Ruth E. Berggren, M.D., MACP
Professor of Medicine
Director, Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics
UT Health San Antonio

Ruth Berggren, M.D., MACP, directs the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics at UT Health San Antonio. In this role, she teaches ethics and professionalism while nurturing empathy and humanitarian values. The Center focuses on four areas: ethics and professionalism; global health; community service learning; and the medical humanities.

Dr. Berggren arrived at the UT Health San Antonio in fall 2006 after an eventful stint at New Orleans’ Charity Hospital, where she stood by patients in the HIV ward during Hurricane Katrina until all were safely evacuated. She was named director of the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics in October 2007.

The daughter of public health physicians , Dr. Berggren spent her childhood in Haiti. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology with high honors from Oberlin College, followed by an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. She completed an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and an infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Colorado. Board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases, Dr. Berggren has extensive experience in clinical AIDS and viral hepatitis care and research, as well as HIV care in resource-poor settings.

Dr. Berggren is the Marvin Forland, M.D., Distinguished Professor in Medical Ethics, and she holds the James J. Young Chair for Excellence in Medical Education.