Ronald Garvey, MD ’53
2004 Distinguished Medical Alumnus
Ronald “Skip” Garvey, MD ’53, is a surgeon, former president of the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler and a longtime team physician for the Dallas Cowboys.
A native of Olean, NY, Garvey received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College before attending UB Medical School.
Following graduation from medical school, Garvey interned at Parkland Memorial Hospital, after which he served as a captain in the United States Air Force before returning to Parkland in 1956 for residency.
In 1960, he completed a research fellowship in arthritis and metabolic disease at the National Institutes of Health.
That same year, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he served as professor of surgery until 1993. He also maintained a private practice in surgery from 1961 to 1983.
From 1963 to 1972, Garvey was team physician for the Dallas Cowboys, and from 1972 to 1993 was a consultant for the team.
Garvey was the CEO of Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas from 1987 to 1991. In addition, he held staff appointments for more than thirty years at Parkland and at Saint Paul hospitals. In 1986, he earned a master’s of business administration degree in health care administration from the University of Dallas.
In 1991, Dr. Garvey received the “Industry Pioneer Award” from the Health Level Seven Commission. In 1996, Zale Lipshy University Hospital awarded him with the Ralph Rogers Award as an Outstanding Board Member Volunteer.
Garvey served as the interim director and then as president of the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler from 1997 to 2002. In 2004, the Board of Regents for the University of Texas System named him president emeritus of the university.
In 1998, the University of Dallas Alumni Association presented Garvey with its Distinguished Alumnus Award. That same year, the UB Medical Alumni Association (MAA) honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
From 1997 to 2003, Garvey chaired UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ capital campaign.