by Emily Battle
Julie V. Philley, MD, became the sixth president of The University of Texas at Tyler on June 1, selected by a unanimous vote of the UT System Board of Regents to succeed Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP who retired on May 31.
Philley previously served as UT Tyler’s executive vice president for health affairs and vice provost. She is a professor of medicine and board-certified physician in internal, pulmonary, and critical care medicine.
“Dr. Philley is a highly respected health, academic, and community leader in Tyler. She is an East Texas native with a deep understanding of our region and its needs, and she played a front-line role in helping build UT Tyler’s health enterprise to what it is today,” said UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife. “She has the trust and admiration of individuals within the university and throughout Tyler. I’ve witnessed her impact over the past 12 years, and we are confident she is ready to grow UT Tyler as a premier academic and health institution.”
Philley was unanimously selected as a finalist for the presidency by the Board of Regents, and a special committee chaired by UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken recommended her to the Board. “Dr. Philley received numerous accolades from the committee, with a special emphasis on her deep knowledge across the board in academic, clinical, administrative and operational matters, along with a track record of working collaboratively with many individuals to make significant advancements for UT Tyler,” Milliken said.
Philley became UT Tyler’s executive vice president for health affairs after the university and the UT Health Science Center at Tyler merged to create a single, integrated institution in 2021. Her role as vice provost was added in 2022. Prior to the merger, Philley chaired the Health Science Center’s Department of Medicine.
She played an instrumental role in launching the UT Tyler School of Medicine, the UT System’s seventh medical school, which enrolled its first class in 2023. The School of Medicine currently holds classes at the Health Science Center and will be permanently housed in the UT Tyler Medical Education Building, which is under construction in Tyler’s medical district. Set for completion in 2025, the $308 million project received strong support from the Texas Legislature, UT System, and the East Texas community.
“I am grateful for so many experiences provided to me at UT Tyler that offered a valuable understanding of the complexities of higher education and health care, and I am eager to work with my colleagues and throughout the community to make UT Tyler the best it can be,” Philley said. “I thank Chairman Eltife, the regents, and Chancellor Milliken for giving me this opportunity, which is truly the honor of a lifetime, and for their ongoing and significant investments that continue to propel UT Tyler forward.”
A native of Overton, 20 miles southeast of Tyler, Philley expressed gratitude to her family and local community for nurturing her and giving her opportunities to pursue dreams she thought were beyond her reach. As president of UT Tyler, she looks forward to collaborating with stakeholders across the region to provide educational pathways for all East Texas students to realize their dreams.
“UT Tyler is on a great trajectory with a growing student body, expanding academic programs and new facilities under construction, and I am excited to work with the university and our East Texas partners to build on this momentum,” Philley said. “UT Tyler exists to enhance lives in local communities and beyond through higher education and health care. That will be our focus every day.”
Philley attended Tyler Junior College before earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University in Denton. She received her medical degree from UT Health Houston’s McGovern Medical School and completed an internal medicine residency program at Johns Hopkins University/Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. She completed a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care at the UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas and studied mycobacterial disease at the National Jewish Health Center in Denver.
Returning home to East Texas in 2012 to participate in efforts to improve health care in the region, Philley served as a faculty member, researcher, and physician at the UT Health Science Center at Tyler. As a researcher, she led numerous studies and published book chapters and articles on nontuberculous mycobacterial disease, a lung infection caused by bacteria in soil and water, and bronchiectasis, a condition in which the airways of the lungs become damaged.
Chair of the UT Health East Texas board of directors, Philley also serves on the boards of Hospice of East Texas, the East Texas Quality Care Network, the East Texas Health Center Foundation, UT Health Tyler, and the Teaching Hospitals of Texas organization.
Philley and her husband, Richard Lee, reside in Tyler, where Lee serves as music director of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra and Tyler Civic Chorale.