Academic Dean's Office Main Campus
The Dean serves as the chief academic and administrative officer of the School of Pharmacy, leading faculty and staff of the School in planning; securing resources; and implementing and evaluating activities related to academic operations, research, service and patient care programs. The Dean represents the School both internally to the University and externally to our various stakeholders. The Dean also serves as part of the Institution's administrative team through active participation in various Institutional planning, implementation and evaluation activities.
Dean of Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy
Grace Kuo, Pharm.D., MPH, Ph.D.
Grace Kuo, Pharm.D., MPH, Ph.D., an experienced academic leader with a deep background in clinical practice and research, officially joined Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center as the third dean of the Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy in May 2022. She serves as Dean and Professor at the School of Pharmacy, which has four campuses located in Abilene, Amarillo, Dallas and Lubbock.
As dean, Dr. Kuo is responsible for executing the academic mission of the TTUHSC Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy. As a certified executive team coach, Dr. Kuo enjoys inspiring teams to achieve excellence through honesty, creativity and kindness by working in a values-based culture.
Nationally recognized for her commitment to advancing the pharmacy field and advocating for interprofessional education, Dr. Kuo previously served as professor of pharmacy practice at Oregon State University College of Pharmacy, affiliated with Oregon Health & Science University, where she also served a tenure as dean. Dr. Kuo held leadership positions as associate dean for strategic planning and program development and associate dean for academic clinical affairs during her tenure at the University of California San Diego.
Dr. Kuo is a professor emerita in clinical pharmacy, family medicine and public health and a founding member of the Halicioğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego. Her clinical expertise is primary care pharmacy practice. She has spearheaded development of innovative pharmacist-physician collaborative practice with reimbursement models and worked with interprofessional teams to design and implement comprehensive medication management practices in both primary care and specialty clinics.
Dr. Kuo previously developed and administered a national pharmacogenomics education program, PharmGenEd, which has been used by more than 3,000 health care professionals and faculty from more than 100 countries. As a pharmacist health services researcher, Dr. Kuo is passionate about practice-based research that uses implementation science methods to design and evaluate medication management and interprofessional collaborative practices. Her clinical research focuses on medication safety, pharmacist-physician collaboration and education research.
She has received grant funding from federal agencies, including AHRQ, CDC and NIH, and authored more than 100 publications. She enjoys professional service and has served on grant review study sections, scientific journal editorial boards, journal and book peer review groups, and poster review committees. She currently serves as a member of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration’s Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary, Community-Based Linkages.
In her spare time, Grace enjoys playing piano, singing, composing music, hiking in state and national parks, and traveling with her husband.
Four Regional Deans and several Associate and Assistant Deans serve with Dean Kuo to help govern the School of Pharmacy.
