News & Notes
Monish Ram Makena, PhD, MS, (’17, ’11) was awarded the 2020 American Association of Cancer Research Breast Cancer Fellowship award and a $120,000 grant for two years to study novel mechanism of resistance in receptor positive breast cancer.
Courtney Queen, PhD, assistant professor in the Julia Jones Matthews Department of Public Health, was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar.
Alok Ranjan, PhD, (’17) joined Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center as a research scientist.
LeeAnn Hampton, PharmD, (’02) was featured on the cover of the Spring 2020 Texas Pharmacy Association magazine.
Kumari “Iti” Kaushik, MS, graduate student in Pharmaceutical Sciences, received the Syngenta Fellowship Award in Human Health Applications of New Technologies.
Ericka Hendrix, PhD, MB(ASCP), (’03) was elected to the ASCP Board of Certification’s board of governors as an Association of Genetic Technologists representative.
Dawndra Sechrist, OTR, PhD, (’94) was appointed as the school dean.
Keila Trevino, student in the Master of Athletic Training Program, was elected to the Southwest Athletic Trainers Association student senate.
Corey Anderson, MD, (’94) has been appointed as chief medical officer at iCRYO in Houston, Texas.
Ryan A. Balko, MD, (’17) received the 2020 Outstanding Achievement Award and was one of the selected chief residents in the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education Internal Medicine Residency Training program.
Leslie Campbell, MD, (’93) joined Pardee Cardiology Associates as a cardiologist in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Douglas Cummins, MD, (’94) joined Covenant Health in Plainview, Texas, as a general surgeon.
Wesam M. Frandah, MD, (Resident ’12) joined Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall Health and Cabell Huntington Hospital’s team of gastroenterologists in Huntington, West Virginia.
Abraham Mata, MD, (Resident ’16) joined the practice of Advanced Cardiac and Vascular Centers for Amputation Prevention in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
William Moore, MD, (Resident ’06) expanded his practice to Physician Partners of of America in Arlington, Texas.
Jennifer Phy, DO, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology was recently awarded a $10,000 grant for her research in novel dietary approaches to managing PCOS symptoms.
Ashley Sturgeon, MD, (’10) received the 2019 Graduate of Distinction Award from the Texas Tech Animal & Food Sciences Alumni and Friends Network.
Amie Sun-Wright, MD, (’05) joined Genesis Medical Group in Spring, Texas, as an internist.
Duyet Tran, MD, (’11) joined Community Health Center in Middletown, Connecticut.
Brooke Walterscheid, fourth-year medical student, was appointed as the student regent for the TTU System board of regents for the 2020-2021 academic year.
Patricia Allen, EdD, RN, was conferred the title of Professor Emeritus by the TTU System Board of Regentson recommendation of the TTUHSC president for her distinguished service in the School of Nursing.
Cassie Campbell, BSN, (’17) was appointed to the Governor’s Emergency Medical Services and Trauma Advisory Council.
Rhonda Collins, DNP, RN, FAAN, (’18, ’97) was recognized by MedCity News for her work as chief nursing officer of Vocera Communications Inc.
Carrie Edwards, PhD, RN, (’99, ’93) assistant professor, was elected to serve on the Commission for Forensic Nursing Certification for the International Association of Forensic Nurses.
Michael Evans, PhD, RN, FAAN, (’18, ’97) School of Nursing dean and interim provost, was named a 2020 Texas Nurses Association Leader and Legend by the Texas Nurses Association.
Kyle Johnson, PhD, RN, CHSE, (’10) assistant professor, received a National League for Nursing (NLN) Education Research Grant at the NLN Education Summit to fund a multi-site study exploring faculty training, debriefing competence and student knowledge retention in simulation.
Tamara Rhodes, RN, MSN, (’90) was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the Texas Board of Nursing.
Leslie Robbins PhD, RN, (’87) was appointed as the University of Texas at El Paso School of Nursing dean.
Yvette Woody, MSN, RN, (’11, ’07) joined Mitchell County Hospital as Chief Nursing Officer.
Patricia Yoder-Wise EdD, RN, professor, was named National League for Nursing president.
Nancy Trevino, PhD, was appointed as the director of the Texas Tech Mental Health Institute.
Charles Sargent, AHIP, FMLA, former director of the TTUHSC Libraries, died Jan. 8, 2020.
Lorenz “Laurie” Lutherer, MD, PhD, (Medicine ‘77) died Feb. 5, 2020. He was a School of Medicine founding faculty member and later served as the founding director of the Clinical Research Institute.
Mae Beth Collins, former nurse in the TTUHSC pediatric clinic, died Jan. 11, 2020.
Mary Ann South, PhD, former professor in
the Department of Pediatrics, died Nov. 7, 2019.
Richard Wood died July 12, 2020. He retired in 2015 as executive director of the Preston Smith Library of the Health Sciences.