2023 Hall of Fame Award Recipient
This award honors alumni who have made significant contributions to the nursing profession in clinical practice, education, administration or organizational work involving health care.
About Natalie Bachynsky
Natalie Bachynsky has been a registered nurse since 1998 and a Family Nurse Practitioner since 2014 and has dedicated her professional career to patient advocacy and improving care for underserved populations.
She earned her bachelor’s (1998) and master’s (2008) degree in nursing from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and a PhD in nursing science and a post-masters Family Nurse Practitioner certificate from Texas Woman’s University.
Dr. Bachynsky spent ten years working with women, infants, and children at the Texas Medical Center prior to becoming an Assistant Professor at the UTMB School of Nursing. In this role, she developed numerous “service-learning” projects where nursing, medical, and health professions students and faculty provided free medical services to vulnerable populations.
She is proud to have procured over $900,000 in grant funding to support programs designed to help at-risk children, incarcerated pregnant women, and their babies. One such program, the “Interprofessional Pediatric Advocacy Program” enabled students to provide home health care to medically fragile children being monitored by Child Protective Services from 2012-2015. In addition to providing care and education to at-risk families, this opportunity also resulted in an increased number of nursing, medical, physical, and occupational therapy students competent in interprofessional collaborative practice. Because of the success of this initiative, the program was disseminated to additional nursing schools and implemented in Galveston County and seven other counties in Texas.
Dr. Bachynsky also served as the co-principal investigator for “The BAMBI/School of Nursing Collaborative Project” with UTMB School of Nursing, Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), and the Baby and Mother Bonding Initiative (BAMBI) to offer perinatal education and labor support to pregnant incarcerated women. This innovative program continues to be implemented today.
In 2015, Dr. Bachynsky transitioned back to full-time practice realizing the vast health disparities and lack of health care for rural Texans.
In 2020, she established Houston County Family Medical Clinic, a certified rural health clinic, offering health services for infants, children, and adults. Through the Covid pandemic, she expanded much-needed testing and treatment by coordinating mass testing and vaccination events facilitated by staff and volunteer nurses from the community. She also offered home visits and telemedicine consults to continue care for immunocompromised patients.
In an effort to increase early detection of cancer, Dr. Bachynsky has partnered with Texas A&M University School of Nursing to offer free breast, colon, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening for rural residents through a grant provided by The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. This program utilizes teams of nurse practitioner students, nursing students, and faculty to provide physical exams and cancer screening for uninsured, rural patients.
She is pleased to continue providing health care while exposing students to the diverse needs of rural Texans and the fulfillment of a career centered on service and collaborative relationships.
Dr. Bachynsky is grateful for the unfailing support of her husband, Ashton, and children, Greyson and Sophia, all of whom serve in roles at Houston County Family Medical Clinic.