ACG In Austin on 10/11/17: Dr. Clay Johnston, Dean of Dell Medical School at UT Austin

Since March 2014, Clay Johnston has served as the inaugural Dean of the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. His ambitious vision includes building a world-class medical school by creating a vital, inclusive health ecosystem that supports new and innovative models of education and healthcare delivery – all with a focus on improving health and making Austin a model healthy city. He is also a neurologist, specializing in stroke care and research.

Previously, Clay was associate vice chancellor for research at the University of California, San Francisco. He also directed the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, overseeing the planning, development, and implementation of a $112-million, five-year, National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant award; and founded the UCSF Center for Healthcare Value to engage faculty and trainees in improving the quality of care while also lowering costs.

He is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Medical School. He later received a PhD in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a resident in Neurology at UCSF, where he later trained in Vascular Neurology. During his 20 years at UCSF, he rose the academic ranks to Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology, and directed the Stroke Service.

Clay has authored more than 300 publications in scientific journals and has won several national awards for his research and teaching. In particular, he has published extensively in the prevention and treatment of stroke and transient ischemic attack. He is perhaps best known for his studies describing the short-term risk of stroke in patients with transient ischemic attack and identifying patients at greatest risk, and also for his work related to measuring the impact of research. He has led several large cohort studies of cerebrovascular disease and three international multicenter randomized trials, two of which are ongoing.