Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., is the founding dean of Fort Worth’s new M.D. school, the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. The school was accredited in October 2018 and now has matriculated two classes of 60 students each.  

Flynn has led the development of the new School and built a team that is creating an innovative and patient-centric curriculum that will change how doctors are trained. In a supportive environment, students will become Empathetic Scholars®, training to be excellent communicators, active listeners, life-long learners and become valued physicians, colleagues, leaders and citizens in their communities. 

Previously, Flynn served as founding dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. He also was a professor of pathology and surgery at Yale University School of Medicine for 20 years. While at Yale, he was an accomplished researcher, director of the residency program, a leader in the design and oversight of the school’s curriculum and founding inductee of The Society of Distinguished Teachers at Yale. 

Flynn received his medical degree and residency training from the University of Michigan and completed a fellowship in oncologic pathology at Stanford University. 

Flynn has authored more than 100 articles, books and monographs. He has received numerous honors including America’s Top Physician’s Award from the Consumers’ Research Council of America, the Bohmfalk Teacher of the Year Award from Yale University School of Medicine and the Averill A. Liebow Award for excellence in the teaching of residents, also at Yale. He also has been a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners Pathology Test Committee and USMLE Step I Test Material Development Committee. 

Evonne Kaplan-Liss, M.D., is the Director of the Center for Compassionate Communication at the University of California, San Diego.  Dr. Kaplan-Liss was previously the Assistant Dean of Narrative Reflection and Patient Communication at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine in Fort Worth, a new medical school program, which opened in 2019. She held the first Dean–level position in a medical school dedicated solely to training faculty and medical students to communicate more effectively first and foremost with their patients as well as with colleagues of other disciplines, the community, the media, funders and policymakers. Dr. Kaplan-Liss saw the new innovative medical school as a unique opportunity to transform healthcare by inspiring the next generation of medical students to be Empathetic Scholars®  through embedding communication training throughout their four years in pre-clinical and clinical courses and within all patient encounters.  

Prior to arriving at the Fort Worth medical school, Dr. Kaplan-Liss worked at the nationally acclaimed Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, where she was the Founding Medical Program Director. 

Ilana Zago is a first-year medical student at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. She grew up in Southern California and graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences in 2019. Throughout her undergraduate education, Ilana explored her passion for the impact of nutrition and lifestyle behaviors on the overall well-being and received a Health & Wellness Certificate through the Exercise & Sports Studies program. She also worked as a health educator in a medically supervised weight management program, which solidified her desire to pursue medicine. She aspires to continue advancing her knowledge, explore lifestyle medicine and delve into a longitudinal integrated clerkship in the coming years.