The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT) has announced that David Rice, MD, has been named the interim chair of the Department of Medicine. He joined the UTHSCT faculty in October of 2020 and works in the UT Health North Campus Tyler Internal Medicine Clinic.
From 2018 to 2020, Dr. Rice served as chief medical officer at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, Maine, where he began serving as an internist in 2007. Prior to that, he was chief of inpatient medicine at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas, and associate program director for the internal medicine residency program at Texas A&M School of Medicine in College Station.
He served from 2000 to 2001 as the chief medical officer aboard the Caribbean Mercy Ship, providing health to patients in low-resourced areas. Dr. Rice was in private practice in Tyler for five years prior, from 1994 to 1999, and was chief resident for the Scott and White Hospital Internal Medicine program from 1993 to 1994.
“We are so fortunate that Dr. Rice has returned to East Texas to join the faculty of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler,” said UTHSCT Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Physician in Chief Dr. Steven Cox. “Dr. Rice is an accomplished and well-respected clinician who brings to the university significant academic and administrative experience.
“Internal medicine is our largest department and is well positioned for significant growth as we continue to build our residency training programs and fellowships and expand clinical training experiences for medical students,” Dr. Cox said. “Dr. Rice is a collaborative leader committed to teamwork and to the vision of the university. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Rice on his role as leader of the Department of Medicine.”
A member of the American Medical Society and American College of Physicians, Dr. Rice earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at The University of Texas at Austin and his medical degree at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas, and at Texas A&M College of Medicine in College Station.