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The University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth’s medical school and more, announced two new appointments in its administration. Thomas Moorman, Ed.D., has been named vice president of Student Affairs, and Abbot Clark, Ph.D., has been named director of the North Texas Eye Research Institute.

In his new role, Dr. Moorman reports to the Provost and oversees all student related services at the health science center.

He attended Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas, before transferring to Texas A&M University. While attending Texas A&M University in College Station, he completed both his Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Master of Science in educational psychology. In 1999, he was recognized as the Outstanding Doctoral Student in the Higher Education Program at the University of North Texas. 

He has worked at the Health Science Center in several different capacities since August 1994. Dr. Moorman has been recognized by the Health Science Center’s Medical Student Government Association, Graduate Student Association, and Public Health Student Association for distinguished service. The Medical Student Government Association renamed their annual unsung hero award after him. 

Dr. Moorman’s professional involvements include serving as the President to the Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators. In the fall of 2003, he was recognized as the Outstanding Mid-Level Student Affairs Professional in Texas. Additionally, Dr. Moorman served on the Fort Worth and Arlington chapter board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

He is a 2005 graduate of the Leadership Fort Worth program and has been a mentor for Fort Worth’s LeaderKids program. Currently, he serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Parker County Heritage Society. Dr. Moorman has held faculty appointments at both the UNT Health Science Center and the University of North Texas.

Dr. Clark, department of cell biology and genetics, will be replacing Peter Koulen, Ph.D., who is leaving the institution in January.

Dr. Abbot (Abe) Clark received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Thiel College in Greenville, Penn., and his doctorate in microbiology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He received post-doctoral training in the departments of Microbiology (immunology) and Physiology (muscle metabolism) at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Dr. Clark joined Alcon Laboratories, Inc., as a research scientist and recently retired from Alcon as vice president of Discovery Research and head of Glaucoma Research. Dr. Clark directly supervised more than 50 scientists and managed an annual research budget of approximately $9 million.

While employed at Alcon, Dr. Clark served as an adjunct professor in the departments of Cell Biology & Genetics and Pharmacology & Neuroscience at the Health Science Center for more than 20 years. This year, Dr. Clark joined the Health Science Center faculty as professor of cell biology & genetics and director of the Visual Sciences Program. Dr. Clark also will head the North Texas Eye Research Institute.

He has been charged with building a Visual Science education and research program at the Health Science Center. During his association with the institution, he has supervised and mentored six graduate students and served on the dissertation committees of an additional 16 graduate students. He continues to lecture in a number of graduate student and medical student courses.

Dr. Clark’s research interests are focused on understanding the biochemical, cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathobiology of glaucoma. He and his collaborators have discovered glaucoma-associated genes and glaucomatous pathogenic pathways using molecular genetics, differential gene expression, proteomics, ocular cell culture, ex vivo organ culture, and rodent models of glaucoma. He has published 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 206 abstracts, authored 10 book chapters, given 68 invited seminars nationally and internationally, and he is an inventor of more than 60 patents.

Although just recently becoming an academic, Dr. Clark is co-primary investigator on several RO1 grant applications worth more than $4 million in funding, and primary investigator on a research grant from a private company. His research projects are innovative and highly relevant, so additional funding to support his laboratory is expected.

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