Leadership

Executive Director

National Advisory Board

Community Advisory Board

Scientific Council

 

Executive Director's Message

Welcome to the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Explore these pages, and you'll be inspired by the efforts of professionals and volunteers across this great state. Read about programs and women's health screening that could impact your life or the life of someone you love.

The Institute was founded in 2007 to promote research specific to women's health, to provide advanced education to health care professionals and to enrich the lives of women and girls through community programs and health screening.

The Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health is growing each year and reaching more girls and women with empowering messages and real solutions. Programs that began in Amarillo, Lubbock and San Angelo have spread across the state to Abilene Midland, Odessa, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Corpus Christi.

Our National Advisory Board, including Mrs. Laura Bush, meets twice each year to discuss the Institute's progress, share the unique needs of each community and bring new ideas for research, education and community service.

Please join us by attending events, volunteering, becoming a research partner or by supporting the mission to make the lives of girls and women healthier and more fulfilling. I look forward to meeting you!

Warmest regards,
Connie Tyne
Executive Director

Connie Tyne

National Advisory Board

The National Advisory board is a group of community leaders across Texas who share a passion for improving women's health. The members come from varied backgrounds and advise the Executive Director on ways to advance and enhance the Institute's mission and programs while serving as ambassadors for the Institute.

National Advisory Board

Pictured:

Back Row:

Connie Tyne, Elizabeth Webb, Lisa Troutt, Maggie Murchison, Laura Street, Larry Gill, Nancy Neal, Norman Dozier, MD, Christy McClendon, Marjorie Jenkins, MD, Elisa Brown, MD, Janet Tornelli-Mitchell, MD, and Margaret Purvis

Front Row:

Meredith Land, Diane Scovell, Lee Ann White, Lana Andrews, Nancy Weiss, Jeanne Tower Cox, Laura Bush, Jan Rees-Jones, Kit Moncrief, Liz Bates, Donna Williams, Lea Wright, and Debbie Francis

Not Pictured:

Gloria Hicks, Betsy Sowell, Diana Strauss, Jackie Martin, and Sheryl Pfluger

Abilene, Texas

  • Pearl Merritt, Ed.D., M.S., MSN, FAAN, Regional Director
  • Liberty-Grace Bland
  • Megan Allred
  • Allison Alvarez
  • Samantha Baker
  • Emerald Cassidy
  • Lisa Chavez
  • Lauren Cecil
  • Stephanie DeLagarza
  • Julie Denny
  • Trish Dressen
  • Joy Ellinger
  • Mary Gill
  • Ashley Hall
  • Jasmine McCabe-Gossett
  • Elyse Lewis
  • Sue McWilliams
  • Kaye Price-Hawkins
  • Katherine Rinard, MD
  • Sara Trammell, MD
  • Jackie Zimmerman, DO
  • Jenna Dozier

Amarillo, Texas

  • Angela Knapp Eggers, Senior Director
  • Melody Alexander
  • Ashley Forti
  • Mary Bagwell
  • Denise Blanchard
  • Kelly Caviness
  • Meaghan Collier
  • Cindy Cunningham
  • Beth Duke
  • Ana Estevez
  • Amy Henderson
  • Valerie Kiper
  • Toni Knapp
  • Danna Krause
  • Mary Nell Lemert
  • Julie Mitchell
  • Helen Piehl
  • Julie Puckett
  • Vicky Richmond
  • Carolyn Sherrod
  • *Laura Street
  • Shauna Thornhill
  • Courtney Vanderham
  • Nancy Williams
  • *Lea Wright

Lubbock, Texas

  • Prim Naegele, Regional Associate Director
  • Kelly Crofoot
  • Linda Greenstreet
  • Claudia Griffin
  • Heather Hocker
  • Betsy Jones
  • Paula Key
  • Liane Locke
  • *Christy McClendon
  • Heather McDonald
  • *Janet Mitchell
  • Cyndy Morris
  • *Nancy Neal
  • Ainsley Nelson
  • Cathy Porter
  • Maggie Ryan
  • Jill Shanklin
  • Emily Stephens
  • Carol Tarox
  • Andrea Tirey
  • *Nancy Weiss
  • Karen Worley

Scientific Council 2021-2022

Marjorie Jenkins, MD

Marjorie Jenkins, MD

Marjorie Jenkins, MD, is the founder of the Laura Bush Institute and a member of the National Advisory Board. Dr. Jenkins is the Dean of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, and the Chief Academic Officer for Prisma Health Upstate. She is the co-author of Eat Like a Woman with Staness Jonekos, and co-editor of How Sex and Gender Impact Clinical Practice, An Evidence-Based Guide to Patient Care.

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Alyson McGregor, MD

Alyson McGregor, MD, is Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Development and Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville and co-founder for the Division of Sex and Gender in Emergency Medicine at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University. Dr. McGregor is the author of Sex and Gender in Acute Care Medicine and Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women's Health and What We Can Do About It. She serves on the editorial board for the journal Gender and the Genome.

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Elisa Brown-Pruett, MD

Elisa Brown-Pruett, MD, is an Associate Professor in the TTUHSC School of Medicine, department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Director of Reproductive Endocrinology, and Regional Director of the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health in the Permian Basin. She supervises OB/GYN residents and oversees a federal grant aimed at lowering the teen pregnancy and maternal mortality rates in the Permian Basin where both are extremely high. Dr. Brown-Pruett also recently completed a master’s degree in public health.

Partners