Ashbel Smith Distinguished
Alumnus Awards
The Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus Award is the highest alumni honor bestowed by the university’s School of Medicine Alumni Association. The award, recognizing outstanding service to the medical profession and to humanity, honors the memory of Dr. Ashbel Smith. A prominent figure in Texas medicine, politics and education, Smith was considered the driving force behind establishing the University of Texas at Austin in 1881, and a medical department, that would later be known as UTMB, in Galveston in 1891.
2009 Recipients
Joseph S. Coselli, M.D. ’77, Houston, Texas
Dr. Joseph S. Coselli holds the Cullen Foundation Endowed Chair and is professor and chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He serves as associate chief of the cardiovascular service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and chief of adult cardiac surgery at Texas Heart Institute, located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. He is director of the thoracic surgery residency program at Baylor and directs the Aortic Surgery Clinic and Research Foundation, a collaborative effort of the aforementioned institutions to advance research, education and patient care in the field of cardiothoracic surgery.
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Michael D. McKinney, M.D. '76, College Station, Texas
Dr. Michael D. McKinney became chancellor of the Texas A&M University System on November 22, 2006. Since then, he has assembled a leadership team of top researchers, policy-makers and planners to guide the A&M System into a new era of cooperation, achievement and international prestige.
To that end, Chancellor McKinney also has championed the recruitment of the best and brightest faculty, staff and administrators at the A&M System’s nine universities, seven state agencies and health science center. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Academic Scholars Enhancement (ASE) Program, a program created to recruit and retain outstanding scientists and researchers. He also created the Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence awards, which provide A&M System funding for students to select and honor their top classroom professors.
Steady recruitment of outstanding faculty has led to path-breaking innovations in genome technology, biopharmaceuticals and health sciences. Equally important to Chancellor McKinney is the exploration of new ways to share the benefits of academic breakthroughs. The Office of Technology Commercialization has created bold new commercial alliances with industry and the public sector that are redefining university and public interaction. One measurement: externally funded A&M System research revenues top $627 million annually.
Another mark of Chancellor McKinney’s leadership can be seen in booming enrollment across the system, which has increased to more than 109,000 students. In 2008, many member institutions broke graduation records, including flagship Texas A&M University, where more than 5,500 received degrees. Infrastructure expansions from music halls to student housing at virtually every university in the A&M System, as well as construction of state-of the-art health science facilities in Bryan and Round Rock, offer brick-and-mortar evidence of dynamic engagement and long-range confidence.
Integral to growing overall enrollment is one of Chancellor McKinney’s priorities for the A&M System—increasing student diversity and boosting admissions of minority students to all-time highs. He also has championed financial aid programs that offer educational opportunities to those who otherwise could not afford college, and expanded veterans’ assistance programs for members of our armed forces.
Chancellor McKinney came to the A&M System from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, where he was senior executive vice president and chief operating officer. He served in leadership positions at the UT System, including vice chancellor for health affairs and acting dean of the UT Medical School in Houston.
Chancellor McKinney is a former chief of staff to Governor Rick Perry, and he served as commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission during former Governor George W. Bush’s first term. He practiced medicine for 16 years in Centerville, Texas, and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from 1984–1991. He served as speaker pro-tempore from 1989–1990.
G. Walter McReynolds, M.D. ’69, Houston, Texas
Dr. G. Walter McReynolds was born and raised in Galveston, Texas. He is the son of former University of Texas Medical Branch otolaryngology head Dr. George S. McReynolds. He graduated from Ball High School in l961, received his BS degree from Rice University in 1964, and graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in l969. After completing an internship at Hermann Hospital in Houston, he returned to Galveston to pursue his specialty of the ear, nose and throat. He completed his four-year otolaryngology residency in l974. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
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Robert B. Wilkins, M.D. ’64, Houston, Texas
Dr. Robert B. Wilkins was born and raised in Galveston, received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1964. After doing a general rotating internship in Dallas, he spent his three-year residency studying ophthalmology and ophthalmic surgery in Michigan. Dr. Wilkins then moved to the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital in New York City, where he did a fellowship in oculoplastic and reconstructive surgery of the eyelids and bony orbit. He continued his oculoplastic and reconstructive studies at the Eye Foundation Hospital in Alabama. While at the Eye Foundation, Dr. Wilkins, along with four other eye plastic surgeons from around the United States, started the American Society of Oculoplastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 1969. He served as president in 1974. He served as president of Houston Eye Associates for nine years, as well as president of the Houston Ophthalmological Society. In 1968, Dr. Wilkins spent time in India doing surgery, sometimes as many as 200 procedures per day.
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2009 Ashbel Smith Distinguished
Alumnus Award Winners. Pictured left to right: Joseph S. Coselli, M.D. ’77; Robert B. Wilkins, M.D. ’64;
G. Walter McReynolds, M.D. ’69; and Michael D. McKinney, M.D. '76.