EL PASO, Texas (August 8, 2008) - The University of Texas at El Paso and the UTEP Alumni Association recently announced the 2008 recipients of their Distinguished Alumni Award.

This year’s recipients are: J. James Rohack, president-elect, American Medical Association; Ruben Salazar (posthumously), groundbreaking journalist honored on a U.S. postage stamp in 2008; and R. Paul Yetter, nationally recognized attorney, co-founder of Yetter & Warden, LLP.

UTEP’s Distinguished Alumni Award honors some of the university’s most accomplished graduates who have not only distinguished themselves professionally, but also have demonstrated dedication to the university or their community.

The honorees will be recognized during UTEP’s Homecoming Week Oct. 5-11.

J. James Rohack recently was named president-elect of the American Medical Association, the nation's largest physician organization. He will assume the presidency in June 2009, followed by a term as immediate past president ending in 2010.

A senior staff cardiologist at Scott & White Clinic in Temple, Texas, Rohack received a bachelor of science in psychology with high honors from UTEP in 1976 and his doctor of medicine degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1980.

Rohack was first elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 2001 and served as chair in 2004-2005. He was re-elected to a final four-year term in 2005. He chairs the AMA commissioners on the Joint Commission and represents the AMA as a principal of the Hospital Quality Alliance. Rohack also chairs the National Advisory Council to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Rohack is a professor in both the Department of Medicine and the Department of Medical Humanities in Medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. He continues his clinical practice at Scott & White where he serves as director of the Center for Healthcare Policy and medical director for system improvement of the Scott & White Health Plan.

He received the Gold Nugget Award from UTEP’s College of Liberal Arts in 2002 and was named the Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus by the UTMB in 2000.

The University of Texas at El Paso is a major research university at the heart of the U.S.-Mexico border committed to the ideals of access and excellence. A leader among Hispanic-serving institutions, UTEP enrolls more than 20,000 students and is the only doctoral research university in the nation with a student body that is a majority Mexican American. UTEP has graduated more than 85,000 students over its 94-year history.

Release courtesy of Kimberly Miller, UTEP Public Information Officer