When the University of Nebraska Medical Center announced Hemant Roy as the next chair of its Department of Internal Medicine, it marked both a homecoming and a milestone. Roy, an Indian American gastroenterologist and seasoned academic leader, will return to Omaha to head the medical center’s largest clinical department, with his term beginning in March 2026.

Roy is currently chair of internal medicine at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston and serves as associate dean of academic and faculty affairs at Baylor College of Medicine. In that dual role, he oversees complex inpatient services while guiding faculty development and educational strategy at one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. The move to Nebraska brings more than two decades of national-level experience in academic medicine back to the institution where his faculty career first took off.

The appointment is especially significant for UNMC’s Department of Internal Medicine. As the backbone of the medical center’s clinical and educational enterprise, the department is responsible for a broad range of subspecialties, residency and fellowship training, and a substantial portion of the institution’s research output. UNMC leaders highlighted Roy’s track record leading large, hospital-aligned departments as a key reason for his selection, emphasizing that his leadership will be central to shaping how Nebraska trains physicians and delivers specialty care in the coming years.

Roy’s connection to Omaha runs deep. He previously served on the UNMC faculty from 1995 to 2002, while also caring for patients at the Omaha Veterans Affairs Medical Center. That early chapter gave him firsthand experience with the institution’s mission as the state’s public academic health science center. In public remarks, Roy has described his time at UNMC as “indispensable” to his development across clinical care, research, and teaching, noting that the experience helped launch a career that would later span some of the country’s most prominent academic medical systems.

After leaving Nebraska, Roy went on to hold senior roles at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and Boston University Medical Center. Across those institutions, he built a reputation as a leader who can balance the demands of patient care, educational quality, and research productivity. That combination is increasingly essential in internal medicine, where departments are expected to manage busy clinical services, run competitive residency and fellowship programs, and secure federal and foundation funding to drive discovery.

Clinically and scientifically, Roy is best known for his work in gastrointestinal cancer risk stratification. He has been continuously funded as a National Institutes of Health researcher since 2004, focusing on how molecular tools and advanced imaging can identify patients at higher risk for cancers of the digestive system. By refining who is most likely to benefit from screening and early intervention, his research aims to catch disease earlier and improve outcomes, particularly in populations that have historically faced delayed diagnoses.

Roy’s career also reflects a sustained commitment to teaching and mentorship. He has led high-risk cancer screening programs, trained internal medicine residents and fellows across multiple institutions, and received honors such as the Sir William Osler Internal Medicine Teaching Award. Those accolades underscore how he is viewed by trainees and colleagues alike, not just as a researcher and administrator, but as someone who invests in the next generation of physicians.

His academic path illustrates the long arc of preparation behind this new appointment. Roy completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Vanderbilt University, graduating summa cum laude in 1985, before earning his medical degree with distinction from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1989. He then trained in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and completed a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Chicago, positioning himself at the intersection of complex clinical care and academically driven medicine from the outset of his career.

For UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, Roy’s return comes at a time when internal medicine departments nationwide are navigating workforce shortages, rising patient complexity, and rapid advances in therapeutic options. Leaders at the medical center have pointed to his experience managing sizeable teams and partnering with National Cancer Institute–designated centers as assets that will help the department grow strategically. The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, for example, is likely to benefit from his longstanding collaborations and expertise in GI oncology and risk assessment.

Roy’s appointment also carries symbolic weight for South Asian representation in American academic medicine. Indian and other South Asian physicians have long been a visible presence in U.S. healthcare, yet leadership roles such as department chairs, deans, and system executives have not always reflected that diversity. By naming an Indian American physician to lead its largest clinical department, UNMC is signaling that the perspectives and experiences of diaspora physicians are central to its future. For South Asian American trainees in particular, seeing someone with a similar background at the helm of a major Midwestern institution can powerfully reinforce the idea that they, too, can lead.

The impact of his leadership is likely to ripple beyond Nebraska. Internal medicine departments play a quiet but pivotal role in shaping how care is delivered across the United States, from how primary care and subspecialty services are organized to how new therapies are evaluated and adopted. A chair who is steeped in cancer prevention, health systems complexity, and academic collaboration is well positioned to build programs that reach rural communities, support innovation in care delivery, and train physicians who are comfortable practicing at the leading edge of evidence-based medicine.

Roy himself has framed the move as an opportunity to “give back” to the institution that helped launch his career. As he transitions from Baylor and Ben Taub Hospital to UNMC, he will bring decades of experience working in diverse urban settings while re-engaging with a region where academic medicine serves as a critical lifeline for a largely rural state. The combination of local roots and national perspective is likely to shape his agenda as he sets priorities for research, education, and clinical growth in the department.

Ultimately, the story of Hemant Roy’s appointment is about more than a single career milestone. It reflects how U.S. academic medical centers are competing for leadership talent, how departments are evolving to meet complex healthcare challenges, and how South Asian American physicians are increasingly visible in the highest tiers of institutional decision-making. As Roy steps into his new role in 2026, the effects of his leadership will be felt by patients, students, and researchers across Nebraska and beyond.

Key Takeaways About Hemant Roy

• Indian American gastroenterologist Hemant Roy has been named chair of internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, effective March 2026.
• He currently serves as chair of internal medicine at Ben Taub Hospital and associate dean of academic and faculty affairs at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
• Roy is a long-standing NIH-funded researcher whose work focuses on gastrointestinal cancer risk stratification using molecular and advanced imaging tools.
• His career includes prior faculty service at UNMC and senior roles at Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and Boston University Medical Center, combining clinical, research, and teaching excellence.
• The appointment strengthens South Asian American representation in U.S. academic medicine and positions UNMC’s largest clinical department for strategic growth in care, education, and research.