Department of Pediatrics

Welcome to TTUHSC El Paso’s Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics.  A review of our website serves to introduce you to our outstanding faculty, residents and staff, as well as exciting opportunities to learn, teach, innovate and serve with us.

The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine was established in 2008 as the first four-year medical school on the U.S.-Mexico Border followed by our TTUHSC El Paso campus becoming its own separate university under the Texas Tech University System in 2013.  Since then, the campus has expanded to include the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing, the L. Frederick Francis Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and, most recently, the Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine. The institution continues to expand and to recruit the highest caliber of faculty to achieve its educational, research and clinical missions, and to address the needs of the historically underserved border population.

The Department of Pediatrics is fully committed to advancing TTUHSC El Paso’s vision to promote wellness and relieve human suffering through excellence in health care, intellectual innovation and service beyond borders. At the heart of all we do is a firm commitment to provide an inclusive environment for learning and growth for a diverse group of students, residents and faculty, and to foster research and cutting-edge clinical care to achieve the best possible outcomes.

The Department offers a postgraduate pediatric residency training program, as well as pediatric selectives and electives for medical students. These include a border health curriculum. The Department also houses the Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso pediatrics primary care and subspecialty clinic that provides accessible, comprehensive and compassionate care to the El Paso community.

In partnership with El Paso Children’s Hospital, our faculty provides exceptional care in over 30 specialties for children in West Texas, Southern New Mexico and Juárez, Mexico, including staffing a level IV NICU, PICU, and general pediatrics ward. Additionally, our partnership provides access to state-of-the-art clinical research protocols to understand the causes of cancer and improve treatments for children living with cancer through the Children’s Oncology Group.

Through collaborations with our colleagues in other Foster School of Medicine departments and alignment between the school of medicine, The Hospitals of Providence, and El Paso’s community pediatricians, we are building a virtual academic medical center to promote cutting-edge evidenced based care. Clinical research in the Department focuses on cancer treatment and is supported by various sources, including the National Cancer Institute. Opportunities for collaborative research exist with faculty in the Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, which oversees Centers of Emphasis in Cancer; Diabetes and Metabolism; Infectious Diseases; and Neurosciences, as well as the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology.

The city of El Paso, nestled between the beautiful Franklin Mountains and the Rio Grande, rests at the confluence of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico, and is a fantastic place to live. El Pasoans enjoy more than 300 days of sunshine a year. There are numerous outdoor activities, including mountain hiking with stunning views, as well as a vibrant city life at an affordable cost of living. El Paso has been ranked by Advisorsmith as among the top five safest large cities in the United States, and among the 10 best cities in the nation for quality of life by the U.S. News and World Report.

Chair’s Bio:

Dr. Jose Manuel de la Rosa is a fully tenured Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and possesses a Master’s in Epidemiology from Harvard University. His tenure at TTUHSC El Paso stems over a period of 38+ years where he has served in many capacities most especially as the Regional Dean for the TTUHSC School of Medicine and the Founding Dean for the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine.

Dr. de la Rosa currently serves as Interim Chair for the Department of Pediatrics at the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine where he brings a multiple level of expertise as both a pediatrician and administrative leader.

He also serves as the liaison between the university and the El Paso community as TTUHSC El Paso’s Vice President for Outreach and Community Engagement where he is charged with fostering relationships with community partners and community physicians that serve to advance education programs at TTUHSC El Paso.  Dr. de la Rosa works closely with Federally Qualified Health Centers, the Border Health Commission, Hispanic Chamber, school districts, and medical societies to strengthen and develop community relations and partnerships.  His public service includes time on the administrative board of the Council of Deans for the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), as a member and past Chair of the American Medical Association Academic Physicians Section (AMA APS) and, he continues his service as a U.S. Presidential appointee on the United States Mexico Border Health Commission. 

Dr. de la Rosa has been highly commended numerous times for his dedication to serving El Paso’s underserved population in areas of education, clinical service, and research and continues to serve both the institution and the El Paso community as a leader on numerous community boards that benefit our city, surrounding regions, and across the border.