Dickey named to Texas Women’s Hall of Fame

TAFP member Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., has been chosen for induction into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame by the Governor’s Commission for Women. Dickey is president of the Texas A&M Health Science Center and vice chancellor for health affairs for the Texas A&M System. Previously, she served as dean of the TAMHSC College of Medicine, where she still serves as professor of family and community medicine.

Dickey is the founding program director of the Family Medicine Residency of the Brazos Valley. During her tenure as president of TAMHSC, she has chaired the state’s formula funding advisory committee, and advocated increased funding for health-related educational programs. As a result of her leadership, she helped establish the Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy in Kingsville, the first professional school in South Texas. She also created the Rural and Community Health Institute to address issues of patient safety and quality of care in rural Texas hospitals, and, in response to Texas’ nursing shortage, she oversaw the creation of a College of Nursing in Bryan/College Station. She chairs the Texas A&M System Council on Nursing, a statewide consortium of nursing programs designed to address the shortage.

Dickey holds the distinction of being the only female president of the American Medical Association. She is also active in TAFP, the Texas Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the National Patient Safety Foundation.

She was appointed to chair the Texas Health Policy Council by Texas Gov. Rick Perry; chosen for membership in the Society for Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine; and selected to be a member of the Institute of Medicine, a component of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Governor’s Commission for Women established the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 1984 to honor the state’s most accomplished women. A permanent exhibit honoring the inductees is housed inside Hubbard Hall on the campus of Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. Dickey’s biography and photograph will become part of this exhibit after her induction in September 2010.