It’s been ten years since the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center officially opened the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health on its Amarillo campus. To help mark the occasion, former first lady Laura W. Bush was the featured speaker at the 2018 Power of the Purse luncheon April 11 at the Amarillo Civic Center’s Heritage Room.

As an international advocate for women’s health, Bush consistently has supported and encouraged her namesake institute’s scientific research, medical education and community outreach. Angela Knapp Eggers, who leads the community outreach efforts at the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health in Amarillo, said having Bush as the keynote speaker for Power of the Purse is the best way for the institute to celebrate its first decade.

“Mrs. Bush believes in our mission and is happy to help us recognize this milestone of the institute in her name,” Eggers said.

Eggers said Power of the Purse, the institute’s biggest annual event, began in 2010 to raise awareness of the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health’s mission and to provide funding for the organization’s research, education and outreach endeavors.

The Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health is dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in Texas and across the nation by advancing multidisciplinary science in women’s health. Recognizing that differences matter, the institute promotes health, individually inspired, through scientific investigation, translation of science into practice and providing outreach that impacts the community for today and tomorrow.