Christopher Watts, dean of Texas Christian University’s Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, made mentoring students, supporting scientific advancement and researching Parkinson’s disease his life’s work.
His passion was evident in the tangible results — including more than 80 peer-reviewed research articles — and from the memories of those who knew him.
“If I had to think about a model TCU professor or a model TCU leader, he encompassed all that,” said Floyd Wormley, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.
He was also a fun-loving, doting father who made silly faces in photos, loved to travel and could cook an excellent curry, his wife Debbie said.
Watts died from cancer on Jan. 14. He was 53.
He was born in Sacramento, California, and was the youngest of three boys in a military family. The way he met Debbie was a story Watts loved to tell, she said.
They were both military brats on Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Debbie and a friend saw Watts’ brother at the base’s temporary housing.
“You should see the other one,” her friend said.
“OK,” Debbie replied.
The two went and knocked on his door. The rest is history.
Watts found Debbie a few days later and got her number.
“We went and played tennis, and then I brought him to a basketball game, and that was the clincher right there,” Debbie said.
They attended the University of South Alabama together. Watts followed Debbie into taking the foundations class for speech pathology and was hooked.
They both went on to have careers in the field, and Watts found a passion for researching Parkinson’s disease.
He came to TCU in 2008 when he became the director of the Davies School of Communication Sciences & Disorders. He would become Harris College’s assistant dean for strategic initiatives in 2015 before being named dean in 2019.
While at TCU, he partnered with Punching Out Parkinson’s, a boxing program at two-time world champion Paulie Ayala’s Fort Worth gym, to do a yearlong study that revealed twice-weekly classes helped patients with their respiratory muscle strength.
He also started Endeavor Parkinsonology of Fort Worth to merge research, education and resources in an effort to improve the lives of those with the disease.
In 2024, he and associate professor Michelle Kimzey combined their expertise to create the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease at TCU. The center aims to further treatment and offer outreach to patients and their caregivers.
He was particularly focused on ensuring his scientific work improved the lives of real people, said Emily Lund, a professor in the Davies School who knew Watts for more than a decade.
“The work he was doing was not just in some ivory tower lab and not translating down, but it was on the ground with real people,” Lund said. “He passed that on to other students who I think now many of whom, even as scientists, are mentoring others in that same spirit.”
Although he took his work seriously, he also cared that his students had fun as they learned, Debbie said.
“In the middle of the class, he would tell them, ‘Oh yeah, my mom’s British,’ and they’re like, ‘No, she’s not.’” Debbie said. “So they’d call his mom just to hear her accent.”
Lund recalled a Harris College chili cookoff during which Watts dressed up as Gru from the animated movie “Despicable Me” and talked the graduate students into dressing like minions.
Watts also took students on study abroad trips, and photos of their adventures hang on the walls of the Davies School, Lund said. He hiked with students up a mountain in a Scottish kilt, Debbie recalled.
Provost Wormley met Watts in 2019 when the two were new deans together, with Wormley in his first year as dean of graduate studies. Watts felt he had the best job in the world, Wormley said.
“He cared deeply about his students. He cared deeply about his colleagues. He cared deeply about the mission of the university, and he worked hard to move that forward in a loving, caring way,” Wormley said.
Under Watts’ leadership, the university added new academic pathways, including a physician associate program, doctoral program in occupational therapy and a bachelor’s degree in allied health sciences.
Wormley described Watts as a caring mentor and someone he could trust with anything.
“One thing that I will remember him for was as he was going through the toughest time of his life, he was able to encourage me and to keep me uplifted. That’s the type of person he was,” Wormley said.
Debbie said his family will keep him alive in their memories by rewatching his favorite movies — he loved slapstick humor like “Dumb and Dumber,” “Step Brothers” and “Zoolander” — and by continuing to take family trips together.
“He would want to be remembered as strong and as dedicated to his field and dedicated to his children, and that he put up a fight,” she said.
Watts is survived by his wife, daughters Lindsey and Emily, his parents and two older brothers.
McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.
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