Dr. Julia Hiner is an academic physician and associate professor at University of Texas Health Science Center – Houston (UTHealth Houston) McGovern Medical School. She studied at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas and received Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Psychology. She attended University of Texas Medical Branch Medical School in Galveston, Texas and received her Doctorate of Medicine in 2014. She then completed a 3-year residency in Internal Medicine at Christiana Care in Newark, Delaware, as well as an additional 1-year fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine.

Dr. Hiner’s administrative roles at UTHealth Houston include serving as the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program Director since 2022 and course director for the Geriatric Medicine fellows’ Elder Capacity Assessment and Mistreatment rotation since 2019. As course director, she also authored and created a 170+ page textbook curriculum and associated virtual modules on adult mistreatment and capacity assessment to completely revamp the rotation into a resounding fellow favorite. Her clinical work through UTHealth Houston includes conducting capacity assessments, elder mistreatment record reviews, and expert witness testimonies as a consultant for the Texas Forensic Assessment Center Network (FACN), and as the physician medical director for the Harris County’s Senior Justice Assessment Center (SJAC). Academically, she works with medical students, residents, and fellows in various settings. Dr. Hiner has extensive experience working and leading in interdisciplinary settings and teams.

She is involved in numerous professional societies and committees including: the American Geriatrics Society (including serving as co-chair of the Elder Mistreatment Special Interest Group), the Texas Geriatrics Society (including serving as the President-elect, on the Board of Directors, and on the Conference Planning Committee), the Texas Guardianship Society (including serving on the Board of Directors), the Institute on Aging, the Texas Elder Abuse and Mistreatment (TEAM) Institute, the Elder Abuse Fatality Review Team (EFFORT) Committee, and as the director of both the Geriatric Medicine Professional Education Committee and the Clinical Competency Committee. Additionally, Dr. Hiner completed a three-year appointment to the ten member Texas Managed Correctional Health Care Committee after being selected by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

She is passionate about Geriatric Medicine education, regularly presenting about, participating in, and leading scholarly and research activities related to adult mistreatment, decisional and executive capacity assessment, incapacity, cognitive disability, and guardianship topics. She completed both the UTHealth Houston’s Health Educator Fellowship Program and the Community of Medical Education Scholars program to further her knowledge and skills as a medical educator.