(a) The executive director of the board may issue a distinguished professors temporary license to an applicant:
  (1) who has passed the Texas medical jurisprudence examination;
  (2) whose application has been filed, processed, and found to be in order;
  (3) whose application for a full Texas medical license is complete in every detail except that the applicant will not be required to have taken and passed the SPEX examination as set forth in §163.4 of this title (relating to Procedural Rules for Licensure Applicants); and
  (4) who holds an appointment as a salaried full professor on the faculty working full-time in one of the following institutions:
    (A) a school of medicine in this state accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation;
    (B) The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler;
    (C) The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; or
    (D) a program of graduate medical education, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, that exceeds the requirements for eligibility for first board certification in the discipline.
(b) The distinguished professors temporary license shall be requested by the president, dean or chief academic officer of the institution as defined in subsection (a)(3) of this section and shall be valid only in the institution or its affiliated hospitals.
(c) The distinguished professors temporary license shall be valid for a continuous one-year period; however, the permit is revocable at any time the board deems necessary. The distinguished professors temporary license shall automatically expire one year after the date of issuance. The distinguished professors temporary license is renewable one time, at the discretion of the executive director.
(d) At the conclusion of this one-year period, the distinguished professor shall present recommendations from the president, dean or chief academic officer of the institution, and shall petition the board for a permanent, unrestricted license to practice medicine in Texas. If this petition is denied, the institution may request a one-year extension of the distinguished professors temporary license. If an extension is granted, and following termination of such extension, the distinguished professor shall again present recommendations from the president, dean or chief academic officer of the institution and re-petition the board for a permanent, unrestricted license to practice medicine in Texas. If the petition is again denied, no further distinguished professors temporary license shall be issued.
(e) If the board grants the petition for licensure, the distinguished professor may be issued a permanent, unrestricted license.

Source Note: The provisions of this §172.3 adopted to be effective November 7, 2004, 29 TexReg 10111; amended to be effective August 10, 2008, 33 TexReg 6135; amended to be effective September 19, 2010, 35 TexReg 8351