Clay Johnston, M.D., PhD
Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX USA
"[As a leader], my role is to design this place so that it will succeed without me. It’s a weird thing to say, but that’s the goal, to get the whole system working so that I am less and less important over time."
Career Roadmap
Clay's work combines: Medicine, Science, and Helping People
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Start preparing for medical school now if that's what you want to do. Study and work really hard.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Physics, General
Amherst College
Doctorate
Medicine
Harvard University
Doctorate
Epidemiology
University of California-Berkeley
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Born and raised in Colorado.
2.
Comes from a long line of doctors, so he grew up with the expectation that he would also become a doctor.
3.
In college, he rebelled against this expectation and decided to drop out of his pre-med program and spend nine months in Italy studying architecture and design.
4.
Eventually, he switched back to medicine and attended Harvard Medical School after he realized he was more passionate about science and helping people.
5.
Completed his residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where he specialized in neurology and later received his PhD in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley.
6.
Worked at UCSF for over 20 years where he rose in the academic ranks to become Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology and directed the Stroke Service.
7.
He now serves as the inaugural Dean of the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is working to build an inclusive and innovative health education program.
8.
Clay has authored more than 300 publications in scientific journals and has won several national awards—he is best known for his work on the prevention and treatment of strokes.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Family:
Why bother with architecture? Just be a doctor.
How I responded:
I grew up with the expectation that I would be a doctor. When I went against this in college and began studying architecture, I did it for myself and to explore what else is out there. Even though I eventually came back to medicine and did become a doctor, I still use aspects of the things I learned in architecture.