Shine to Speak at Medical School's 2006 Commencement

Kenneth Shine, M.D., executive vice chancellor for health affairs at The University of Texas System, will speak at the Medical School's 2006 commencement May 27 in the George R. Brown Convention Center, where more than 200 students are expected to receive their medical degrees.

Shine joined the UT System Nov. 24, 2003. In his role as executive vice chancellor for health affairs, he is responsible for the six UT System health components and their aggregate operating budget of almost $5.3 billion.

He has extensive experience working with international health experts on global issues such as emerging infectious illnesses, bioethics, and access to care. He was president of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences from 1992 to 2002, and he was founding director of the RAND Center for Domestic and International Health Security, where he led the center's efforts to make health a central component of U.S. foreign policy and guided the center's evolving research agenda.

Shine, a cardiologist and physiologist, received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1961. He is professor of medicine emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine where he began his academic career in 1971 as an assistant professor of medicine and director of the coronary care unit.

He is chair of the Food and Drug Administration's Scientific Advisory Committee and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Department of Homeland Security. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and American College of Physicians, and he was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1988.

Source: The University of Texas System