UTMB Welcomes Dr. Jochen Reiser as new President
The Galveston County Daily News published this interview with Dr. Jochen Reiser during his first official week as President of the University of Texas Medical Branch. It is reprinted here as originally published.
GALVESTON -- Dr. Jochen Reiser, who Tuesday morning began work as president of the University of Texas Medical Branch, joined one of the county’s most important organizations at a challenging and perhaps thorny time.
He’ll lead the educational, research and clinical missions of an academic health center of nearly 4,000 students and 1,000 faculty that also operates the Galveston National Laboratory, which conducts cutting-edge research into some of the world’s most threatening pathogens. The medical branch is the county’s largest employer and provides health care to many of its residents.
He arrives at a time of flux, of rising costs and labor shortages, in U.S. health care, after the controversial ouster of Dr. Ben Raimer, who is beloved among islanders, and as many people complain of long delays in making appointments. And he begins at a time when the state’s political bent sometimes puts it at odds with health care professionals.
So, how’s he liking it so far?
“It was a special moment,” Reiser said about March 24 when the University of Texas System Board of Regents named him to lead the medical branch.
“I didn’t know whether to cry or scream. I was entirely stunned at that moment. I was very excited and I felt an enormous responsibility and trust that was given to me.
“I traveled here on my own time during the interview process and wanted to see the community,” Reiser said.
“It didn’t take me longer than a second to say ‘This is exactly where I want to be.’”
A native of Germany who grew up in a village near the Black Forest, Reiser is a world-renowned leader in kidney disease research with a focus on molecular biology and genetics. He came to Galveston County with an understanding of the medical and political landscape, he said.
A NEW APPROACH
Healthcare constantly is changing and the medical branch needs to adapt to the times, he said.
“I think it is very clear that we need a new approach to healthcare,” Reiser said. “We have shortages in the labor force, which is not just a Texas issue but everywhere; we have rising costs; we have access issues for people seeking healthcare. We’ll have to look at all this and reinvent ourselves a little bit in that regard.”
The population of Texas is growing, and with it the demand for healthcare, Reiser said.
“We need to build up and get more providers,” Reiser said. “We need to get the right workforce in place to be able to really serve our communities and healthcare needs of those who need it.”
The increased demand is happening at a time when providers are feeling pressure from many sources and some are leaving the field altogether, which was a lesson learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, Reiser said.
The medical branch must take a critical look at its access center, through which people make appointments and explore methods such as tele-health, in which patients get limited forms of care virtually, to help ease the problem, he said.
“There are concerns, but that’s good because that means there are things to look at,” Reiser said.
“We have to be critical and hold ourselves accountable,” Reiser said. “We will do these analyses that give us the right questions and we’ll, hopefully together, find the right answers.”
“I almost sound like I’m making an excuse, but access is the issue no matter where you go,” Reiser said. “There is no hospital that has fully figured it out.”
‘SPEAK YOUR MIND’
Reiser, in answering questions about the medical branch censuring professor Joy Alonzo’s comment’s to island medical students asserting the lieutenant governor had exacerbated an opioid crisis in the state, said he would work to foster openness.
“The spirit of a university, in Germany, New York, Boston or here, is to speak your mind,” Reiser said. “That is the principle I would like our students and faculty to go by.
“Now, speaking your mind means it comes with a responsibility.
“We have to be careful how we package those messages. But in principal, I want people to know that UTMB is a place where we learn.”
WALK A LINE
Reiser would like to see the medical branch strengthen its research efforts, he said.
“I want to connect back to that,” Reiser said. “But I also think about diversification of industries like biotechnology, exciting innovations in biosciences, artificial intelligence and digital health. We need to bring more of that here to this community and I’m excited about that.”
The University of Texas Medical Branch has a bright future ahead, Reiser said.
“Another piece we need to focus on is growth,” Reiser said. “We will continue to grow with a strong primary care force. We will continue to grow towards the city of Houston and be the provider of choice for the growing communities between Galveston and Houston.”