AUSTIN, Texas ― University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa said Monday he’s resigning because he’s accomplished the goals he set five years ago, not because of political turmoil surrounding the Board of Regents in recent months.
Cigarroa, a physician and the first Hispanic to lead the University of Texas System’s nine academic campuses and six health centers, is returning to his medical practice full time. He will be the head of pediatric transplant surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, where he served as president for eight years before being named system chancellor.
“Education saves lives on many levels and I thought I could bring value to the UT system with that perspective in mind,” Cigarroa said. “Now it’s time to return to saving one life at a time.”
Cigarroa, 56, noted his tenure includes creation of the new University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, a merger of the campus in Brownsville and Edinburg, which will include a medical school, and a new medical school at the University of Texas at Austin.
Residents have lobbied for years to get a medical school in the border region. Officials believe it will result in more doctors practicing on the border and have a positive impact on overall health in one of the most impoverished and medically underserved parts of the country.
“I would say we have improved the health of Texas,” Cigarroa said.
He also noted a push to get more system campuses on track to become top-tier research universities.
