Texas A&M Health Institute for Healthcare Access announces selection of faculty fellows

The newly established Texas A&M Health Institute for Healthcare Access has named its inaugural cohort of faculty fellows, who will lead research and foster collaborations across disciplines to address barriers to timely, effective and affordable health care.

Faculty fellows, drawn from across Texas A&M University, bring diverse experiences and tenures to the institute. They were selected for their expertise and strong commitment to advancing research and education on health care access.

The newly named faculty fellows are:

• S. Brook Bell, JD, senior lecturer at the Texas A&M University School of Law and director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic.

• Laura Dague, PhD, associate professor and James M. Griffin Professor of Health Policy at the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government & Public Service.

• Lauren Fine, MD, FACEP, affiliate clinical associate professor at the Texas A&M University College of Medicine and medical director of forensic medicine at Baylor University Medical Center.

• Liang Hong, DDS, MS, PhD, professor and department head at the Texas A&M University College of Dentistry.

• Hye-Chung Kum, PhD, FAMIA, professor at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health and affiliated faculty at the Texas A&M College of Engineering.

• Stacey Mitchell, DNP, MBA, MEd, RN, AFN-C, IVSE-C, SANE-A, SANE-P, DF-AFN, FAAN, clinical professor at the Texas A&M University College of Nursing and director of the Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing.

• Gabriel Neal, MD, MA, FAAFP, clinical professor and department head at the Texas A&M University College of Medicine.

• Sara Rogers, PharmD, BCPS, clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M University Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy and the Texas A&M University College of Medicine.

• Cason D. Schmit, JD, assistant professor and program director at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health.

• Rick Silva, PhD, executive director of clinical, translational and industry collaborations at Texas A&M Health; director of Texas A&M University Clinicogenomics Core Center for Genomic and Precision Medicine; and assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Institute of Biosciences and Technology.

Naming faculty fellows marks a notable next step for the institute, said William Sage, MD, JD, the institute’s faculty director. “We are excited to welcome our first cohort of faculty fellows to the institute. Collectively, they bring a remarkable breadth of experience and passion for health and law that directly contributes to our mission of barrier-free health care.”

As part of their role with the institute, faculty fellows will focus on research related to key barriers to care across sectors. These include long wait times for care, shortages of health care providers in rural areas, complex insurance processes, prescription challenges, language barriers, health illiteracy, transportation issues and other health disparities.

“Faculty fellows are recognized for the innovative skills they bring to their disciplines,” said Keegan Warren, JD, LLM, the institute’s executive director. “We aim to provide the opportunity for health and law leaders to come together, beginning with our faculty fellows, to drive health care and policy research and develop solutions to persistent challenges that prevent people from receiving timely and appropriate care. We are elated to announce this cohort of faculty fellows and look forward to their contributions.”

The institute looks forward to appointing additional faculty fellows in 2025.

To learn more about the institute and its impact, visit healthcare-access.tamu.edu.