UTHealth Houston School of Public Health honors founding dean

UTHealth Houston School of Public Health honored the legacy of its founding dean on April 23 during the Reuel A. Stallones Memorial Endowed Lecture and Building Commemoration, bringing together faculty, students, alumni, and members of the Stallones family to reflect on his lasting impact.

Held at the Reuel A. Stallones Auditorium, the event featured a panel discussion with family members and school leadership, focusing on Stallones’ contributions to public health and the principles that continue to guide the institution. Catherine Troisi, PhD, MS, infectious disease epidemiologist and professor at the School of Public Health, served as the moderator.

Troisi led a Q&A with both Jared and Lorann Stallones, son and daughter of Reuel A. Stallones.

Jared Stallones, PhD, is an accomplished educator and academic leader who serves as chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Kentucky, where he was also a professor. In this role, he led efforts to articulate shared goals across diverse programs, strengthen community partnerships, and build a cohesive departmental culture. Jared earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in curriculum and instruction from The University of Texas at Austin, completing his PhD in 1999.

Lorann Stallones, PhD, is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and served as its president from 2009 to 2010. She is a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health and a professor of psychology at Colorado State University, where she helped found and lead the graduate degree program in public health. She earned her bachelor’s in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1974, followed by an MPH in community health in 1975 and a PhD in epidemiology in 1982 from UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.

A vision that built a school

Dr. Reuel A. “Stoney” Stallones who was appointed founding dean in 1968, established a bold vision for public health education that continues to shape the school today.

“We’re going to build a first-rate school right from the start,” Stallones said at the time. “There is no room for mediocrity in public health.”

Under Stallones’ leadership, the institution grew into a hub for education, research, and collaboration, eventually establishing a permanent home at 1200 Pressler St.

Today, the building that bears his name stands as a symbol of that growth and the generations of public health leaders it helped shape.

The panelists discussed how Stallones’ leadership continues to influence the school’s mission and its role in addressing complex health challenges. During the discussion, Lorann Stallones reflected on her father’s innovative approach to public health education, noting that his ideas were ahead of their time.

“I think the first thing I have to talk about is the matrix and how he viewed how education in public health should be delivered,” she said. “At a time when most schools were organized in rigid disciplinary silos, dad and his mentor, Bill Reeves at Berkeley, were asking how you get professionals across different programs and approaches to truly work together. That’s where the matrix came from. It created a structure where faculty represented both modules and disciplines, and students moved fluidly across them. It was student-centered, collaborative, and intentionally designed to break down barriers.”

The discussion concluded with a Q&A session with attendees.

From one building to a statewide impact

Since opening in 1967 as Texas’ first school of public health, the institution has expanded far beyond its original footprint.

From its early days in Houston, the school has grown to include regional campuses in San Antonio, El Paso, Dallas, Brownsville, and Austin, extending its reach across the state.

Over the decades, faculty, students, and alumni have contributed to research and practice in epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, and health promotion, helping shape public health outcomes on a global scale.

The school has trained more than 11,000 alumni, each carrying forward the mission first set by Stallones to improve population health.

Looking ahead while honoring the past

Speakers also pointed to the future of the School of Public Health, which is set to open a new 350,000-square-foot facility in the Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park in fall 2026.

The new building will feature modern laboratories, hybrid learning spaces, and resources designed to support interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

Leaders said the facility represents the next step in a journey that began decades ago in borrowed classrooms and was shaped by Stallones’ commitment to excellence.

“It is an honor and a privilege to hold the office once held by a visionary champion of the health of Texas. I am grateful to have welcomed Dr. Stallone's son, Jared Stallones, PhD, and daughter, Lorann Stallones, PhD, back to the building that bears their father's name,” said Eric Boerwinkle, PhD, dean of the School of Public Health, M. David Low Chair in Public Health, and Kozmetsky Family Chair in Human Genetics. “I have spent most of my adult career in this building, and today's celebration was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on all the student’s trained and discoveries made over the years. It is also important to reflect on the responsibilities we have to our profession and to Texas as we embark on the next era in the new building.”

A moment for reflection and connection

The day’s events began with a brunch in the Stallones Auditorium lobby, where alumni, faculty, students, and staff gathered ahead of the formal program. For the Stallones family, the event offered a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the dean’s legacy.

“It’s bittersweet because the school is vacating the building, but we’re grateful it will continue to serve an important purpose,” Jared Stallones said. “The design of the building and the design of the curriculum matched one another in ways that few educational institutions ever achieve. But the opportunity to share stories about dad — his unique way of thinking, the way he interacted with people, and his far-sighted vision of what epidemiology and public health education could be — that’s a privilege for us.”