William Adcox, MBA
Chief of Police and Chief Security Officer
MD Anderson
Cancer Center and The University of Texas

Chief William H. Adcox is a national leader in threat safety science and organizational health security.  It was his advisory input to the team that allowed them to expand their focus to the top eight causes of preventable death of otherwise healthy people which now serves as the foundation of the Med Tac program. Without his mentorship, there would be no Med Tac program as it exists today.  His continuous support of the Med Tac team is substantial, and he is a crucial contributor to national education programs and R&D with healthcare safety leaders.  The Med Tac Law Enforcement program has been pioneered by Chief Adcox at major healthcare institutions operating in the world’s largest medical center. The Pete Conrad Global Patient Safety Award recognizes these individual contributions to the Med Tac Program and his leadership service to the team.

Chief Adcox is increasingly recognized as one of the true pioneers of Threat Safety Science and a champion of best practices in organizational health.  He has developed a leading edge systematic approach to the identification, prevention and remediation of insider and outsider threats to those who serve, those they serve, and protecting the critical physical and virtual property that is so vital to delivering world-class care. As the Chief Security Officer of the leading cancer center in the world, his leadership is paving the way for healthcare safety leaders of the future.

With 37 years in municipal and campus policing, he serves as the Chief of Police and CSO at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and The University of Texas Health Science Center. He has hundreds of team members keeping more than 25,000 caregivers, educators, and students safe. Chief Adcox holds an MBA degree from University of Texas – El Paso and is a graduate of the PERF’s Senior Management Institute for Police and the Wharton School ASIS Program for Security Executives. He is the recipient of the IACLEA’s 2013 Award for Administrative Excellence and was named by Security Magazine as one of the “Most Influential People in Security 2013.” The agency received the IHSS Foundation’s prestigious 2015 Lindberg Bell Distinguished Program Award. Nationally, Chief Adcox received the Campus Safety 2015 Director of the Year Award in Healthcare; and locally he received the Texas Police Chiefs Association’s 2015 Leadership Award.

Previous Recipient
Back to 2018 Recipients Page
Next Recipient