Dr. Miso Lee joined the Department of Family Medicine in July of 2023 and comes to us from the Department of Population Health/Health Disparities and Internal Medicine's division of Endocrinology.  Dr. Lee received her bachelor's and master's degrees in Public Health from the National Taiwan University and her PhD in Health Services Research (HSR) from Texas A&M Health Science Center. She employs the triad framework (access, cost, and quality) to address current and emerging topics in the field of HSR. In particular, her research focuses on health disparities that disproportionately affect rural, aging, racial minorities, and people with disabilities. With her outstanding research experiences, she was honored to be selected as one of the 2018 National Rural Health Fellows and one of the grant reviewers for grants issued by the Texas State Office of Rural Health.

In addition to her academic affiliations, Miso is a  State-Certified Community Health Worker (CHW), Community Health Worker Instructor (CHWI), Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and CASA Volunteer of Galveston County. She has been one of the organizers of the UTMB's Conference on Migration and Health since 2018. She also has served in several statewide and national committees including the Governing Council of TPHA, the Advisory Committee of Academy Health Disparities IG, the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Collaborative for Health Equity: Action, Research and Generating Evidence of AAMC, the Committee on Health Equity of APHA, and the UTMB Representative of Health Disparities, Education, Awareness, Research & Training Consortium. At her leisure, she likes reading, listening to music, and playing with her cat Reef.

Christen Walcher, MPAff is a Research Development Specialist, Sr. in the UTMB Department of Family Medicine. Her research and policy interests focus on child and family wellbeing, social determinants of health, community-driven poverty alleviation, and international volunteerism.

Christen has experience in assisting faculty develop funding proposals, health impact assessment, collecting data on neighborhood built environment indicators related to the social determinants of health, leading strategic planning processes in a nonprofit setting, city comprehensive planning, data collection for school health assessments through the Galveston Independent School District School Health Advisory Committee, and co-facilitating focus groups with low-income and vulnerable populations on city planning. She has conducted and performed qualitative data analysis on the results of interviews with community leaders and stakeholders on topics such as local educational investment, children and youth services, utilizing hospital health information systems for community health planning, and utilizing social media and electronic communication for health promotion purposes.

Previously, Christen held positions as Program Coordinator with the UTMB Center to Eliminate Health Disparities and Center for Global Health Education. Christen received her Master's in Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin with a certification in the graduate portfolio program in Nonprofit Studies. Prior to coming to UTMB, Christen completed policy internships at Texans Care for Children and at the Office of the Governor of the US Virgin Islands Children and Families Council.

Janine has worked at UTMB for 15 years all of which have been in grants and contracts, working in various departments. She now serves as the grants administrator for the departments of Family Medicine, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and the Community Based Clinics.  She also assists with post-award aspects of grants and contracts.

She assists faculty and students with all aspects of applying for grant funding whether for federal, non-federal, state, internal UTMB, private, industry, and subcontract funds. This involves budgets, application documents, subcontracts, JIT submissions, liaising with our internal Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), and keeping applicants on track in terms of internal and sponsor deadlines.

She also works with the grants manager on tracking funding, status of applications, budget revisions, reporting, and award management.

Ramona Carpenter is the Senior Finance Manager and Grants Manager for ASGV, Primary Care Services. Ramona has worked at UTMB for 19 years and has experience in financial management, sponsored project administration, reporting, human resources and compliance.

Ramona earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in 2002, holds a Certified Research Administrator certification and is currently in a Master of Business Administration program at the University of Houston at Clear Lake. 

Dr. Mouton is currently serving as Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean, John Sealy School of Medicine and Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Mouton previously served as UTMB Health's President, ad interim and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs in the John Sealy School of Medicine.

He joined UTMB in March 2017 from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, where he served as Senior Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine. He also was Adjunct Professor of Medical Education and Administration for Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine. Before moving to Meharry in 2010, Dr. Mouton was Professor and Chair of the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Howard University College of Medicine, where he received both his undergraduate and doctoral degrees. He also earned a master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1997 and an MBA from Tennessee Technological University in 2018. He established Meharry’s first Clinical Simulation Center and helped lead Howard’s Master of Public Health program.

Dr. Mouton’s primary research interests are in women’s health, health disparities, late life domestic violence, and aging. He was a co-investigator for the Women’s Health Initiative, the first study to investigate health in a large sampling of women across the United States to determine how diet, hormone therapy, and calcium and vitamin D might prevent heart disease, cancer, and bone fractures. Dr. Mouton was elected as fellow of The Gerontological Society of America, American Academy of Family Physicians, and of the American Geriatrics Society. He is a member of the National Institutes of Health Council of Councils and a member of the Liaison Committee for Medical Education.

Dr. Jeffrey Susman currently serves as Sr. Associate Dean of Educational Performance of the UTMB Health John Sealy School of Medicine and a Professor of Family Medicine.  Dr. Susman previously served Dean, ad interim and as the Senior Associate Dean at the UTMB John Sealy School of Medicine.   Dr. Susman is a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners and serves on multiple committees including the USMLE Composite Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Committee for Individualized Review.  He is a member of the National Quality Forum Consensus Standards Approval Committee, the Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Committee, and the Primary Care and Chronic Illness Committee.  Dr. Susman is Past-President of the Nebraska Academy of Family Physicians and served as a member and chair of multiple AAFP commissions, committees and task forces.  He also served on the board of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. 

Dr. Susman’s career began as a rural clinician in Wahoo, Nebraska.  He then joined the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he was Vice Chair of Family Medicine, Associate Dean for Primary Care and Faculty Development, and led UNMC’s primary care clinician group.  In 2000, Dr. Susman became Chair of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Cincinnati.  He was a board member of the health system, chair of the physicians’ organization and secretary of the physician-hospital organization.  He was an ACE Fellow at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Susman became Dean at the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) college of medicine in 2010.  During his tenure, Dr. Susman oversaw the development of multiple new research and educational facilities while more than doubling NEOMED’s NIH funding.  He established a campus in Cleveland in collaboration with Cleveland State University devoted to the recruitment and success of under-represented minorities.  As Chair of the Council of Deans, he oversaw such projects as a new health and wellness center, development of a medical practice, the simulation center, and interactions across the state.  He also chaired the Ohio Council of Medical Deans.  

Dr. Susman’s research interests include primary care mental health, rural health delivery, workforce development, and implementation research.  He has received funding from NIH, AHRQ, CDC, RWJ and private foundations and state government.  He served as Editor for the Journal of Family Practice, Editor of the AAFP Home Study Program, and has served on multiple national guideline and quality measurement efforts.  

Leonard Wang is the Health Policy Research Coordinator for UTMB’s Family Medicine and Center for Violence Prevention. He is an MD/MPH candidate at the UTMB John Sealy School of Medicine and School of Public and Population Health. Leonard completed his bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Houston through an accelerated BS/MD program. As an Albert Schweitzer Fellow, Leonard worked with Teen Health Center, Inc. to deliver a vaping harm reduction curriculum to students in Galveston ISD. He received the Student Award in Oslerian Medicine from the John P. McGovern Academy of Oslerian Medicine and serves on the board of the American Osler Society.