Background
She was born in Clark, South Dakota on a family farm.
She was born in Clark, South Dakota on a family farm.
She was the first female president of the American Medical Association (American Medical Association), serving in 1997-1998. Previously she had served as chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association and chaired its Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Foreign eleven years she was president of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical Health Science Center, the first woman to hold that position.
Her parents were Editor and Jody Wilson.
When she was 9 years old her family moved to Sacramento, California. Five years later they moved to Katy, Texas, near Houston.
She earned bachelor"s degrees in psychology and sociology from Stephen F. Austin State University. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, where she also completed her residency training.
She is board certified in Family practice.
She estimates that she has delivered more than 4,000 babies in her private practice career. She was the founding director of the Family Practice Residency of the Brazos Valley. In recent decades her focus has been on "health policy, health care delivery solutions, medical ethics, and professionalism." She developed the American Medical Association"s Patient Bill of Rights.
She frequently speaks to professional and civic organizations and testifies before Congress on issues involving medical care in America.
In 1999 she was appointed a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical Health Science Center, and in 2002 she was named President and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, a position she held until 2012. During her term as president the Center added three campuses, grew from four to six colleges (adding a College of Pharmacy and a College of Nursing), and more than doubled enrollment from 880 students to more than 2000.
Her resignation in October 2012 was prompted by the decision by the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University System to transfer control of the Health Science Center to Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University. In 2013-2014 she was a Senior Scholar for the Association of Academic Health Centers.
In 2010 she was inducted into the Texas Women"s Hall of Fame.
