Patricia Richard, PhD, RN, served for over 39 years at the UTMB School of Nursing (SON), retiring in 2025. During her tenure Dr. Richard held numerous leadership roles, including Associate Dean and Department Chair for Undergraduate Studies, and played a pivotal role in advancing nursing education through technology and innovation. From 2008 until her retirement she held the prestigious Florence Thelma Hall Distinguished Professorship. 

Dr. Richard began her career teaching in the undergraduate nursing program, later expanding her role to include graduate education. As new digital tools were introduced, she led revolutionary efforts to integrate technology into teaching and administration at UTMB. She directed the School of Nursing (SON) Multimedia Lab and supported platforms such as WebCT, PAR Test, and Blackboard, helping faculty and students transition to digital learning environments. Her leadership was instrumental in securing three development grants and three Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Nursing Innovation Grant Program grants to enhance the SON’s distance education infrastructure, including online courses, technology for students and clinical placement systems. 

She contributed to executive committees focused on education, informatics, multimedia, and resource innovation. She also led the Nursing Simulation Labs and the Interprofessional Nursing Simulation Center, collaborating with departments like Academic Resources and Information Technology to streamline services across campus. 

From 2018 to 2025, Dr. Richard spearheaded the development of the Innovative Learning Environment Accelerating Discovery (iLead) initiative. This program introduced active learning strategies and mobile technology, including iPads, into the BSN, MSN Nurse Educator, and DNP Nurse Anesthesiology tracks. iLead became a catalyst for faculty research and innovation, contributing to multiple faculty promotions and ensuring continuity of education during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Thanks to iLead’s success, UTMB SON was recognized twice as an Apple Distinguished School (2021–2024 and 2024–2027), earning global recognition for its leadership in educational technology. 

In her administrative roles, Dr. Richard organized faculty and other data for reporting purposes, including teaching workload and related information for the SON. She chaired the SON Faculty Workload Taskforce, which developed the 2024 Nursing Faculty Workload Guidelines, and contributed to the CCNE accreditation process as Standard II co-lead. She also mentored undergraduate faculty and staff, fostering professional growth and career satisfaction. 

Dr. Richard’s research focused on creative thinking in nursing, technology integration, and student engagement. Her funded projects included the development of an online distance education program, studies on student retention using digital tools, and regional innovations in nursing education. She also led research on mobile-enhanced simulation to improve clinical judgment and surveyed health professions students’ responses to COVID-19. 

Dr. Richard’s legacy is marked by her dedication to innovation, mentorship, and the advancement of nursing education through thoughtful integration of technology and evidence-based practices. 

Abbey B. Berenson, MD, PhD, MMS, is a Professor in the UTMB Departments of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Pediatrics, the Director and founder of UTMB’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health, and the Garland D. Anderson MD Distinguished University Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas in 1980 and completed her medical degree and residency in Obstetrics/Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine in 1988. She also completed a fellowship in pediatric gynecology in London and acquired her master’s and PhD degrees at UTMB.  

 

Dr. Berenson has garnered an international reputation for her studies of health issues among reproductive-aged women. She has received over $62 million in uninterrupted grant support since 1994, from sponsors including the NIH, HRSA, DoD, and the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). She has published more than 270 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including papers in high-impact journals such as JAMA Oncology and NEJM Evidence. She has served on many NIH data safety monitoring boards in addition to FDA drug advisory and drug safety committees.  

 

Dr. Berenson’s research contributions are numerous and significant. Her early studies comparing the morphology of the hymen among non-abused prepubertal girls to those with a history of abuse led to a groundbreaking study that was the first to demonstrate what signs of sexual abuse could be observed in prepubertal girls. This work is still being cited by the legal and medical communities in sexual abuse cases today. She later conducted studies on hormonal contraceptive use and was among the first to publish about levonorgestrel implant use in adolescents. A separate study found that intrauterine devices were as safe to use in teenagers as older women. She also designed two longitudinal studies which subsequently identified issues with bone mineral density loss in the hip and spine that occur with DMPA use, eventually leading the FDA to issue a black box warning for the drug. Together, her contraceptives studies have helped increase the acceptance of long-acting, reversible contraceptive use in adolescents and have forever changed the standard of care for women.  

 

In 2012, Dr. Berenson developed a new interest in human papillomavirus (HPV), due to the large number of her adolescent patients who were experiencing cervical dysplasia and genital warts. While a safe and effective vaccine against HPV infection and its associated cancers has been available since 2006, uptake of the vaccine remains low. Seeking to change the status quo, she acquired five CPRIT-funded grants over a decade to implement interventions aimed at increasing the initiation and completion of the HPV vaccine series in at-risk, medically underserved, and rural populations. All these projects have been highly successful. All were successfully renewed and are still ongoing. Through them, she has been able to administer over 44,000 doses of the HPV vaccine and dramatically increase HPV vaccine coverage across East and South Texas. Dr. Berenson is also currently conducting two CPRIT-funded clinical trials, in conjunction with the CDC, to determine whether two doses of the HPV vaccine are as effective as three among adult populations.  

 

In addition to her work on HPV vaccination, Dr. Berenson continues to serve as the PI of UTMB’s longest running, NIH-funded K12 faculty training program, Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH). This program, which she launched in 2005, has trained 33 junior UTMB faculty members who have gone on to obtain 89 external grants totaling more than $80 million in research support.