Team Leaders
Anna Lichorad, MD
Dr. Lichorad has expertise in women’s health services and is board-certified with the American Board of Family Medicine and a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Lichorad is an Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Faculty Physician, College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center. She is the Principal Investigator/Program Director for the breast and cervical cancer prevention grant. Dr. Lichorad has primary responsibility for women’s health services at Texas A&M Health Family Care and oversees the development of the simulation training modules for training of the resident physicians and nursing students.
Cynthia Weston, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
Dr. Weston is the Assistant Dean for Clinical and Outreach Affairs at the Texas A&M College of Nursing. She has been a registered nurse for 30 years and a family nurse practitioner for 19 years. Dr. Weston serves as Co-Program Director for our comprehensive cancer screening programs, where she monitors nursing and nurse practitioner students in direct patient care during grant-supported rural well-woman clinics.
Jane Bolin, BSN, JD, PhD
Dr. Bolin has expertise in chronic disease management research and methods, rural health research and policy, healthcare delivery in special populations and legal and regulatory aspects of healthcare. Dr. Bolin is a Professor in the Health Policy and Management Department, School of Public Health at Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, and the Director of the Southwest Rural Health Research Center. Dr. Bolin is also a cancer survivor. She serves as the Co-Principal Investigator on both CPRIT grants.
Jason McKnight, MD
Dr. McKnight is Board Certified in Family Medicine. A 2017 graduate of the Texas A&M Family Medicine Residency program, Dr. McKnight has advanced training in endoscopy, including certification in Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) through the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons. He serves as the Principal Investigator for our colorectal cancer screening and prevention grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
Robert Pope, MD
Dr. Pope is an Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Family Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Pope is Board Certified in Family Medicine and has been a faculty member of the Department of Family & Community Medicine since 1996. He has served as Medical Director for Hospice Brazos Valley since 2007 and is a member of the American Association for Primary Care Endoscopy and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Dr. Pope is involved in community outreach and is the recipient of the Texas A&M Health Science Center President's Award for Excellence in Community Outreach. Dr. Pope is also fluent in Spanish.
Faculty
Brandon Williamson, MD
Dr. Williamson is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Texas A&M Health Family Care Family Medicine Residency program. A 2017 graduate of the John Peter Smith Family Medicine Residency, he has expertise in endoscopy, maternal-child health and obstetrics. Dr. Williamson is Board Certified in Family Medicine and provides clinical services in breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening and prevention through our Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) grants.
Debra O'Briant, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
Ms. O’Briant is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Texas A&M College of Nursing. She assists in coordinating comprehensive cancer screening at well-woman clinics, where she trains students in direct patient care before, during and after the procedures. Ms. O’Briant has been a registered nurse for 16 years and a family nurse practitioner for 8 years.
Martha Hare, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
Dr. Hare is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Texas A&M College of Nursing. Her responsibilities include supervision of nursing and nurse practitioner students for training in direct patient care before, during and after procedures. Dr. Hare has been a registered nurse for 38 years and a family nurse practitioner for 23 years.
Robin Page, PhD, APRN, CNM
Dr. Page is an Assistant Professor at the Texas A&M College of Nursing. She has been a registered nurse for 33 years and a Certified Nurse Midwife for 26 years. Dr. Page supervises nursing and nurse practitioner students for training in direct patient care before, during and after well-woman clinic procedures.
Support Team
Morgan Kassabian, MBA, serves as a doctoral-level Research Assistant in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Texas A&M School of Public Health. She assists the Texas C-STEP project with data management, statistical analysis, reporting and evaluation, and product development. Morgan holds an MBA degree from The University of New Hampshire and previously worked as an analyst and consultant in the healthcare industry.
Natasha (Tasha) Johnson, MBA, is the Financial Coordinator for Texas C-STEP, where she monitors grant expenditures, prepares and analyzes financial data, and assists the SPH evaluation team with achieving goals and objectives. Tasha has more than 15 years of project management and financial experience.
Scott Horel, MAG, an employee of the Texas A&M School of Public Health, is the Data Manager for Texas C-STEP. He is responsible for data management, queries and retrieval, and generating de-identified data sets to support reporting. Scott has more than 20 years of experience developing, maintaining, and analyzing datasets.
Marivel Sanchez, MPH, is a Program Coordinator for Texas C-STEP and the National Community Health Worker Training Center. Marivel holds an MPH degree in Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, from Texas A&M School of Public Health. Marivel will assist in coordinating the training and community outreach activities of our C-STEP community health workers.
Leigh Rhodes, MPSA, is the Grants Program Manager at the Texas A&M Health Family Care. Among other duties, she is responsible for coordination of all clinical aspects of the Texas C-STEP grants. Prior to joining our team, Leigh was an EHR Data Specialist at HealthPoint in Bryan, Texas.
Hodalys Pantoja, BA, is employed by the Texas A&M Health Family Care. Hodalys holds a BA degree in Bilingual Healthcare Studies, with a Spanish language minor, from Sam Houston State University. She serves as a liaison between clinicians and patients and provides navigation assistance to patients seeking colorectal cancer screenings, and is fluent in Spanish.
Rebecca Martinez is a Texas state-certified community health worker/promotora employed by the Texas A&M Health Family Care since October 2015 to assist women seeking C-STEP’s health services. Rebecca is from Bryan, Texas, and is fluent in Spanish.
Ruth Jolly, RN, a licensed nurse since 2010, works at Texas A&M Health Family Care. She provides direct patient care to C-STEP clients before, during and after colonoscopy (including administering sedation) and assists the physicians in follow-up care.
Stephanie Shannon-Morales, LVN, is a nurse at Texas A&M Health Family Care. She assists with patient care during both colonoscopy procedures and procedures related to women’s cancer screening and prevention.