Administration

Amarillo School of Health Professions

Established by the Texas State Legislature in 1981, the School of Health Professions was created to educate Allied Health professionals to fill crucial shortages in the health care needs of the people of West Texas. The School of Health Professions has since become a dynamic and vital member of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center team.

Our mission is to provide a high-quality, student-centered learning environment that seeks, through continuous quality improvement, to achieve the highest levels of excellence in teaching, research and clinical service, while fostering in our students the professional insight and service-oriented compassion that will enable them to excel in merging 'high tech and high touch' throughout their professional careers. The faculty, students, and graduates of the School of Health Professions represent the very best in the complement of ideas, education, and clinical skills offered in service to the people of Texas.

Amarillo School of Medicine

Richard M. Jordan, M.D., began serving as the new regional dean of the Amarillo School of Medicine in September 2008. He earned his bachelor's degree from Depauw University in 1967 and his medical degree from Indiana University in 1971. Dr. Jordan did his internship at the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in endocrinology at the University of Oregon in Portland.

As regional dean, Dr. Jordan has responsibilities for the academic, research and clinical administration for the School of Medicine activities in Amarillo.  The school at present trains 82 residents, 72 medical students, employees more than 80 faculty and has an operating budget of $37 million.

He served as chief of medical services at James H. Quillen VA Medical Center, as well as chief of the Division of Endocrinology, James H. Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University at Johnson, City, Tennessee. Dr. Jordan was a professor, associate chairman for postgraduate education of the Department of Medicine and the department's residency program director. He has published over 60 articles and book chapters primarily about endocrine disease.

Dr. Jordan was the recipient of the TTUHSC Dean’s Distinguished Faculty award in 2013. A recipient of six teaching awards, Dr. Jordan received the 2006 Health Care Hero Innovation Service Award from the Business Journal of Tri-Cities and King Pharmaceuticals in recognition of a health care provider whose inventive thinking furthered the cause of health care.  He was also named as one of America's Top Physicians by the Consumers' Research Council of America in 2007. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha.

Outside of medicine, Dr. Jordan is interested in amateur astronomy and ancient history. He is married to Maury Roman-Jordan, the primetime news anchor at Telemundo Amarillo and she is also the director of adult recruiting at Amarillo College’s Community Link program. They have been married since 2009 and live in Amarillo. He managed the World Champion U.S. National BMX Bicycle Racing Team in 1993 and 1994 and the Pro Cycles BMX Bicycle Racing Team that were National Champions in 1994, 1995 and 1996. His two sons, Dana and Erick, were members of those teams.

Amarillo Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Thomas Thekkumkara , Ph.D., is currently the Interim Dean for the Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy. He also serves as the Regional Dean for the Amarillo campus and is a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. He earned his Ph.D. in Chronobiology/Physiology from Kanpur University, India. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He then served on the faculty of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio and also of the Weis Center for Research at PennState University College of Medicine in Danville, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Dr. Thekkumkara was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine/Cellular and Structural Biology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, Colorado. His research interests include cellular and molecular biology of hypertension and diabetes with primary focus on angiotensin II receptor regulation and function.