Texas Tech faculty becomes hospital CMO

TAFP member Michael Ragain, M.D., has been named chief medical officer of the University Medical Center in Lubbock. In this position, Ragain will work with UMC staff, the Texas Tech School of Medicine, and the Texas Tech Physicians group to guide physicians through changes the hospital faces from the federal health care reform law and advances in technology, according to an article in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

“I’ve always been interested in innovation and quality in health care,” Ragain said in the article. “That’s becoming more and more important as we go forward.”

Ragain has served as the chair of the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center Department of Family and Community Medicine since 2002 and as UMC chief of staff from 2008 to 2009. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and his Master’s of Education from the University of Southern California.