The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health staff has been quite busy lately. We are proud of our top-notch colleagues who positively represent the foundation throughout the state and nationally as leaders in mental health.
Here is what we’ve been up to lately…
- Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director, participated in the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting focusing on integrated health care in Philadelphia, Penn. He organized and presented in the session “Addressing Mental Health Care Disparities Through Interdisciplinary Training in Integrated Health Care, Cultural Competence, and Family Systems.”
- Dr. Martinez‘s article, “Two New Medical Schools: Let’s Not Waste This Opportunity,” was featured on the Health Affairs Grant Watch blog and Health 2.0 Austin.
- Maria Bumpass, executive assistant, was honored for 20 years of service at The University of Texas at Austin by the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
- Rick Ybarra, program officer, and Meagan Longley, mental health fellow, presented on integrated health care at the Texas Council of Community Centers in Austin and at the South Texas Family Support Conference in Laredo.
- Rick Ybarra discussed integrated health care and the foundation’s collaboration with the federal Office of Minority Health in “The Role and Impact of Integrated Care.”
- Vicky Coffee-Fletcher, program officer, co-presented with Willie Williams of the City of Austin at the National Forum for Black Public Administrators-Central Texas Chapter on “Mental Health Matters: An Important Community Wellness Topic.”
- Colleen Horton, program officer, provided oral and written testimony to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services on an interim charge related to the Texas mental health system.
- Tammy Heinz, program officer and consumer & family liaison, presented with Dr. Daniel Fisher of the National Empowerment Center on a webinar called “On Our Own: The Recovery Movement’s History and Hope for the Future” for the Recovery Institute.
In memoriam…
Dr. Melvin P. Sikes, a member of the Hogg Foundation National Advisory Council from 1974 to 1983, passed away the morning of May 16 of cancer. He was a retired professor of educational psychology from The University of Texas at Austin, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, an author and a former dean of two historically black colleges. Dr. Sikes was 94.