ruth Berggren, MD, heads the Center and has drawn around her a faculty that emphasizes medical ethics, community service learning and study of the humanities.

The Dean's office, now headed by William Henrich, MD, MACP, continues to support the Center financially, providing for most of the director's salary and for two administrative positions. Gifts and grants support other salaries at the Center and a new endowment, the James Young Professorship, was provided when Ruth E. Berggren, MD was appointed Interim Director of the Center in October, 2007.

Most recently the Center has expanded its reach by partnering with the Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen, and through the creation of multidisciplinary programming that involves faculty and students from the schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, health professions, and biomedical science.

"The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease." - Sir William Osler