By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
Dr. Burritt Hess will join Baylor’s team as the new medical director after being “captured by the vision” of Baylor’s Health Center.
Hess graduated from Baylor in 1995 and has served as the residency program director for Waco Family Medicine since 2023. On Oct. 6, Hess will start as the medical director.
Hess first heard about the position from a friend at Baylor, then met with Dr. Jim Marsh, dean of student health and wellness, to discuss the position and the vision of the Health Center. Hess said he was “captured by that vision” of student flourishing.
“When you think about the college environment, it’s a season of life for young adults where they’re beginning to step into independence,” Hess said. “The Health Center stands at a very unique space in their lives and has the capacity to be a significant point of influence in terms of the decisions that students are making that will affect their lives in very profound ways in all dimensions of health, not just physical health, but spiritual health, emotional health, psychological health.”
Hess said he wants to further develop that vision and align it with the Baylor in Deeds strategic plan and collaborate with other campus resources like the Counseling Center, BARC, the crisis team and the athletics health program.
However, Hess said he will not make changes without first gaining an understanding of the context and culture of Baylor Health Services.
“I have a minor in history, so I’m really passionate about understanding context and culture,” Hess said. “I think my biggest goal right now is to really understand the Health Center, to understand the team, to look for opportunities for low-hanging fruit where there might need to be changes. But generally, leaders can sabotage themselves if they come in and make change too quickly without understanding context and culture.”
President Linda Livingstone said that former medical director Dr. Sharon Stern had retired, and Hess was named the new medical director earlier that week.
“His extensive background in both clinical practice and educational leadership will be invaluable as he works with our Health Center team to provide excellent holistic care for our students — heart, mind, body and soul,” Livingstone said.
As for Hess’ context, Hess said his uncle had gone on a medical mission trip with people from Highland Baptist Church, who invited him to tour Baylor, which he did in 1989. The faith-based community and a full-tuition scholarship offer for National Merit Scholars further drew Hess to Baylor.
“My first visit, there was just a deep sense that this was the right place for me,” Hess said. “Obviously, I had to follow that sense of calling.”
Similar to Hess’ call to Baylor, he also said he felt called to the medical field during his time at Baylor.
“I knew that I enjoyed science, and I had a growing awareness that living out the gospel meant serving others,” Hess said. “As a lot of young adults do in that season of life who are contemplating health care, I had this sense that service, science and a commitment to the gospel coalesced together in a place of calling to medicine.”
In 2007, after working for Baylor Scott & White in Gatesville and helping facilitate a community health needs assessment with Waco Family Medicine, Waco Family Medicine offered Hess a job. There, he discovered his heart for helping residents and joined their faculty in 2011.
Since then, Hess has given lectures at Baylor and volunteers with the Hillis Scholars program as a mentor for pre-medical students. He said he will continue to be a mentor for this program and engage with other pre-health students and activities.
“I’m eager to see where there might be opportunities to continue to build connections across the university with the health center as well as to envision students for a life of service in medicine or a medicine adjacent discipline,” Hess said.
Dr. Sharra Hynes, vice president for student life, said Hess’ ideas so far have been innovative and thoughtful.
“I think students are really going to love him, and I think he’s going to bring really strong leadership in that space,” Hynes said.
