North Texas Area Community Health Centers 2nd Annual Conference

Virna Little, PSyD, LCSW-r is an internationally recognized executive and advisor for her work integrating primary care and behavioral health, developing sustainable integrated delivery systems, and suicide prevention. Dr. Little is also the Chief Clinical Officer and Co-founder of Concert Health, a national organization providing behavioral health services to primary care providers. Her extensive clinical experience and leadership roles have distinguished Concert as a leading medical group.

Prior to founding Concert Health, Dr. Little worked for New York City leading the Center for Innovation in Mental Health and has also served as a Senior Vice President for a large FQHC network in New York, overseeing over 300 behavioral health and community staff. Dr. Little began her career as a citywide family violence coordinator for New York City Health and Hospitals.

Outside of Concert, Dr. Little is a member of the national and international Zero Suicide initiatives and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, and she has spoken on national suicide prevention strategies at the White House.

Dr. Little has been recognized with awards from the Society for Social Work Leaders in HealthCare, National Association of Social Workers, Community Health Center Network of New York, New York Suicide Prevention Committee and others. She is a Doctor of Psychology and has a Master of Social Work and a Master of Business Administration and Healthcare. Additionally, she is a Certified Care Manager (CCM) and a recognized Substance Abuse Professional (SAP).

Octavio N. Martinez Jr., M.D., MPH, is a professor and associate chair of diversity, equity and inclusion in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is also the fifth executive director to lead the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health since its creation in 1940 and senior associate vice president of The University of Texas at Austin Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.

The foundation’s grants and programs support mental health services, research, policy analysis and public education projects in Texas. The Hogg Foundation is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at UT Austin. Martinez heads up the Community Integrated Health Initiatives program for the division. He is also a clinical professor in the university’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work; faculty affiliate with the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice in the School of Law and an adjunct professor at UT Health San Antonio/Long School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Martinez serves on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Preparedness and Response Board of Scientific Counselors and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Health and Medicine Division’s Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity.  Martinez has a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University’s School of Public Health, an M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration with a concentration in finance from The University of Texas at Austin. He was Chief Resident during his psychiatric training at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and is an alumnus of The Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at Harvard Medical School.

• Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior & Health Systems, School of Public Health
• Associate Professor, Department of Personalized Health & Well-Being, School of Health Professions
• University of North Texas Health Science Center
• Interim Director and Clinical Executive for Health Literacy, SaferCare Texas
• Director, UNTHSC Texas State Certified CHW/CHWI Training Program
• Fellow and Project Director, Texas Center for Health Disparities

Dr. Wagner is a registered and licensed dietitian with a doctorate in public health. She’s certified in Public Health, Patient Safety, Lifestyle Medicine, Health Coaching and a certified Community Health Worker Instructor. She’s an assistant professor in the Department of Personalized Health & Well-Being, School of Health Professionals and the Department of Health Behavior and Health Systems, School of Public Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Dr. Wagner has delivered multiple programs, speaking engagements and trainings on health literacy issues. Additionally, she established both a multi-stakeholder health literacy collaborative with the DFW Hospital Council Foundation and Health Literacy Texas, a statewide nonprofit.

Dr. Wagner has testified on health literacy legislation in Texas which helped place health literacy into the 2018-2020 State Health Plan. At the same time, her research focuses on alleviating health disparities in underserved communities through health literacy to improve population health. As a result of her work, she has received both the 2018 Texas Health Literacy Hero Award as well as the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas Christian University. In 2022, she was one of 25 National Institute of Health selected researchers to study the use of artificial intelligence to abate health disparities and in 2023, she received the UNTHSC School of Health Professions Faculty Achievement Award.

Kenton K. Murthy, DO, MS, MPH, FAAFP, AAHIVS is board certified in family medicine and a HIV specialist.

Dr. Murthy attended the University of North Texas Health Science Center where he received a Master of Science and Public Health degrees and earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine as well. Dr. Murthy completed his family medicine residency at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ.

While there, he completed additional training in health policy and worked with the New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee as well as completed research in Collaborative Care Organizations.

Dr. Murthy has received numerous awards including Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Above and Beyond Certificate of Excellence for Outstanding Dedication to Patient Care in 2013, The New Jersey Family Magazine Favorite Kids Doc Award in 2014, The Burleson Star Newspaper Best Doctor and Best Medical Office in 2016 and The Baylor Scott & White Health Hall of Fame “Best of the Best” in 2017.

When Dr. Murthy is not at work, he enjoys spending time with his family and dogs. He is an avid football fan, and being a San Diego native, loves to cheer on the former San Diego Chargers from Texas.

Aimee Rachel, LCSW, Trauma Informed Care Coordinator, Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC)

Aimee Rachel, LMSW is a Trauma Informed Care Clinical Coordinator for the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC). In that role, Mrs. Rachel is responsible for the coordination of the trauma informed care project, curriculum development, and providing training and consultation to health centers on the implementation of trauma informed care. She provides expertise in data collection and aggregation, particularly to ensure health centers are empowered with qualitative and quantitative information about their trauma informed transformation to ultimately improve outcomes for patients and staff. Prior to joining TACHC, Aimee worked to create systems of change and ensure the quality of service, particularly for patients living with HIV as the Senior Ryan White Supervisor for a federally qualified health center. Aimee brings a strong commitment to family, faith, and community service and has received numerous awards for her contributions including those focused on innovations, social work practice, and inclusivity. Aimee graduated with her Bachelor of Social Work from Texas Woman’s University, Texas; has her Master’s Degree in Social Work with a focus on trauma informed care and systems transformation from the University of Buffalo, New York; and is currently enrolled in the Doctorate of Education in Leadership and Organizational Change at Baylor University, Texas. She currently lives in North Texas with her family.

Stacey Stevens Manser, Ph.D. is Co-Director of the Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health and the SAMHSA funded South Southwest Technology Transfer Center and a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She received her PhD in Urban and Regional Science (Health Systems Planning) at Texas A&M University. Her research interests include the understanding the uptake and dissemination of mental health policy and practice using implementation science frameworks, recovery-oriented systems of care, the outcomes of peer providers in the workforce, and the effects of programs and policies on participant outcomes. She enjoys collaborating with state agencies, behavioral health organizations, peer-run organizations, and people in services in research and evaluation. She previously served as the director of research and evaluation at the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, director of community mental health and substance abuse services at the Texas Department of State Health Services, and as a research assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health.

Dr. Lopez is Co-Director of the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, Director of the Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health (TIEMH), and a Research Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Lopez is a licensed clinical psychologist; her research interests include mental health services, child and adolescent service systems, the implementation of evidence-based practices, and school-based mental health. Dr. Lopez has partnered with a variety of systems to implement or evaluate the implementation of evidence-based mental health services, trauma-informed practices, suicide prevention and wraparound approaches. Dr. Lopez has led multiple NIH research and SAMHSA implementation grants, as well as state- and foundation-funded research, training, and policy initiatives. She has developed and tested psychosocial interventions, created and adapted psychological measures, and published over 25 peer-reviewed articles and over 50 evaluation or technical reports.