Steering Committee for Community Engagement and Education

Taylor is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Board Approved supervisor in the state of Texas. She earned her Master of Social Work from New York University and has more than six years of experience providing therapy to both adolescents and adults in a variety of clinical settings. She is also a registered yoga instructor with additional training in Trauma Center for Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY). Throughout her career she have been fortunate enough to work both in therapy and leadership roles at nonprofits dedicated to prevention of interpersonal trauma. She recently started her own therapy practice on the island, Healing in Motion Therapy, where she provides both traditional psychotherapy and yoga infused psychotherapy. She specializes in treating trauma, specifically with survivors of sexual assault and family violence, as well as experience in treating a wide range of issues including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and grief. 

Galveston County Food Bank - Director of Special Projects

Rita has been involved with the Food Bank since its inception in 2003 and currently serves as Director, Special Projects. She is responsible for program/project budgeting, grant development and overall grant administration, as well as budgetary oversight of the Nutrition Education and SNAP Benefits Assistance Departments. Rita also served nine plus years under the Texas WorkForce Solutions system (formerly known as The WorkSource) with seven years at the 4700 Broadway facility before that office was relocated to Texas City. She raised her family in Jamaica Beach and her children attended Oppe, Weis and Ball High.

Teen Health Center

Angie serves as the Executive Director of the Teen Health Center, Inc. She is responsible for agency functions such as finance, fund development, human resources, communications and program development.

Galveston Central Church

Michael serves as the Pastor of Galveston Central Church and received his Master of Divinity from Southern Methodist University. He has received numerous awards including the W.B.J. Martin Award in Homiletics, Good Samaritan Award, and the One Matters Discipleship Award. Michael is a board member of Galveston CoCare and a community consultant for ProjectCurate. He has worked closely with UTMB to serve unsheltered and low-income residents

Gulf Coast Center - Director of Innovative & Special Projects

Julia is the Director of BioMed & STEM at Ball High School in Galveston ISD. She has worked in education since 2002, working as an English teacher, Special Education teacher, Reading Specialist and Administrator. Julia completed her Bachelors’ programs at the University of Houston, completing degrees in English and Corporate Communications. She then attended Stephen F. Austin State University for her Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership. In 2017, she received her Doctoral Degree from Lamar University in Educational Leadership. Julia holds teaching certificates for a PK-4th Generalist, Special Education Pk-12th, English as a Second Language PK-12th, Principal PK-12th and Superintendent PK-12th.

Galveston CoCare

Chad currently serves as the Executive Director for Galveston CoCare.

In her previous role as PATH Case Manager for Gulf Coast Center, she helped the homeless of Galveston County access mental health services and other resources. She went above and beyond by leading the Point in Time Count two years in a row (2020 and 2021), getting record numbers counted in 2020, and showed great leadership and preparation in unusual times by preparing for the 2021 count even though it was eventually canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Speaking of the pandemic, when it first hit our country, she created and continued to curate the Galveston County COVID-19 Resource Book up until she entered a new position in April of this year and handed it over to Galveston CoCare, a new non-profit which she was on the board of and assisted in its implementation. She won 2020 Case Manager of the Year from Texas Homeless Network, was part of Galveston County’s 40 Under 40 of 2020 and was a finalist for 2021 Galveston County Citizen of the Year. She participates in three committees for UTMB offering her community engagement perspective – the UTMB School of Medicine Committee - Health Systems Science & Community Service, the President's Institute for Innovation in Community Engagement and Education Steering Committee, the UTMB COVID-19 Vaccine Communications Sub-Committee Health Equity Team. She now continues her work for Gulf Coast Center as the Permanent Supportive Housing Team Lead, offering guidance for its case managers as well as fostering community connections for the betterment of her clients and the Galveston County community as a whole.

Josephine is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of The Christina Sullivan Foundation. She is a visionary who heads the planning efforts for this innovative campus – a center of inclusiveness for all.

St. Vincent’s House

Paula leads St. Vincent’s House as the Executive Director. She is a bilingual (English/Spanish) healthcare executive with impressive record of collaborative leadership in project management, fundraising, business development, strategic planning, partnerships and operations management. She is skillful in managing projects within budget and timeline while engaging a broad set of stakeholders for successful implementation. She has a reputation as a results-oriented negotiator, strategic, objective and collaborative leader. She enjoys fostering employee and executive board relations as well as strong community partnerships. 

Bianca is the committee’s representative from GSBS. Aside from her dedication as a student, Bianca holds a leadership role as the health policy coordinator for the Center for Violence prevention at UTMB. She has adapted an existing violence prevention program to be trauma-informed and racially sensitive to better understand how to reduce teen dating violence among ethnically and economically diverse groups. Bianca is also a leader in the Policy Task Force of The Future is US. The Future is US is a community-based initiative working to prevent disproportionate suspension, expulsion, and juvenile justice incarceration for youth of color in Galveston. I collect and analyze qualitative data through youth interviews and recommend evidence-based and data-driven policies to eliminate exclusionary discipline disparities in Galveston Independent School District.

Bianca has been awarded the 2021 US Public Health Service Excellence in Public Health Award and the Elias Hochman Research Award.

Dr. Auslander is a clinical psychologist and associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics. With the use of motivational and action-based theories, her research aims to identify factors related to parental intentions and initiation of HPV vaccination, so that these factors can be targeted in interventions to increase HPV vaccination rates, thereby providing greater vaccination coverage and protection for all against HPV-infection-associated illnesses, including cervical and anal cancers. To that regard, she currently serves as the subcontract principal investigator on an industry-sponsored study that examines the effectiveness of two types of persuasive message interventions on parental health beliefs, intentions, and acceptance/uptake of the HPV vaccine for their adolescents, and is the principal investigator on a follow-up qualitative study funded by the National Cancer Institute to investigate reasons for the gap between parental intentions and initiation of HPV vaccination.

Sharon A. Croisant, MS, PhD, Director, a tenured Professor in UTMB’s Department of Preventive Medicine and Population Health, has >20 years of experience in leading community-engaged research and outreach. She is heavily involved in building interfaces between and among environmental research, education, and community health, emphasizing a CBPR approach. A founding member of the Asthma Coalition of Texas, she served as an author of the first and subsequent version of the Texas State Asthma Plan.  Community-based research is an important focus of her work, primarily in response to emergent environmental health issues experienced by Gulf Coast communities, including natural and manmade disasters. She currently serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) Standing Committee on Medical and Public Health Research during Large-Scale Emergency Events. She is the Director of Community Engagement for the UTMB Institute for Translational Sciences and Director of the Community Engagement Core for the Gulf Coast Center for Precision Environmental Health (GC-CPEH), which recently received designation as a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Environmental Health Sciences Core Center. The GC-CPEH, a partnership between UTMB, Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, is the focal point and catalyst for environmental health research in the Texas Medical Center, driving collaborative and multidisciplinary research and serving the community engagement and policy needs of the Gulf Coast region.

Dr. Matthew Dacso is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine. He is a primary care clinician, educator, and Director of Academic Partnerships for the UTMB Center for Global and Community Health. As director of the UTMB School of Medicine’s Global Health Track, he provides mentorship and supervision to medical students and residents participating in international health electives while collaborating with host partners to design and implement projects that serve their needs. His research explores the intersections between the health workforce and emerging pathogens. He currently serves as Lead Investigator for an acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses research initiative in the Dominican Republic focused on arthropod-borne viruses and as Principal Investigator for a cohort study of frontline workers examining the relationship between occupational risks, exposures, and SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion.

Community Engagement RN & Liaison

Dr. Farr earned his bachelor’s degree in Finance from Louisiana State University and both his MD and MPH from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in 2011.  He completed his Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency training at Harvard-affiliated Mass General Hospital in Boston, MA in 2015.  Dr. Farr returned to UTMB as a faculty member with appointments in the Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine and Population Health departments in 2016. 

Since returning to UTMB, Dr. Farr has held leadership positions in both graduate and undergraduate medical education.  He has served as a course director in multiple courses in the school of medicine and previously served as the Assistant Dean of Educational Affairs, responsible for oversight of clinical education for the school of medicine.  He currently serves as the Assistant Provost of Community Engagement and Education and as an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine residency program.  In his role as Assistant Provost, he is responsible for the leadership of implementing interprofessional community engagement practice activities for all UTMB health education programs through partnerships with the UTMB Health System and community organizations.  He continues to practice both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics precepting medical students and residents.  Dr. Farr has been recognized with multiple teaching awards and has produced award-winning education scholarship for his work on curriculum development. 

 Prior to his medical career, Dr. Farr worked domestically and internationally as a consultant and internal auditor for an international accounting firm and multiple Fortune 500 companies.  Dr. Farr’s academic interests include harnessing the resources of an academic medical center through promoting value-added education, interprofessional community engagement and enhancing undergraduate and graduate medical education curriculum in the areas of clinical reasoning, health systems sciences and the humanities.  He enjoys spending time with his family and traveling. 

Laurie Farroni, DPT, PT, PCS, is an Assistant Professor of Instruction and the Director of Clinical Education for the DPT Program in the Department of Physical Therapy in the School of Health Professions (SHP). Dr. Farroni received her Master of Physical Therapy and her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Texas Medical Branch. She is also a board certified Pediatric Clinical Specialist.

Dr. Farroni maintains an active faculty practice in outpatient pediatrics. Her teaching responsibilities include Psychosocial Aspects of Disability, pediatric content, and she facilitates the PT Healer Track

Dr. Michael Goodman, originally from North Carolina, meandered into the field of public health after witnessing the effects of HIV on family systems and children in Malawi. His research interests include health systems strengthening to improve delivery and utilization of HIV treatment, adverse childhood experiences and their contribution to population health, determinants of family and community violence, and community-based interventions to improve the welfare of vulnerable children and families in sub-Saharan Africa. He earned a Master’s in Divinity at Emory University before graduating from the University of Texas School of Public Health with a Master’s and Doctorate in Public Health.

Dr. Keiser's primary interest is in the care and treatment of HIV and its related infections. He has been actively treating HIV infected individuals for over 20 years. He is the Chairman of the Texas AIDS Drug Assistance Program Advisory Board in the Principal Investigator for the Texas Oklahoma AIDS Education Center.

Dr. Keiser has been actively involved in HIV clinical research and has been an investigator in over 50 clinical trials. Since 2006, Dr. Keiser has been involved in the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and has been involved in HIV clinical care, teaching and research in Kenya. He has an active clinical research program that is centered on the outcomes of patients treated with anti-retroviral medications in Central Kenya.

Dr. Murphy is a board certified nurse executive-advanced, with extensive background in family, school, and public/community health issues, particularly among underserved populations. She has served the community in a variety of nursing leadership roles and has worked internationally implementing leadership and management strategies in rural health posts. In the Executive Nurse Leader program, she focuses on facilitating the professional development of nurse leaders with innovative didactic and experiential learning, mentorship, self-awareness, self-efficacy and communication strategies.

Dr. Murphy has many community interests. She serves on the Board of Directors for Prevent Blindness, and Prevent Blindness Texas; chairs the Prevent Blindness Public Health Committee, and is immediate past chair of the National Center for Children's Vision and Eye Health Advisory Committee. She is an alumna of the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship (2004-2007), holds the Alice Ostermayer Stubblefield Professorship in Nursing, and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Dr. Patel is a board-certified Physician and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. She is co-coordinator of the Global Health Inter-Professional Core Course. She earned an M.D. degree from UTMB and completed her Residency and Internship from the Warren Alpert School of Brown University. She has received accreditation though the American Academy of HIV Medicine as an HIV Specialist. She also holds a master's degree in Human Rights from the London School of Economics. Dr. Patel's special interests include HIV/AIDS in the developing and developed world, HIV and Hepatitis B Co-infection, Preventive Care for HIV-Infected Patients, HIV Drug Resistance, and education in HIV and global health. In addition to presenting at AIDS 2010, she has had many accepted abstracts to international HIV conferences.

Prior to joining UTMB, Dr. Patel served as an internist in the Pediatric AIDS Corps in Gaborone, Botswana through the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative and Baylor College of Medicine. Her activities included coordinating the Adult HIV clinic, HIV related journal club, sputum induction program for TB diagnosis, developing preventive care guidelines for HIV infected patients and teaching rotating students, residents and fellows.

Dr. Pennel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Population Health, the Director of the Public Health Program, and the Director of Public Health Practice at UTMB. Broadly, her interests and expertise include community health assessment, program planning and evaluation, community engagement, and improved integration of research/scholarship, teaching, and practice. Her educational development and scholarship goals include innovation in practice-based teaching, application of public health knowledge and skills into practice, and engagement in community- and service-based learning.

Her research areas are community health assessment and community health improvement planning, particularly as they relate to nonprofit hospitals’ requirements, and projects that build community and academic partnerships using Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approaches. Dr. Pennel and her community partner were selected as members for the 2017-2018 cohort of the CBPR Partnership Academy through University of Michigan and the Detroit Urban Research Center.

Loree Pryor, OTD, OTR is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Occupational Therapy in the School of Health Professions. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Maritime Studies from Texas A&M at Galveston, a Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of Texas Medical Branch and a post-professional OTD degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Dr. Pryor has clinical experience in geriatric psychiatry, acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient therapy. and primary care settings. She also is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, Texas Occupational Therapy Association, and the American Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Dr. Siddiqui is currently an Assistant Professor of the Division of General Medicine at The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. Prior to joining UTMB in October 2018, she was in private practice as a primary care physician in the Houston area. She is double board certified in Internal Medicine and General Preventive Medicine as well as certified in Medical Quality.

She provides care for patients at the General Internal Medicine Multispecialty Clinic, in League City, Texas. She values medical education/training and enjoys working with residents and medical students--she is a clinic preceptor for residents-in-training as well as attending for hospital wards in Galveston. She is also the Course Director for the Health Systems Science & Community Service Course for medical students.

Her medical interests include prevention and wellness, management of chronic medical conditions including diabetes and hypertension, medical education, and public health. She believes in the importance of caring for patients with a holistic approach and empowering her patients to optimize their quality of life. Dr. Siddiqui is committed to working with her team to provide compassionate care towards patients. She focuses on giving patients the highest quality of care by upholding best practices and evidence-based medicine.

Dr. Siddiqui earned her medical degree at Texas A & M Health Science Center. She completed her training in Combined Internal Medicine/General Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in 2017. During residency she also earned her Master of Public Health degree.

Josanne is the current Project Consultant for the UTMB President’s Office.  

Shelley Smith currently serves as the Director of Interprofessional Education and QEP at UTMB.

Leslie currently serves as the Program Manager for Preventive Medicine and Population Health at UTMB.

Becky serves as the Director for Community Engagement. She oversees activities, builds partnerships, and implements special events. She also serves on numerous community boards and committees representing UTMB.