TTUHSC Psychiatry Team Honored as Texans Caring for Texans

• By Meaghan Collier
• August 4, 2023
• Campus Life

Each year state agencies from the upper 26 counties in the Texas Panhandle are invited to select an employee or team of employees to receive a Texans Caring for Texans award. The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine honored the four psychiatrists from the TTUHSC Department of Psychiatry and Texas Tech Physicians Psychiatry in Amarillo for the honor. Amy Stark, M.D., accepted on behalf of Michael Jenkins, M.D., Raja Kiani, M.D. and Stacia Lusby, M.D. 

“They work incredibly hard to meet the challenge of providing the best mental health care in this era of a severe national mental health provider shortage,” Richard Jordan, M.D., TTUHSC School of Medicine professor, said in his nomination. “They are master teachers who have inspired 16 percent of our medical students to choose psychiatry for their specialty– an almost unheard-of high percentage.”

The 2023 Texans Caring for Texans recipients were recognized Aug. 3 in a ceremony at West Texas A&M University in Canyon.  

Other state agencies recognized included: Amarillo College, Clarendon College, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Health and Human Services Commission and West Texas A&M University.

The award program, created in 1996 by former State Representative David Swinford, recognizes these state employees for the effort they put forth to positively impact their communities.