Austin Pittman’s innovative healthcare model and his leadership at McMurry share a common goal: expanding opportunity.
When Austin Pittman ’91 talks about healthcare, he doesn’t begin with clinical metrics or national trends. He starts with people. It’s a lesson he carried from national leadership roles into co-founding Suvida Healthcare, one of the country’s most culturally attuned, value-based primary care models. Today, as the co-founder and CEO of Suvida Healthcare and the newly appointed chair of McMurry University Board of Trustees, he brings a vision shaped by personal experience, professional depth, and a deep belief in removing barriers so people can thrive.
Suvida Healthcare was born from Pittman’s recognition of a gap in American healthcare: older Hispanic adults were navigating systems that didn’t reflect their culture, language, or lived realities. “Trust erodes quickly when healthcare doesn’t reflect the people it’s meant to serve,” he explains. Across his career, he saw that disparities weren’t always clinical; they were often cultural and relational. Suvida was designed to close that gap by pairing high-quality clinical care with extended visits, bilingual staff, and family engagement.
At Suvida’s heart is the guía, or guide, who is a care navigator and trusted advisor, helping patients interpret their care plans, navigate complex systems, and stay connected long after the exam-room door closes. It’s whole-person care made practical, personal, and profoundly human.
If there is a single ingredient that defines the model’s success, Pittman says it’s time. “When patients have the time to tell their story, trust grows. And when trust grows, everything else improves.” Across Suvida centers in Texas and Arizona, he has seen that truth confirmed again and again. Communities may differ, but the desire for dignity, respect, and trustworthy care is a universal human need.
Scaling such a community-centric model has reshaped Pittman’s leadership. After years of overseeing national healthcare organizations, Suvida brought him back to the frontlines, listening to seniors, learning from caregivers, and spending real time in the clinics. “Innovation isn’t just about models,” he says. “It’s about people.” Proximity, he believes, is not a management strategy; it’s a value.
It’s also a value he traces back to McMurry University, where he earned his degree and his grounding in service and personal relationships. Those principles now come full circle as he steps into his role as chair of McMurry’s Board of Trustees.
Pittman sees a natural alignment between Suvida’s mission and McMurry’s legacy of serving first-generation students. Both institutions, he notes, remove barriers and expand opportunities for people often overlooked by traditional systems. “When you honor people’s backgrounds, you unlock potential,” he says. “That’s as true in healthcare as it is in higher education.”
Looking ahead, he sees tremendous opportunity for McMurry to deepen community partnerships, expand experiential learning, and leverage its small scale for truly personalized education. He is excited to partner with President Dr. Lynne Murray, whose blend of vision, warmth, and operational clarity he calls “extraordinary.”
Pittman’s ambitions for Suvida and McMurry share a common thread: impact that lasts. He aims to develop a scalable model of culturally aligned care that supports families, as well as a university environment where students, particularly those forging new paths as first-generation learners, can discover their purpose and thrive.
“My hope is simple,” he says. “To expand access, dignity, and opportunity. If I can help advance both missions, I’ll consider that impact deeply meaningful.”