Baylor College of Medicine to open Temple campus as Texas A&M departs
By Janna Zepp | Photo courtesy of Baylor Scott & White Health
Dr. Alejandro “Alex” Arroliga, chief medical officer at Baylor Scott & White Health, will lead Baylor College of Medicine as the regional dean of its first campus in Temple, which will welcome its first class of medical students in summer 2023.
Arroliga will stay CMO at BSWH, continuing to provide clinical direction to more than 7,500 physicians, oversee quality improvement initiatives, and the system’s research and medical education endeavors.
An internationally recognized expert in the management of lung disease and critical care medicine, Arroliga was named to Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives list in 2021.
Arroliga earned his medical degree at Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa-Enríquez, Veracruz, Mexico, and completed his general medicine residency at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y. He completed his pulmonary and critical care fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. He earned a Master of Science in Positive Organization Development & Change from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
In the role as regional dean, Arroliga will report to Dr. Jennifer Christner, dean of the School of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He will be responsible for the undergraduate medical education of the BCM Temple campus and the local programs that support it. He will provide leadership for the continuous creation, operation, and analysis of the undergraduate medical education programs at the Temple campus to ensure that it operates as one with the Houston campus.
Back in the fall of 2020, Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor Scott & White Health announced an academic affiliation that included the development of a four-year medical school regional campus in Temple at which Baylor College of Medicine will offer a curriculum that combines health system and university resources to deliver flexible and individualized medical education. The Baylor campus will replace the Texas A&M University College of Medicine, Temple Regional Campus, which is one of six clinical rotation sites for the Texas A&M medical school, hosting third- and fourth-year future physicians in hospital settings. Texas A&M’s move from Temple will increase its presence at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and at Texas Medical Center in Houston.
