Dean, Texas A&M College of Medicine

Carrie Byington

Carrie L. Byington, MD, serves as Dean of the Texas A&M College of Medicine, Senior Vice President of the Texas A&M University Health Science Center and Vice Chancellor for Health Services at The Texas A&M University System. She is the first Mexican American female to hold the position of dean and senior vice president for an academic medical center in the United States.

Dr. Byington joined Texas A&M in 2017 after a 21-year career at the University of Utah, where she was the H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Professor of Pediatrics, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development in the School of Medicine, and Associate Vice President for Faculty and Academic Affairs at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center.

A federally funded investigator with continuous support as principal or co-investigator totaling about $80 million since 1998, Dr. Byington’s research spans the translational spectrum from basic laboratory science to health services research and has focused primarily on bacterial and viral respiratory pathogens in children. Her scholarship led to the co-invention of FilmArray, a novel diagnostic platform for the identification of infectious pathogens and antimicrobial resistance with BioFire Diagnostics of Salt Lake City, later acquired by bioMérieux. The FilmArray is used in hospitals in the United States, Europe, and Asia and has changed the landscape for infectious diseases diagnostics and research. Her research background in translational science also led to the development of the Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science, a member of the National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award national consortium since 2008.

A respected physician with a strong dedication to increasing access to care, Dr. Byington has devoted her career to providing excellent care to underserved women and children, particularly those living in poverty. She co-founded the South Main Clinic at the University of Utah, which serves the most at-risk populations in Salt Lake County including recent immigrants, refugees, pregnant teens, and children living in foster care. The clinic, which has won national awards for care delivery, also focuses on strengthening families by helping to address the social determinant of health including screening for violence, ensuring food and housing security, assisting with transportation and offering dental and legal services in a general medical clinic. To address literacy needs, Dr. Byington opened a library in the clinic in 1998. The children’s library bearing her name became a county-supported public library in 2008.

A nationally-renowned physician scientist, Dr. Byington has had numerous career accomplishments including awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. Notably, she is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and serves as Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases. She also served as Chair of the Infectious Diseases Advisory Group to the U.S. Olympic Committee and was tasked with protecting Team USA athletes and staff during the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Dr. Byington holds board certification and national recognition in both General Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases. She received her Bachelor of Science in biology from Texas A&M University in 1985 and Doctor of Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine in 1989, both with honors. She trained in pediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital and in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco.

With a return to her alma matter, Dr. Byington is determined to transform health care delivery in Texas in an effort to eliminate health disparities. Specifically, she is focused on three priority areas: improving rural population health through innovative care delivery, providing care to active duty military and veterans through education, research and service, and collaborating with the College of Engineering to develop and implement new technologies and innovations to support health care in the 21st century.