Office of the Dean

Vasan Ramachandran, MD, FACC, FAHA is the Founding Dean of  UT School of Public Health in San Antonio, Texas, and a Professor of Medicine and Population Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. Ramachandran previously served as the Chief in the Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology in the Department of Medicine and as Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health (BUSPH). Ramachandran also served as the Principal Investigator of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS, the oldest running epidemiology study in the US) between 2014 to 2022 and is the Principal Investigator of the Risk Underlying the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal (RURAL) Study (one of the youngest cohort studies in the US).

LaTicia Douglas is the Chief of Staff at UT School of Public Health San Antonio. With 15 years of experience leading executive business operations, most recently at Johns Hopkins University and Health System, LaTicia will be steering operations, organizational development, and change management in the Office of the Dean and serving as a key strategic advisor. LaTicia has also worked alongside senior leadership at UT Dallas and Southern Methodist University. 

LaTicia completed her MBA from Texas Woman’s University in Houston and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). She also holds an undergraduate degree in Communications from the University of Houston-Downtown. LaTicia’s professional interests include organizational transformation, executive coaching, staff development, community engagement and project/program management. 

Ms. Bastien has been with UT Health San Antonio for over 17 years. She has worked in a variety of areas such as Development, the Medical School and Dental School. Ms. Bastien has been with the UT School of Public Health from the start. 

Deepu Kurian is the Associate Dean of Finance and Administration at UT School of Public Health San Antonio. As the Associate Dean, Deepu is responsible is for the marshaling and allocation of the human, financial, and capital resources needed to support the mission of the School of Public Health. Prior to joining UT Health, Deepu served as the Executive Director of Academic Affairs and Business Operations at University of Houston.

Deepu completed his Ph.D. in Human Resources Development from Texas A & M University. Deepu also holds a Master of Science in Management from Houston Christian University (formerly HBU) and an MBA from Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. He completed his undergraduate studies from Bangalore University, India. His research interests are in the areas of leadership, organizational justice, and human resources development. Deepu considers himself as a scholar practitioner and has authored or co-authored numerous research articles and conference papers. Deepu has over 25 years of professional experience with stints in higher education, hospitality, real estate, healthcare, and information technology industries.

As the Director of Finance and Administration at the School of Public Health, Monica provides strategic business planning and fiscal oversight of the school’s daily operations. In collaboration with her colleagues, she works diligently to ensure the financial integrity and accountability of the school and all departments by building and maintaining internal processes and controls. Monica has been with UT Health San Antonio for almost two decades and is excited to be involved with the new school’s mission to educate the next generation of public health leaders, provide meaningful public health research and serve the community to promote a culture of health and well-being. Monica holds bachelor’s degree of Science in Biology from UTSA and an MBA from Texas A&M – Corpus Christi.

In her role as Director of Business and Research Operations at the School of Public Health, Courtney leads efforts related to establishing the school’s research, education, and community service missions. Her professional background includes program management in HIV health services, a focus on increasing health equity and addressing health disparities, and academic faculty development. She holds an MPH in Social and Behavioral Health from the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health.  

Stephanie Gonzalez-Sanabia, grew up in Puerto Rico. Ms. Gonzalez-Sanabia has a master’s degree from Walden University in Resources Management with a specialty in Organizational Strategy.

Stephanie is currently the Faculty Process Support Specialist for the UT School of Public Health San Antonio. She has over 10 years of academic and administrative experience working with UTSA, UPRM, Ana G. Mendez System (Carolina and Cupey Campuses), and most recently UT Health San Antonio's School of Nursing. She served on several institutional committees and councils at the School of Nursing at UT Health San Antonio. She also served as the secretary for the School of Nursing Staff Assembly. Mrs. Gonzalez-Sanabia is also a member of the Business Officers of Nursing Schools (BONUS) in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Through these experiences and day-to-day interactions with personnel across campus, she built strong relationships with colleagues on campus and the surrounding communities.

She is a self-motivated individual who employs inspiration, leadership, and teamwork to design and execute prominent office; exceptional time management, problem-solving and organizational skills with a proven ability to work proactively with executive-level administrators. She has a great passion for working in higher education and mentoring colleagues to achieve their full potential.