Dr. Esmaeil Porsa serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer for Harris Health System, which is a
community-focused, academic and safety-net healthcare system dedicated to improving the health of
those most in need in Harris County, Texas, through quality care delivery, coordination of care, and
education.
Harris Health operates 45 community-based clinics, health centers and specialty locations and two
trauma hospitals: Ben Taub Hospital (Level I) and Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital (Level III). The system
provides high-quality care and treatment for nearly 1.4 million outpatient visits and more than 36,000
hospital cases each year with an operating budget of $2.29 billion.
Prior to his returning to Harris Health in 2020, Dr. Porsa served as the Executive Vice President and
Chief Strategy and Integration Officer at Parkland Health and Hospital System where he had worked
since 2007 in different capacities including the Medical Director of the Dallas County Jail Health
program, Associate Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President for Professional and Academic
Affairs and Interim Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Porsa completed a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and chemistry at Our Lady of the Lake
University in San Antonio before earning his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science
Center Medical School in San Antonio. He completed his training in internal medicine at the University
of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he also served as the Chief Medical Resident. Dr.
Porsa completed a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology at the University of Texas Health
Science Center at Houston School of Public Health as well as a fellowship program in primary care at
the UTHSC-Houston medical school in 2005. Dr. Porsa obtained his MBA degree in Health Care
Leadership from University of Texas in Dallas in 2017.
Dr. Porsa has a special interest in improving community health through addressing social determinants of
health (SDOH) and health care delivery in correctional setting. He currently serves as the Vice Chair for
the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and is a member of the Certified Correctional Health Care
Professional Board of Trustees for the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC).