Dr. Nolan Perez is the CEO of Texas Digestive Specialists, with offices in Brownsville, Harlingen and McAllen. He is married to Sandy Perez and they have 2 children—Nolan and Natalie.
Dr. Perez grew up in the Rio Grande Valley where he graduated from Port Isabel High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and a Medical Doctorate from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. After medical school, Dr. Perez served in the United States Navy as a Medical Corps Officer and received the Navy Commendation and Navy Achievement Medals. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen and fellowship training in Gastroenterology at Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center. He is board certified in Gastroenterology and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology.
Dr. Perez has a passion for education, community service, and mentoring. He created RGV Mentors to inspire high school students and assist them in transitioning into post-secondary education, and over the years, he has mentored many high school, college and medical students.
Dr. Perez has been serving on the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees since 2010 and has been Board President twice. In 2019, Dr. Perez was part of the team recognized as Board of the Year by the Texas Association of School Administrators.
Dr. Perez was appointed to The University of Texas System Board of Regents by Governor Greg Abbott in March 2019 and was reappointed to a six-year term in April 2021. He is the Chairman of the Audit, Compliance, and Risk Management Committee and also serves on the Board for Lease of University Lands.
Dr. Perez is a member of The University of Texas System Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee; Philosophical Society of Texas; Texas Business Leadership Council; and Expert Panelist for the Texas Medical Board.
Dr. Perez is a former Chairman for the Texas Woman’s University Board of Regents, and former member of the clinical faculty at UTRGV School of Medicine. He has also previously served on many other local and statewide councils, foundations, and boards including The University of Texas Foundation Board; The University of Texas at Austin Development Board; The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Development Board; Lone Star National Bank Board of Directors; Rio Grande Valley Angel Network; The University of Texas at Austin College of Education Foundation Advisory Council; Educate Texas Committee; The Texas Lyceum, FIRST in Texas Foundation; Humanities Texas Board; Texas Foundation for Innovative Communities Board; and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Football Feasibility Committee.