Thomas (Sam) Shomaker, M.D., J.D.

Dean of Medicine and Vice President for Clinical Affairs

Read the article about our new dean

Concluding a 10-month nationwide search, The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents on July 23, 2010, approved Thomas (Sam) Shomaker, M.D., J.D., as The Jean and Thomas McMullin Dean of Medicine for the Texas A&M Health Science Center (HSC) College of Medicine and vice president for clinical affairs for the HSC. He began his duties Aug. 1.

Dr. Shomaker most recently served as professor of anesthesiology at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and Chancellor's Health Fellow in Healthcare Reform/Reimbursement at The University of Texas System. From 2006-09, he served as dean of Austin Programs at UTMB. Under his leadership, the Austin campus expanded significantly, adding nearly 60 new faculty and new residency training programs and more than doubling the number of third- and fourth-year medical students trained in Austin.

Following his graduation summa cum laude from St. Louis University in 1976, Dr. Shomaker served as a legislative intern for Senator John C. Danforth and then legislative assistant to Hawai'i Senator Daniel K. Inouye in Washington, D.C., while completing his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree magna cum laude at the Georgetown University School of Law in 1979. He went on to receive his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) in 1986 from the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine, where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He completed his internship in surgery at the University of Hawai'i and residencies in anesthesiology at the University of Utah and University of Florida.

Formerly a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves, Dr. Shomaker served on the faculty of the University of Utah, where he was a professor of anesthesiology, residency program director for anesthesiology, associate dean for curriculum and minority affairs, and senior associate dean for academic affairs before serving as interim dean in 1998-99. While at Utah, he oversaw a major curriculum reform project, significantly increased the diversity of the student body and introduced a new financial management system called mission-based budgeting, making the University of Utah College of Medicine one of the first medical schools in the United States to adopt this system.

In addition to serving as interim dean at the University of Hawai'i, Dr. Shomaker served as vice dean and chief operating officer and vice president of the faculty group practice University Clinical, Education and Research Associates. Under his leadership, the University of Hawai'i School of Medicine built a new campus and greatly expanded its research productivity. He also played a major role in the creation of the Department of Native Hawaiian Health, one of the only medical school departments in the world concerned with improving the health of an indigenous people.

Dr. Shomaker has a keen interest in health policy and is the author of more than three dozen articles and several book chapters. Since the mid-1990s, he has served on numerous committees of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). He has served as a site visitor for the accrediting body for U.S. medical schools, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for more than 10 years and headed up institutional accreditation preparations in Utah and Hawai'i.

Dr. Shomaker and his wife, Dr. Suzanne Yandow, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, have three children.