NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2008

St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities Names Scholar to Research Public Health in Underserved Communities

HOUSTON - St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities and the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health announce the appointment of Dr. Marlynn L. May, associate professor of social and behavioral health, as the inaugural recipient of the Wimberly Scholar in Residence in Health Services Research appointment.

“Being designated as the inaugural Wimberly Scholar in Residence represents for me a wonderful confluence of professional goals I have strived for in my career,” said Dr. May. “I have devoted my professional career as an academician to finding constructive ways to integrate the assets of the academy and of communities to make both partners stronger and more knowledgeable.”

The Wimberly Scholar in Residence, named in honor of The Rt. Rev. Don A. Wimberly, D.D., eighth bishop of the 57-county Episcopal Diocese of Texas, was created to sustain the work of an established scholar with a demonstrated interest in community-based research and underserved communities, as evidenced by practice, teaching, research and publications.

“I feel privileged to have the first Scholar in Residence of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities named in my honor and to have an exceptional educator support the advancement of collaboration, empowerment and leadership in community-based research,” said Bishop Wimberly.

The St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities, created in 1997 as a component of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, is a public, non-operating charity that has engaged in grant-making and community-based research. Since its inception, it has awarded 1,415 grants totaling more than $76 million to nonprofit organizations with grants directed toward programs for disease prevention and health promotion among the underserved.

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St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System (www.stlukestexas.com) includes St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas; St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital; St. Luke’s Sugar Land Hospital; St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities, a charity devoted to assessing and enhancing community health, especially among the underserved; and, KS Management Services, LLC, overseeing 18 area clinic locations. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is home to the Texas Heart® Institute, which was founded in 1962 by Denton A. Cooley, MD, and is consistently ranked nationally among the top 10 cardiology and heart surgery centers in the nation by U.S.News & World Report. Affiliated with several nursing schools and two medical schools, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital was the first hospital in Texas named a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, and has been honored four times with the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ by HealthGrades, a leading independent company that measures healthcare quality in hospitals. The Health System has been recognized by FORTUNE as among the “100 Best Companies to Work For” and by the Houston Business Journal as a top employer in Houston. St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System also was honored as one of Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work.”

The Texas A&M Health Science Center provides the state with health education, outreach and research. Its seven colleges located in communities throughout Texas are the Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas; the College of Medicine in Bryan-College Station, Corpus Christi, Houston, Round Rock and Temple; the College of Nursing in College Station; the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; the Institute of Biosciences and Technology in Houston; the Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy in Kingsville; and the School of Rural Public Health in College Station. Regional efforts include the Coastal Bend Health Education Center in Corpus Christi and the South Texas Center in McAllen.