Update

Catching Up with TTUHSC Alumni & Friends

Mallory McGarry Brown, PharmD
District Leader
CVS Health, Dallas, Texas
Pharmacy Graduate: 2014

What it Costs to Lead

Mallory McGarry Brown, PharmD, attributes her leadership skills — she’s too humble to call it “success” — to participation in pharmacy school student organizations. But whether she calls it success or not, less than six years after graduation, Brown is in charge of 19 CVS stores in North Texas.

Brown initially chose retail pharmacy because she wanted a personal connection with patients. Her first job was at Target Pharmacy, and shortly after, she was promoted to pharmacy manager. When CVS bought Target’s pharmacy services two years later, Brown was quickly sold on her new employer.

“It wasn’t until the acquisition, going through the process, and seeing the innovations the company has, that I really connected with the purpose of the company: Helping people on their path to health,” Brown said. “That’s what I aim to do every day.”

Brown now oversees operations and helps pharmacy managers in her area ensure they have the right teams in place to positively impact patients and customers. She enjoys her role, but it isn’t without sacrifice.

“While I miss that direct connection and relationships with patients, I love that I now get to do that times 19 stores,” Brown explained. “I help my pharmacists be the best pharmacists they can be and impact the patients they see on a day-to-day basis. I find a lot of fulfillment and passion in what I do each day.”

-Glenys Young

Sobha Fuller, DNP, BSN
Chief Nursing Officer
CHRISTUS Clinic Management Services, Tyler, Texas
Nursing Graduate: 2015

What's the Point?

That is a question Sobha Fuller, DNP, BSN, has asked several times over the years.

Twenty years ago, Fuller was a new pediatric nurse at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where well over a million patients are treated each year. She spent time educating each patient and parent on vaccinations only to find out later that Texas was purging immunization records, forcing patients who were fully vaccinated to re-vaccinate.

While obtaining her DNP with TTUHSC, her project and dissertation focused on providing a solution to this problem. While getting her degree, she had the opportunity to testify before the House of Representatives Public Health Committee in 2015 in support of an initiative to retain vaccination records up to the age of 26 in Texas. The legislation passed, and today hundreds of Texans are able to fully access their childhood vaccine history in the Texas Immunization Registry.

Today, Fuller serves as the chief nursing officer of CHRISTUS Clinic Management Services in Tyler, Texas. In her role, she travels across a three-state area to see how clinical practices and management can be improved, and passionately educates on the importance of consenting to have your vaccination records saved in the registry.

“This registry prevents unnecessary health care spending — if you can provide proof that you’ve been vaccinated, labs don’t need to be drawn and vaccinations don’t have to be given — and that is the point,” she said. 

-Nancy M. Hood

Lance Maki, MD
Obstetrician-Gynecologist
Holy Family Medicine, Indialantic by the Sea, Florida
Medicine Graduate: 1988

Faith First in Practice

When Lance Maki, MD, began to study Pope John Paul II’s “Humanae Vitae,” which established the Roman Catholic Church position on contraception, he realized he could no longer perform elective tubal ligations.

This steered the direction of Maki’s life, sometimes making him face hard choices. When he refused to do tubal litigations, he was fired from three separate institutions where he practiced obstetrics and gynecology as a hospitalist. Administrators would listen to his reasoning and then tell him to do the procedure anyway.

Maki starts each day attending morning prayer at church for encouragement in his convictions. He also has a passion for surfing — calling it “meditation in the water” — and enjoys practicing it whenever he can.

Maki continues his medical practice through his wife’s foundation, Holy Family Medicine, in which they teach a holistic and Catholic approach to women’s health and reproduction while also offering couples’ therapy.

-Nancy. M. Hood

Thivakorn Kasemsri, MD, MS
Associate Professor
School of Medicine, Lubbock, Texas
Biomedical Sciences Graduate: 2013

Three Reasons to go Back to School 20 Years Later

Why would an associate professor in the School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics — who earned his medical degree in 1990 and has been practicing for more than 20 years — go back to school for a master’s degree?

Thivakorn Kasemsri, MD, MS, gives three reasons why he did:

1. To pursue knowledge that was missing when I graduated medical school. (accomplished maybe use a check mark as a design element)

2. To better understand TTUHSC academic culture. (accomplished check mark) 

3. To see if the new knowledge base and better understanding of TTUHSC and medicine could help me become a better clinician and teacher. (“You’ll have to ask my colleagues, patients and students on this one.”)

“It is amazing what all has changed through scientific discovery since I first graduated. I was humbled through this education. Watching my colleagues teach the basic sciences and seeing how they explored and approached concepts really enriched my experience on the fifth floor (basic science labs).”

-Kara Bishop

Doug Quon, MAT, ATC, PES
Assistant Athletic Trainer
NFL Washington Redskins, Washington, D.C.
Health Professions Graduate: 2012

I Don't Want to be on TV

After dislocating his shoulder in a wave runner accident in college, Doug Quon, MAT, ATC, PES, a self-described, injury-prone athlete, opened his eyes to the world of sports medicine through his physical therapy sessions.

“It turns out that getting hurt frequently helped me have a good background in (sports medicine): understanding what injuries were, what it took to get back from there and understanding, from a patient’s point of view, what they have to go through to get back to regular activity.”

After interning with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Jacksonville Jaguars, Quon has now been with the Washington Redskins for six years. He works 60 to 80 hours a week throughout the season and 90 to 100 during training camp, which doesn’t leave Quon much time outside of work beyond recreational cycling.

And while he loves his job, he said it’s not one he wants to be in the spotlight for — despite being part of the NFL’s 2019 Athletic Training Staff of the Year. “It’s weird,” he said. “A lot of people are like, ‘I saw you on the field; that is so cool seeing you on TV.’ It’s not good when you see me on TV because usually that means someone got hurt, so it’s kind of bittersweet. But we’re on the field for a reason: to try and make a difference.”

-Glenys Young

 News and Notes

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Katie Bennett, PhD, (’09) has been named to the 2019 American Society for Clinical Pathology 40 Under Forty list.

T. Celeste Napier, PhD, (’82) has been inducted into the York High School Hall of Fame.

Sowmini Oomman, MD, PhD, (’04) opened Restore Wellness & Aesthetics Center in Franklin, Tennessee.

School of Health Professions

Matt Berend, MRC, LBSW, (’15) and Crystal Stark, MRC, (’12) have been reappointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the Rehabilitation Council of Texas.

Katie Carden, MAT, (’17) joined the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL as a seasonal athletic trainer.

Brant Danley, PA, (’08) joined the U.S. Dermatology Partners in Bryan, Texas.

Manny De Alba, MAT, (’12) joined the MLS San Jose Earthquakes as an athletic trainer.

Kristen Holbeck, BSSL, MSSP, (’14, ’12) started “Brainwaves,” a traumatic brain injury support group at Baylor Scott & White in Fort Worth, Texas.

Marc McNeal, PT, DPT, (’12, ’99) opened an outpatient clinic in Denton, Texas.

Dian Underwood, MS, CCC-SLP, (’98, ’96) has been named the Director of Special Programs at San Angelo ISD.

School of Medicine

Basem A. Abdelfattah, MD, (‘09) joined Chronic Pain Relief in Frisco, Texas, as a pain management specialist.

Debra Atkisson, MD, PA, (’86) joined TCU Medical School as a physician development coach.

Rachel Chandler, MD, (’07) has been recognized as the 2019 best dermatologist in Midland, Texas, by Readers’ Choice Health Care. 

Austin Cope, MD, (’15) joined Skin Spectrum in Tucson, Arizona, as a cosmetic dermatologist.

Brian Drake, MD, (’97) joined Woodland Heights Medical Center in Lufkin, Texas, as an obstetrician and gynecologist.

John Griswold, MD, FACS, (Resident ’86) chair and professor in the Department of Surgery, has been named the executive director of the TTUHSC Clinical Research Institute. 

Nagendra Gupta, MD, (Resident ’13) was appointed to the American Board of Internal Medicine. 

James Hutson, PhD, professor in the Department of Medical Education has been awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the School of Medicine for 43 years of service. 

Saranapoom Klomjit, MD, (Resident ’16) joined Stormont Vail Health in Topeka, Kansas, as a cardiologist.

Mary Mok, MD, (Resident ’17) endocrinologist, and Jesus Vera Aguilera, MD, (Resident ’16) hematologist and oncologist, joined Essentia Health-Duluth Clinic in Duluth, Minnesota. 

Randall E. Morris, MD, (’84) and Lea Wright, co-owner of American Glass Distributors in Amarillo, have been appointed to the Texas Tech Foundation board of directors.

Kimberli Peck, MD, (’90) associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine has been awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the School of Medicine for 37 years of service.

Leela S. Pillarisetty, MD, (Resident ’16) joined Odessa Regional Medical Center in Odessa, Texas, as an obstetrician/gynecologist. 

Kelsey Richardson, MD, (’16) joined Covenant Health Family Clinic in Plainview, Texas.

Ashley Sturgeon, MD, (’10) won the 2019 Graduate of Distinction Award from the Texas Tech Animal & Food Sciences Alumni and Friends Network. 

School of Nursing

Brandon Bredimus, DNP, RN, (’15) has been named vice president of nursing at Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas.

Bob Dent, DNP, RN, (’10) has joined Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia, as chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care.

Michael Evans, PhD, RN, School of Nursing dean, has been named a Grover E. Murray Professor.

Sally Kipyego, RN, (‘09) has been inducted into the Texas Tech Track and Field and Cross Country Hall of Fame.  

Tamara Rhodes, RN, MSN, (’90) has been appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the Texas Board of Nursing.

Sara Spivey, MSN, (’11) is the new owner of Bangs Medical Clinic in Bangs, Texas.

Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Jason Haire, PharmD, (’03) has been awarded “Best Pharmacist Runner-Up” in the Best of Hopkins County, Texas.

Molly Minze, PharmD, an associate professor in the Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy received the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (AACP) Endocrine and Metabolism PRN Leadership Award, and also graduated from the Leadership and Management Academy. 

Friends We’ll Miss

Ellyn Colyer Dimond, BSN, RN, (Nursing ’99) died Jan. 17, 2019.

Javier Izquierdo, RN, (Nursing ’06) died Oct. 28, 2019.

Jane Knox, former chairperson of the TTUHSC Permian Basin Advisory Council, died July 8, 2019.

Samuel David Richards, MD, former vice president of TTUHSC, died Sept. 29, 2019.

Jason Yeh, MD, former professor in the School of Medicine, died October 2019.