Update
Catching Up With TTUHSC Alumni and Friends
Ann Hagstrom, MSN, RN
Assistant Professor
TTUHSC School of Nursing, Lubbock, Texas
Nursing Graduate: 1986 (first class)
Love in the Shape of a Cinnamon Roll
He came in nervous and clearly out of place as a college student walking toward the
school nurse office at Cavazos Middle School in Lubbock. She watched him stand outside
the door for a minute before he finally took a breath and walked in. She smiled at
him waiting for him to speak. “I was wondering if you could help me?” he said. “I’m
sick but I don’t like doctor offices and school nurses are kind.”
And that was one of the most rewarding moments of her life as a nurse.
After seventeen years of service in schools, Ann Hagstrom, MSN, RN, CNE, moved into
a faculty position at TTUHSC with a desire for serving others that continues today.
Birthdays, new babies, life celebrations wouldn’t be complete for School of Nursing
faculty without Hagstrom’s amazing cinnamon rolls — made completely from scratch with
a sourdough starter that she maintains continually to prepare for the next batch.
Want the recipe for Hagstrom's cinnamon rolls? Click here for the recipe.
- By Kara Bishop
Ann Weaver Shanley, MD
Retired pediatrician
Kingsbury, Texas
Medicine Graduated in 1975 (first class)
Moments in Medicine
When Ann Shanley, MD, was chief resident at the former Brackenridge Hospital in Austin,
she did a rotation at a Christian hospital in West Nigeria under the tutelage of her
mentor, Maurice Hood, MD, a Lubbock pediatrician. “I learned more there in two months
than I learned in a whole year in my residency because of what we were exposed to.
There wasn’t electricity, there wasn’t a window, there wasn’t air conditioning. When
I got off the plane I thought I was the smartest thing in the world; when I got back
on it, I knew I didn’t know anything.”
Shanley worked for decades to bring individual attention to the patients in her pediatric
practice. When people asked her what she did for a living, she said she took care
of parents with sick children — compassion and humility were the foundations upon
which her practice was built. But her family was equally important. After marrying
John Shanley in 2006, she retired, and they transitioned to ranch life outside of
San Antonio, Texas.
“They say you’re practicing medicine because your knowledge is constantly changing.
When you start working outside and your environment is constantly changing, you have
to be willing to adapt to changes in order to succeed.”
- By Glenys Young
Lori Rice-Spearman, PhD
Dean
TTUHSC School of Health Professions, Lubbock, Texas
Health Professions Graduate: 1986 (first clinical lab sciences class)
The Dean’s Guilty Pleasures
Favorite science gadget: Microscope
Favorite T.V. show: “House” and “Grey’s Anatomy” (“It’s nothing like real medicine but still really fun
to watch. Some of the cases they have to work on are just so bizarre and interesting.”)
Favorite hobby: “I don’t know that you can call it a hobby, but being “Lolly” to my two grandbabies
is the best!”
Favorite volunteer service project: High Point Village (“I teach a cooking class there every Monday night – it’s so much
fun!”)
Favorite book: “Can you say encyclopedia? I just recently got rid of my entire hard copy set. It
was painful.”
- By Kara Bishop
John B. McClellan. MS
Director of Corporate Accounts
Luminex Corporation, Austin, Texas
Graduate: 1977 (first class)
Different Worlds
Footsteps slap the marble floors and the sound of voices echo off the stainless steel
laboratory walls as the first students to walk into the new Texas Tech University
School of Medicine building in 1976. Among them: John B. McClellan.
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences initially held classes on TTU’s general
academic campus in the chemistry building. For McClellan and his colleagues, part
of being the first to move meant spending more than a few hours unpacking and connecting
equipment.
In present day, McClellan serves as the director of corporate accounts for Luminex
Corporation, which develops instrumentation in the molecular testing arena.
“Technology in the medical profession changes rapidly,” McClellan says. “By the time
those students who are just entering medical school graduate, they will enter a different
world with more complex needs and solutions than the one I started in 42 years ago.”
- By Nancy M. Hood
Jagruti Patel, PharmD
Pharmacist
Walgreens, Bedford, Texas
Graduate: 2000 (first class)
Resume of Service
Objective: “My mom taught me the importance of serving others. I became more dedicated to the passion after losing her. I do it all for her.”
Part-time pharmacist and full-time mom and wife
- Married to Sachin Shah, PharmD, (Pharmacy ’00) associate dean and professor in the School of Pharmacy at Dallas. Together, they have two children, Rushil, 15, and Sarina, 12.
- Active in volunteering with her children’s schools and helps with their activities in band and orchestra, field trips and fundraisers. “And, you know, of course I have to keep up with Dr. Shah!”
Caretaker for husband’s family
- Chauffeurs in-laws to doctor’s appointments and physical therapy and is their health care advocate.
- All of her husband’s family migrated from India five years ago. “We actually had 18
people living with us at one point while they figured out homes and careers. I wanted
everyone to be able to stay together.”
- By Kara Bishop
Class Notes
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Lisa Gittner, PhD, adjunct professor in the Julia Jones Matthews Department of Public Health received
a 2019 YWCA Women of Excellence award.
Monish Ram Makena, PhD, (’17, ‘11) published his first journal review in BBA Molecular Basis of Disease (November 2018).
School of Health Professions
Sixtus Atabong, PA-C, (’05, ’02) won the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Benjamin Franklin Gold Award of
Excellence for his book, “My Father’s Gift.”
Amanda Ayars, AuD, (’12, ’08) joined Pennsylvania Ear Institute of Salus University as a staff audiologist.
Sherry Sancibrian, MS, SLP-CC, (’78) received the Hall of Fame award from the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Baylei Sehon, speech-language pathology student, has been appointed as a student member to the Student Executive Board of the Association
of Schools of Allied Health Professions.
School of Medicine
Rachel Anderson, MD, (’13) received the Superior Healthplan 2018 Foster Care Center of Excellence Award.
Philip M. Brown, MD, (’89) joined Dermavant Sciences as chief medical officer.
Emily Goulet, MD, (’11) joined Dallas IVF as a fertility specialist.
Cynthia Jumper, MD, MPH, (’91, ’88) has been elected to the Texas Medical Association – Lone Star Caucus Board of Trustees.
Clayton Moliver, MD, (Resident ’90, ’84) has been featured in Haute Beauty as a medical expert.
Carolyn Moyers, DO, FACOG, (Resident ’10) joined HerKare treatment center as a medical provider.
Patti Patterson, MD, MPH, (Resident ’83) received the Superior Healthplan 2018 Foster Care Center of Excellence Award.
Bao Pham, MD, (’09) joined the Washington Regional Fayetteville Family Clinic as a primary care physician.
Samuel Prien, PhD, adjunct professor in the School of Medicine, has been elected to the National Academy
of Inventors inaugural class of senior members.
Jyothi Prabha, MD, (Resident ’17) joined White River Health System as a specialist in internal medicine and sleep medicine.
Tibor Racz, MD, (Resident ’97) joined OPTIMAL Pain and Regenerative Medicine.
Annette Sobel, MD, professor in the Department of Medical Education and adjunct professor in the School
of Nursing and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, received a YWCA 2019 Women
of Excellence award.
Talmadge Trammell (’01) and Sara Trammell (’02) received the United Way of Abilene Volunteer Service Award.
Rodney Young, MD, (’97) professor and regional chair for the TTUHSC at Amarillo Department of Family Medicine
has been named the 2018 Texas Family Physician of the Year.
School of Nursing
Cathi Burkham, MSN, RN, (’15) received the IBM Watson Health – Health Hero Award, one of 27 people in the world
chosen for the award.
Barbara Cherry, DNSc, MBA, RN, (’97) chair of the Department of Leadership Studies, presented a webinar segment on nursing
fatigue for the Texas Nurses Association.
Katherine Early, MSN, RN, (’12) joined USMD Hospital as chief executive officer and chief nursing officer.
Michael Evans, PhD, RN, dean of the School of Nursing, received the American Nurses Association Margretta
Madden Styles President’s Award.
Robert Flores, DNP, MHA, (’05) joined Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare as chief nursing officer.
David Marshall, DNP, RN, (’13) joined Cedars-Sinai as senior vice president and chief nursing executive.
Ronda Mintz-Binder, DNP, RN, associate professor for the School of Nursing at Dallas, named one of the 2019 DFW
Great 100 Nurses at the DFW Great 100 Nurses celebration event.
Tracey Page, DNP, RN, (’14, ’07, ’04) received the Visionary Leader Award from UT Health San Antonio.
Hailey Watson, FNP, RN, (’12) joined Liberty Hill Physicians Associates as the clinic’s new nurse practitioner.
Jeff Watson, DNP, MSN, (’16, ’10), assistant professor in the School of Nursing, has been elected to the American Nurses
Association board of directors.
Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy
Thaddus Hellwig, PharmD, ('06) has been named a 2019 American Society of Hospital Pharmacists Fellow. He received
the school's 2014 Distinguished Alumni award.
Leia Gaddis and Princy John placed first in the second-year clinical skills competition student category at the
Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists Annual Seminar.
Friends We’ll Miss
Brooke Thomas, PharmD, (Pharmacy ’07) died April 17, 2019.
Jenna Welch, mother of Laura W. Bush and inspiration behind the establishment of the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health, died May 10, 2019.
A memorial scholarship has been established by the parents of Kevin Wyatt McMahon, PhD, (Biomedical Sciences ’07). McMahon died September 13, 2018.