Dell Med Director Transformed African Health as Peace Corps Volunteer

In honor of Peace Corps Week 2026, the Dell Medical School and Peace Corps communities at The University of Texas at Austin commemorate the life and work of Professor Paul Rathouz, who died in December 2025 from complications arising from multiple myeloma.  

Rathouz was a beloved figure in the Peace Corps community. After graduating from Rice University in Houston, he served three formative years 1987-1990 as a devoted Peace Corps Volunteer in the Central African Republic.  

During his first two years of volunteering, Rathouz served as a mathematics teacher and teacher-trainer at the Bambari High School. He then extended his service for an additional year as a school health education coordinator for the National AIDS Prevention Program. 

At the time, stigma and silence were pervasive in the Central African region. The Central African Republic, however, was an early adopter of a national strategy that mitigated such obstacles. Rathouz and his counterpart, who would later become the country’s Minister of Health, coordinated international resources that prevented suffering, saved lives and inspired others in the region to minimize the stigma and act with compassion.   

Peace Corps service led Rathouz to his eventual calling in public service, global health and population-based approaches to epidemiology and biostatistics. After returning from Africa, he pursued a master's degree at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and later a doctorate at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  

In 2017, Rathouz joined Dell Med as the founding director of the Biomedical Data Science Hub. He also served as a professor in the medical school’s Department of Population Health as well as the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences in UT’s College of Natural Sciences. 

A valued colleague, mentor and educator, Rathouz made extraordinary contributions that profoundly shaped Dell Med and the broader campus community. His biostatistical expertise influenced research across nearly every department at the medical school, strengthening the rigor and clarity of countless projects. 

Department Chair Navkiran Shokar said Rathouz “held himself and others to the highest standards — not out of ego, but from a deep belief that excellent science is a form of service.” 

Those who worked with Rathouz — and those who benefited from his wide-ranging medical contributions — remain deeply grateful for his dedicated service, from saving lives in the Central African Republic to leading data science breakthroughs at Dell Med, and in the many areas where he amplified science in between. May his memory inspire us to create and nurture the lasting relationships that support peacebuilding and strengthening public health worldwide.  

For more information on the life and work of Paul Rathouz, visit the Austin American-Statesman or Dell Medical School websites.