![\"Carolyn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christopher-Watts-2--1024x801.jpg\")
Christopher Watts holds an enlarged model of the human larynx. (Courtesy photo | Texas Christian University)<\/p>\nChristopher Watts, dean of Texas Christian University\u2019s Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, made mentoring students, supporting scientific advancement and researching Parkinson\u2019s disease his life\u2019s work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His passion was evident in the tangible results \u2014 including more than 80 peer-reviewed research articles \u2014 and from the memories of those who knew him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had to think about a model TCU professor or a model TCU leader, he encompassed all that,\u201d said Floyd Wormley, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Watts died from cancer on Jan. 14. He was 53.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were both military brats on Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Debbie and a friend saw Watts\u2019 brother at the base\u2019s temporary housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should see the other one,\u201d her friend said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOK,\u201d Debbie replied.<\/p>\n
The two went and knocked on his door. The rest is history.<\/p>\n
Watts found Debbie a few days later and got her number.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went and played tennis, and then I brought him to a basketball game, and that was the clincher right there,\u201d Debbie said.<\/p>\n
They attended the University of South Alabama together. Watts followed Debbie into taking the foundations class for speech pathology and was hooked.<\/p>\n
They both went on to have careers in the field, and Watts found a passion for researching Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
Christopher Watts holds an enlarged model of the human larynx. (Courtesy photo | Texas Christian University)<\/p>\n
He came to TCU in 2008 when he became the director of the Davies School of Communication Sciences & Disorders. He would become Harris College\u2019s assistant dean for strategic initiatives in 2015 before being named dean in 2019.<\/p>\n
While at TCU, he partnered with Punching Out Parkinson\u2019s<\/a>, a boxing program at two-time world champion Paulie Ayala\u2019s Fort Worth gym, to do a yearlong study that revealed twice-weekly classes helped patients with their respiratory muscle strength.<\/p>\n He also started Endeavor Parkinsonology of Fort Worth<\/a> to merge research, education and resources in an effort to improve the lives of those with the disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, he and associate professor Michelle Kimzey combined their expertise to create the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease<\/a> at TCU. The center aims to further treatment and offer outreach to patients and their caregivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d Lund said. \u201cHe passed that on to other students who I think now many of whom, even as scientists, are mentoring others in that same spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he took his work seriously, he also cared that his students had fun as they learned, Debbie said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the middle of the class, he would tell them, \u2018Oh yeah, my mom\u2019s British,\u2019 and they\u2019re like, \u2018No, she\u2019s not.\u2019\u201d Debbie said. \u201cSo they\u2019d call his mom just to hear her accent.\u201d<\/p>\n Lund recalled a Harris College chili cookoff during which Watts dressed up as Gru from the animated movie \u201cDespicable Me\u201d and talked the graduate students into dressing like minions.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cHe 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,\u201d Wormley said.<\/p>\n Under Watts\u2019 leadership, the university added new academic pathways, including a physician associate program, doctoral program in occupational therapy and a bachelor\u2019s degree in allied health sciences.<\/p>\n Wormley described Watts as a caring mentor and someone he could trust with anything.<\/p>\n \u201cOne 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\u2019s the type of person he was,\u201d Wormley said.<\/p>\n Debbie said his family will keep him alive in their memories by rewatching his favorite movies \u2014 he loved slapstick humor like \u201cDumb and Dumber,\u201d \u201cStep Brothers\u201d and \u201cZoolander\u201d \u2014 and by continuing to take family trips together.<\/p>\n \u201cHe 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Watts is survived by his wife, daughters Lindsey and Emily, his parents and two older brothers.<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DSC00538-1-1-1024x682.jpg\")
Christopher Watts, dressed as Gru, holds a trophy while surrounded by students dressed as minions for the Harris College chili cookoff. (Courtesy photo | Texas Christian University)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/06582321-A07E-41B1-B1D0-D259B92ABBB9--1024x684.jpg\")
The Watts family, from left: Christopher, Emily, Lindsey and Debbie. Watts\u2019 daughters, both TCU alums, were his \u201cpride and joy,\u201d Debbie said. (Courtesy photo | Debbie Watts) <\/p>\n