Mega Doctor News
Texas Medical Association
The Texas Medical Association (TMA) installed Waco otolaryngologist Bradford W. Holland, MD, as its 161st president during TexMed, TMA’s annual conference. He assumes this one-year role after serving as TMA’s president-elect during the past year. Dr. Holland becomes the first TMA president from Waco in more than 50 years.
“I am very honored to lead TMA and to improve the health of all Texans,” said Dr. Holland. “My focus will always be on standing up for patient care and protecting the practice of medicine.”
As the ear, nose, and throat specialist begins his presidential term, he describes the state of health care in 2026 using a simple analogy.
“The health care system is like a three-legged chair or stool that holds patients up. The health insurance industry is one leg of the chair, health care organizations and health systems are the second leg, and physicians are the third leg,” he said.
The problem, he said, is the chair is uneven. Empowering physicians to be on an equal footing with the other two entities will be a priority for Dr. Holland during his presidency.
He aims to address issues like allowing physician ownership of hospitals, site neutrality to ensure physicians are paid the same regardless of where health care is provided, and to revisit other laws that treat doctors differently than other professions. He looks forward to working with lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session to find solutions to these challenges.
“I love our profession with a passion that is hard to describe,” Dr. Holland said. “How can we not engage in the fight to preserve what we do for patients in the name of healing?”
His perspective comes from decades of experience as a physician – and as a patient. For six years he fought cancer, undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. The experience taught him about the patient’s journey – especially facing bad news and difficult diagnoses.
“I know the wait. I know the anxiety,” he said. “So, I try and put myself in that place when I’m in the role of physician.”
Dr. Holland immersed himself in health care advocacy soon after joining TMA as a medical student at the UT Southwestern Medical School, over three decades ago. As a young physician, he attended the inaugural TMA Leadership College, a yearlong program that teaches leadership skills.
He also served on TMA’s Council on Legislation and was elected to vice speaker of the House of Delegates, TMA’s policymaking body in 2019, then speaker of the house in 2021, in which he served until 2025. Dr. Holland also chaired TEXPAC, TMA’s political action committee.
A member of the McLennan County Medical Society, Dr. Holland served as its president in 2010. He is board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and is active in his specialty society, the Texas Association of Otolaryngology, where he has served as president. He is an adjunct faculty member in Baylor University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.
His wife Amanda Holland is director of Baylor University’s Department of Advising for Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences. The couple has four children.
Dr. Holland and his wife love music and spend their free time attending concerts and listening to everything from classical music to rock. He has also served as president of the Waco Symphony Association.
TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 60,000 physician and medical student members. It is in Austin and has 110 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 has been to improve the health of all Texans.
