BIMS Alumnus Guides Students Toward Diverse Healthcare Paths

Ever the Aggie, Ricardo Diaz ’00 has grounded his career in service, leadership, and a deep appreciation for the people who keep healthcare running.

After two decades working as a hospital executive across the country, he returned to Aggieland in 2023 and now serves as assistant vice president for clinical affairs for the Texas A&M University Health Science Center (Texas A&M Health), bringing broad experience in hospital operations, healthcare administration, and teaching to prepare the next generation of healthcare leaders.

His generosity and admiration for frontline caregivers have made him a trusted mentor as he “passes back” his expertise to the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ biomedical sciences (BIMS) undergraduate students who are exploring careers beyond traditional clinical paths.

Discovering a Path Through BIMS

Diaz had limited exposure to science or healthcare growing up in San Antonio, aside from his father’s work as a respiratory therapist. That changed in 1996, when a friend mentioned Texas A&M University’s BIMS program, which immediately caught his interest.

“Since I didn’t grow up with a business background, I naturally gravitated toward a science‑focused degree,” he recalled.

Once in the program, BIMS 101 introduced him to healthcare administration.

“One of my classes featured a guest lecture from Dr. McCoggren, a professor from Trinity University who was recruiting students for the master’s program in healthcare administration,” Diaz said. “As a freshman, I had never even heard of that career path before. But that single lecture planted a seed that stayed with me.”

His BIMS coursework also exposed him to faculty who encouraged him to participate in chemistry and physiology research, which gave him hands‑on experience in labs and deepened his respect for scientific inquiry. Those opportunities broadened his sense of what he might do: research, teaching, or healthcare leadership.

“As I was finishing my degree, I realized how introverted I was, which is probably why the research path appealed to me,” he said. “But without a clear sense of what I wanted to do after graduation, I decided to teach high‑school science for a year.”

After earning his bachelor’s degree in BIMS, Diaz spent a year teaching high‑school physics and chemistry in Austin, where he hoped to build confidence and explore whether teaching or research might be the right path.

Although he enjoyed the classroom, he found himself increasingly drawn to leadership roles.

“As the school year was ending, I realized that while I loved teaching, the high school principal role was really starting to interest me,” Diaz said. “Thinking back to my experience in BIMS 101, that early introduction to healthcare administration, and seeing a few classmates go on to Trinity University for the program, it opened the door for me to consider that healthcare administration might be where I truly felt at home.”

Diaz then decided to pursue a master’s degree at Trinity University in San Antonio, where he completed a one‑year hospital residency. That experience led him to Crestwood Medical Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where he began his career in for‑profit hospital management and advanced from resident to assistant administrator.

“That opened the door to a role with Mountain View Regional Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico,” he said. “I was very young in my career when they offered me the chief operating officer (COO) position there, and it was an incredible opportunity — an entirely different part of the country but beautiful in its own way, with truly wonderful people.”

He also went on to serve as COO, at Spring Hill Regional Hospital ,and at Santa Rosa Medical Center before becoming chief executive officer of Shands Live Oak Regional Medical Center in Live Oak, Florida.

By then, he and his wife were looking for a place to settle, so when an opportunity arose to return to Texas, he joined St. Joseph Health System in Bryan. The not‑for‑profit Catholic hospital offered a meaningful transition from the for‑profit sector and a multi‑hospital leadership role. He later became the system’s COO, serving for nearly a decade and developing deep ties to the community and its caregivers.

Creating Opportunities for Future Clinicians

During his time at St. Joseph, Diaz and Kim Dubose, also a BIMS alumna, created a phlebotomy program to give BIMS students hands‑on exposure to healthcare.

“Phlebotomy was a great fit because hospitals always need skilled phlebotomists, and patients truly appreciate someone who’s good at it,” Diaz said. “It also exposes students to a wide range of patient experiences — from routine, 4 a.m. lab draws to real trauma cases. St. Joseph was a level‑two trauma center at the time, so students had the chance to see acute situations up close and decide whether they genuinely loved this work.”

In addition to the phlebotomy program, Diaz met with BIMS students interested in healthcare administration and shared his own career path. Through those conversations, he helped students clarify their interests and take early steps toward becoming healthcare professionals.

“Knowing that any student who goes through the BIMS program receives a rigorous education and learns from exceptional professors, you know they’re coming in with a strong foundation and great mentors,” Diaz said. “For me, that means you’re getting a talented student, and the goal is simply to open doors for them to explore healthcare.”

Because healthcare has expanded far beyond traditional hospital management, there are new career paths for BIMS students in areas such as ambulatory surgery centers, concierge medicine, and consumer‑focused care models as well as roles shaped by artificial intelligence.

“BIMS gives students something unique — early exposure to the kinds of people they’ll work with in healthcare and the discipline to master demanding coursework. You learn to handle large amounts of information, solve complex problems, and develop a strong work ethic,” Diaz said. “If you thrive in that environment and enjoy the people around you, many of whom go on to become clinicians, you’ll likely thrive in healthcare as well. It’s a strong training ground for the field.”

During his 10 years at St. Joseph, Diaz’s work also intersected with Texas A&M Health, which he joined in 2023.

“In the back of my mind, I’d always wanted to teach, and when the opportunity came up, I was fortunate to be welcomed aboard. My role includes teaching classes for the Master of Healthcare Administration students. I also serve Texas A&M Health in my administrative position,” Diaz said. “It’s interesting because it brings together everything I’d hoped to do.”

He’s fortunate to play a key role in advancing Texas A&M Health’s clinical enterprise, which includes ambulatory medical clinics in Bryan, College Station, Madisonville, and Dallas, along with mobile health units. This network has continued to expand to meet the evolving healthcare needs of the communities it serves.

He also works to strengthen partnerships with major Texas health systems, which provide clinical training and rotations to Texas A&M Health’s professional students before they move on to internships or residency.

Although he’s no longer involved in programs that directly support BIMS students, he continues to connect students — from Texas A&M Health or BIMS — with professional contacts when possible, drawing on his 20‑year network in the healthcare industry to expose students to the full spectrum of healthcare careers beyond traditional paths.

“I’m hopeful I can help some students discover a passion they may not have considered and offer an honest point of view that’s useful to them,” he said. “Whether they choose a path similar to mine or something entirely different, if they find something they’re truly passionate about, that alone is a great foundation for their future.”

Today, Diaz is grateful to be rooted in a community he and his wife love, raising their three children in the place they long hoped to call home.