UTHealth Houston welcomes Michael Patriarca as Executive VP
Michael Patriarca, MBA, MS, FACHE, has joined UTHealth Houston as executive vice president and chief business affairs and strategy officer. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for Houston’s health university as it prepares to launch a long-range strategic planning process that will shape the future of health education, research, and patient care. This work will expand the university’s impact on the communities it serves for years to come.
Patriarca joins the executive team and will work closely with UTHealth Houston’s deans and senior leaders to ensure that institutional priorities are translated into coordinated and strategic action. His newly created role reflects the university’s continued growth and the increasing scope of its academic, research, clinical, and administrative operations.
“UTHealth Houston is one of the most comprehensive academic health universities in the nation, with seven schools and a rapidly expanding academic, research, and clinical footprint,” said Melina R. Kibbe, MD, UTHealth Houston president and Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair. “As we continue to evolve, this role is critical to ensuring that our priorities, investments, and operations move forward in a collaborative and deliberate way. Mike’s leadership will help us strengthen our foundation and accelerate our impact across Texas and beyond.”
A focus of Patriarca’s work will be guiding the development and implementation of a comprehensive, 10-year strategic plan that will support alignment across the university’s missions and position UTHealth Houston for sustained local, statewide, and national impact. He will also oversee financial stewardship, operations, facilities and infrastructure planning, information technology, data and analytics, and institutional transformation.
“I am honored to join UTHealth Houston at such a defining moment in its growth,” Patriarca said. “This institution’s commitment to advancing education, research, and patient care across Texas and beyond is both inspiring and essential. I look forward to working alongside university leadership to develop a bold, data-informed strategy that strengthens alignment across our missions, supports innovation, and positions UTHealth Houston for sustained impact in the years ahead.”
Patriarca brings broad experience in academic medicine and health system leadership, with a career spanning strategy development, finance, operations, and analytics at leading academic health institutions. He most recently served as vice president and chief business officer for Tulane Medicine, where he was recruited into a newly created role that brought together strategic planning, financial oversight, and operational leadership. In that capacity, he led institution-wide strategic planning, strengthened financial and operational alignment, advanced digital and data initiatives, and supported complex health system partnerships.
For Patriarca, joining the UTHealth Houston executive team is a return to The University of Texas System family. He previously served as vice president for business affairs and chief operating officer for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, as well as executive vice dean for finance and administration. He also held earlier leadership positions at UT Southwestern Medical Center and UTMB Health. These experiences gave him a comprehensive understanding of the UT System’s academic health environment and the operational demands of large, mission-driven institutions.
Patriarca earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from Texas A&M University, his Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston–Clear Lake, and his Master of Science in business analytics from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is nationally recognized for his work in strategy, data-informed decision-making, and academic health administration.