50 Heroes: Dr. Thomas Yorio

Reception Honoring Dr. Tom Yorio Dr Dillon Dr Singh Dr WilliamsFor more than 40 years, Thomas Yorio, PhD, has transformed the Health Science Center.

An internationally known glaucoma researcher and Provost Emeritus, Dr. Yorio was instrumental in growing HSC from a medical college into a graduate university with multiple schools. He joined the institution that became HSC in 1977, just seven years after it was founded as the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

As Provost, Dr. Yorio was known among faculty and staff for outstanding academic leadership and a commitment to helping HSC team members and students succeed.

He guided the expansion of TCOM into a full-fledged health science center by serving as founding Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, which opened in 1993. He also was Interim Dean of the School of Public Health, the third college to open at UNT Health Science Center.

Dr. Yorio is a Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, where he served as a Trustee and Vice President and received its Distinguished Service Award. In 2014, he received the Ernst H. Barany Prize from the International Society for Eye Research in recognition of his outstanding contributions to ocular pharmacology. He was also Editor-in-Chief of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

For four decades of dedicated service, Dr. Yorio is an HSC Hero.

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