Department of Pediatrics welcomes Paul A. Trainor, PhD, as new research leader
Paul Trainor, PhD
We are delighted to announce that Paul A. Trainor, PhD, will join the Department of Pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston as the next Vice Chair of Research and Pediatric Research Center Division Chief in 2026.
Dr. Trainor is an internationally recognized leader in craniofacial genetics and developmental biology. He earned his PhD in Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Sydney, followed by postdoctoral fellowship training at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. Since then, he has held faculty and leadership appointments at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and the University of Kansas Medical Center, where he has trained the next generation of scientists and advanced the field of craniofacial development.
Dr. Trainor has contributed extensively to scientific publishing and leadership, serving as Editor-in-Chief of Developmental Dynamics and on numerous editorial and advisory boards. He is also a past president of the Society for Craniofacial Genetics and Developmental Biology and has chaired and organized multiple international conferences. His outstanding contributions to the field have been recognized with many honors, including election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Anatomy, and the Society for Developmental Biology. Most recently, he received the 2025 Henry Gray Scientific Achievement Award, the highest scientific honor of the American Association for Anatomy.
Dr. Trainor will assume the leadership of the Vice Chair for Research and the Pediatric Research Center, a six-member division of the Department of Pediatrics currently led by award-winning craniofacial and cartilage biologist researcher, Jacqueline Hecht, PhD. Dr. Hecht has built a strong legacy over her 45+ years with UTHealth Houston, where she has developed multiple research and clinical programs, led NIH-funded research, and mentored numerous trainees.
“We are so grateful to Dr. Hecht for the decades of leadership and pursuit of scientific innovations on the etiology of birth defects. As she steps away from these roles, she will be missed, but she has built a wonderful foundation. We look forward to this next chapter and are thrilled to welcome Dr. Trainor to our faculty. Dr. Trainor is the ideal person to carry on Dr. Hecht’s tradition of excellence, and we eagerly anticipate his contributions to advancing research discovery, education, and mentorship here at McGovern Medical School,” said Mary E. Aitken, MD, MPH, FAAP, Professor and Dan L Duncan Distinguished University Chair in Pediatrics.
Dr. Trainor has been engaging with faculty for several months to begin planning for his formal transition to UTHealth Houston in September 2026.