Photo and Bio Gallery
Department Chairs/ Division Heads/ Directors
Peter G. Traber, M.D.
President & CEO
Peter G. Traber, M.D. is President and Chief Executive Officer of Baylor College of Medicine and Professor of Medicine, positions he has held since March 2003. Dr. Traber has had a long career in academic medicine involved in patient care, education, and research as well as leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry.
Prior to joining Baylor, Dr. Traber served as Senior Vice President for Clinical Development & Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at GlaxoSmithKline where he was responsible for worldwide clinical development programs. Prior to GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Traber was Chief Executive Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Interim Dean for the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He also served as Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the school from July 1997 to February 2000. Under his leadership, the Department of Internal Medicine was ranked third in the nation in NIH funding, and had multiple divisions on the U.S. News & World Report annual survey of top medical schools.
Dr. Traber also served as Chief of Gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine from 1992 to 1997. Prior to that position he was on the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Medicine in Ann Arbor from 1987 to 1992 where he helped to build the research and clinical enterprise.
Dr. Traber received his M.D. at Wayne State Medical School in Detroit in 1981, and served a residency in internal medicine at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, where he also did a fellowship in gastroenterology. He completed a fellowship in gastroenterology research at the University of Michigan Medical School, and in 1997, completed the Management Development Program for Physician Executives at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
A respected researcher, Dr. Traber's scientific studies have included work on fundamental regulatory control mechanisms in intestinal biology with the goal of gaining a better understanding of human disease. He is the author of numerous publications on this research and the Senior Editor of the Handbook of Gastroenterology and Associate Editor of the Kelly Textbook of Internal Medicine.
In 1999, Dr. Traber received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Wayne State University School of Medicine. He has medical specialty certification with the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Gastroenterology. He has been actively involved in the American Gastroenterologic Association, and has served as chair for various AGA committees, sections and subsections.
Dr. Traber serves on the Council of Deans of the Association of American Medical Colleges and is a member of both the Association of American Physicians and the Texas Medical Association. In addition, he holds membership in the American Society for Clinical Research, having served on the National Council, and is an honorary member of the Texas Club of Internists.
Dr. Traber is active in the Houston community and is on the Boards of the Alkek Foundation, BCM Technologies, Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, the Houston Technology Center, MBM Foundation, St. Luke's Episcopal Health System, Texas Heart Institute, and Tanox, Inc. In addition, he is an Honorary Advisor to the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston.
April 2005
Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.
Chancellor Emeritus
Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., is chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine, and director of The DeBakey Heart Center of Baylor and the Methodist Hospital.
DeBakey's surgical career has earned him world renown as a surgeon, innovator, medical educator, and international medical statesman.
While still a medical student, he devised a pump that, years later, became one of the essential components of the heart-lung machine that made open-heart surgery possible. He has developed more than 50 surgical instruments.
Best known for his innovations in treating cardiovascular diseases, DeBakey was the first to do successful excision and graft replacement of arterial aneurysms and obstructive lesions, particularly on the carotid artery and aortic arch. A pioneer in the development of an artificial heart, he was the first to use a heart pump successfully in a patient. He also conceived the idea of lining a bypass pump and its connections with Dacron velour.
In 1953, DeBakey performed the first successful carotid endarterectomy, thereby establishing the field of surgery for strokes. In 1964, DeBakey and associates performed the first aortocoronary bypass with autogenous saphenous vein graft. In 1968, he led a team of surgeons in an historic multiple transplantation procedure in which the heart, kidneys, and one lung of a donor were transplanted to four recipients.
A native Louisianian, DeBakey received his undergraduate and medical education at Tulane University. After his residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, he went to the universities of Strasbourg and Heidelberg for further study. Returning to Tulane Medical School, he served on the surgical faculty from 1937 to 1948. From 1942 to 1946, he was on military leave, serving in the Office of Surgeon General as director of the Surgical Consultants' Division. He joined the Baylor faculty in 1948, serving as Chairman of the Department of Surgery until 1993. DeBakey was president of the college from 1969 to 1979 and served as Chancellor from 1979 to January 1996.
His ability to bring his professional knowledge to bear on public policy earned DeBakey a reputation as a medical statesman. He was a member of the medical advisory committee of the Hoover Commission and was chairman of the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke during the Johnson Administration. He has worked tirelessly in numerous capacities to improve national and international standards of health care. Among his numerous consultative appointments is a three-year membership on the National Advisory Heart and Lung Council of the National Institutes of Health.
DeBakey holds membership and fellowship in the most distinguished medical and surgical societies in the world. A life-long scholar, he has published more than 1,300 medical articles, chapters, and books on various aspects of surgery, medicine, health, medical research, medical ethics and socioeconomics, and education.
DeBakey is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and citations from universities around the world. He has received honors from many heads of state, including the Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the President of the United States can bestow on a civilian, the Presidential Medal of Science, and the Lasker Award, the American equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
William T. Butler, M.D.
Chancellor Emeritus
William T. Butler, M.D., a distinguished immunologist, joined Baylor College of Medicine in 1966 and during the following decades served the College in a variety of roles, including Associate Dean and Dean of Admissions.
In 1976, he was named Acting Executive Vice President and Dean, and in 1977, he became Executive Vice President and Dean. Two years later, Butler was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the College, and served in that position for almost 17 years. During that time, he led the College in a period of unprecedented growth and national and international recognition.
He assumed the post of Chancellor in 1996, and in 2004 became Chancellor Emeritus.
Bobby R. Alford, M.D.
Chancellor
Dr. Bobby R. Alford, Chancellor at Baylor College of Medicine, is also a professor of otorhinolaryngology and communicative sciences. In 1985, he was appointed a Distinguished Service Professor at Baylor. He has served as chair of the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery since 1967. In January 1996, the Baylor Board of Trustees named the department in his honor.
Alford serves on the staff of several hospitals in the Houston area: The Methodist Hospital, the Ben Taub General Hospital, the St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, the Texas Children's Hospital, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research. He is chief of service at Methodist, Ben Taub and the VA. Alford is also chair of the board and CEO of the National Space Biomedical Institute, a consortium of 12 universities.
Donna K. Sollenberger
Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Baylor Clinic and Hospital
Donna K. Sollenberger serves as chief executive officer of the Baylor Clinic and Hospital and executive vice president of Baylor College of Medicine.
She oversees the college's clinical activities and is directing the planning and development of BCM's first college-owned hospital. Sollenberger previously served as president and CEO of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics.
During her tenure, the system was named as a top performer in quality and accountability, outpatient diabetes care and outpatient orthopedic care by the University Health System Consortium, one of the "100 Most Wired Hospitals in America" multiple times, one of the Top 100 Integrated Health Networks and one of the 100 Best Companies for working mothers by Working Mother magazine in 2007. Sollenberger was also selected as one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare.
Prior to joining UW in 1999, Sollenberger served as executive vice president and CEO of City of Hope, vice president for hospital and clinics at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and chief administrative officer – surgery at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Jay H. Stein, M.D.
Executive Vice President and Executive Dean
Dr. Jay H. Stein serves as Executive Vice President and Executive Dean of Baylor College of Medicine.
Stein, a Chicago native, comes to BCM from the University of Rochester Medical Center, New York, where he served as senior vice president and vice provost for health affairs, as well as the CEO of the Medical Center and Strong Health System. Prior to Rochester, Stein was senior vice president and provost at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He has also served as chairman of the department of medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where he was also chief of the division of renal diseases, and prior to that was professor of medicine at Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee Medical College in Memphis, he served as senior resident at State University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City, and was a renal fellow at the Cardiovascular Research Laboratories at the University of Iowa, as well as at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.
Stein has served on many national committees including as president of the American Society of Nephrology. His many honors include as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha and a Master of the American College of Physicians. Stein was also the 1999 recipient of the very prestigious Robert H. Williams Distinguished Chair of Medicine Award from the Association of Professors of Medicine.
Brett Sweet
Executive Vice President, Finance & Administration, & Chief Financial Officer
Brett Sweet was named chief financial officer and vice president for finance at Baylor College of Medicine in November 2004. Prior to this position, he served as interim CFO of the College for six months.
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Navy Nuclear Power Program, Sweet was awarded a master’s in business administration from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.
Prior to his BCM appointment, he served as a strategy consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. At BCG, he worked on financial and strategic issues in a variety of industries in the U.S. and Europe, with particular emphasis on health care issues.
As CFO, Sweet oversees all financial activities of BCM including strategic development, capitalization, financial operations, budgeting, reporting and analysis, accounts receivable management, reimbursement strategies, financial systems, internal controls, accounts payable, payroll, grants and contracts and records management.
William R. Brinkley, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President for Graduate Sciences & Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Dr. William "Bill" R. Brinkley is senior vice president for graduate sciences and dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Baylor. He is a Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and serves as co-director of the W. M. Keck Center for Computational Biology.
Brinkley began his career at Baylor in 1976, as the director of the Division of Cell Structure and Function in the Department of Cell Biology. In 1985, he became chair of the Department of Cell Biology and director of the Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He returned to Baylor in his present position in 1991. As dean, he is interested in the training of future scientists and active in the curriculum development and analysis of career opportunities.
Stephen B. Greenberg, M.D.
Senior Vice President and Dean, Medical Education
Stephen Greenberg, M.D., was named senior vice president and dean of medical education in August 2006. He also serves as chief of the Medicine Service at Ben Taub General Hospital and Distinguished Service Professor. He served as the chair of the Department of Medicine from 2004-2006.
Greenberg received his medical training at the University of Maryland, where he was an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate. He completed his internship and residency in medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital, and his fellowship in infectious diseases at Baylor. He became a faculty member at Baylor, where he holds appointments as professor of medicine and professor of molecular virology and microbiology, and as the Herman Brown Teaching Professor at Ben Taub General Hospital.
A recipient of numerous honors, including the Distinguished Faculty Award of the Baylor Alumni Association in 1999, he has been repeatedly listed in The Best Doctors in America®.