The Heart Behind Healthcare

Baylor University has a long tradition of training healthcare providers who influence how the best care is delivered to patients in Texas and beyond. Whether guiding the administration and operations of a hospital, training and mentoring future healthcare providers or transforming how care is delivered, the care and dignity of human beings are always at the center. For many Baylor alumni who become practitioners and leaders shaping the field of medicine, their careers can become callings, and often the Baylor experience makes all the difference in the work they do. 

One Human Being

Corwin Harper, M.H.A. ’93, has worked in healthcare for 39 years. He started as a medical service corps officer in the United States Army and while there, applied for and graduated from the Army-Baylor Program in Healthcare Administration. He still instructs in the Army-Baylor Program, serving as a preceptor (even winning the Preceptor of the Year Award).

“Initially, I wanted to go to medical school,” Harper said. “But I discovered I could touch just as many people as a healthcare administrator. I love leadership, I love engaging people, I love making change and providing healthcare means to people who may not have gotten it before.” 

Harper began his work in healthcare when he was 21, and has since gained experience in healthcare executive leadership in the United States Army, Mount Sinai Chicago, Kaiser Permanente and now with Ochsner Health in northern Louisiana, where he serves as chief executive officer. With each of his roles, Harper has always considered those who will come after him. 

“For me, mentorship is a big deal because it’s about leaving a legacy,” Harper said. “I’ve had the honor of mentoring people all over the country — it’s more important for me to develop, mentor and coach people than for me just to get things done.” 

Harper is intentional about his life — inside and outside of his career.

“My personal quote is, ‘I am one human being living in one human race, working to create one humane world,’” Harper said. “I took on that motto in October 2016 when I walked 54 miles over four days as a tribute to John Lewis and all he did for the civil rights movement. When they marched in 1965 for civil rights, they also influenced Medicare and Medicaid to be approved into legislation, which gave access and financial resources to so many people. If we didn’t have Medicare and Medicaid like we have today, we probably wouldn’t have the economy or healthcare system we have. It made a big difference.” 

Humanity is carved into everything Harper does. He is hopeful that humanity is what he’s remembered for in his life. 

“My faith and my belief in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ have made all of the difference in the work I do,” Harper said. “I can see how the work we do makes a difference. Baylor has continued to let the light of the Lord shine through its mission.”

Harper’s Baylor experience deepened even further when his daughter attended Baylor. She was looking for the full college experience in a place that was grounded, and Baylor was the natural answer. They both love being Baylor Bears and are grateful for their individual experiences.  

“I graduated in 1993, and in my office on my desk, I still have the oral board examination study guide that we put together as students,” Harper said. “And I still refer to it! What I learned at Baylor is foundational and is still ever-changing, but that foundation continues to be built upon.” 

Being Willing to Learn  

So often, family plays a pivotal role in an individual’s career choice. So it was with Tammy Rodriguez, D.N.P. ’22. When her grandmother passed away during a routine heart procedure, Rodriguez resolved to pursue a career as a cardiology nurse. Today, she serves as the chief nursing officer (CNO) at AdventHealth Central Texas.

“I didn’t take a very traditional education path. I didn’t go to school to be a nurse until after I’d already started my family. I got my associate’s degree, worked for five years, got my bachelor’s degree, worked for five years, got my master’s degree, and then right before COVID-19 made the decision that I wanted to get my doctorate. I enrolled, started the program and then COVID happened,” Rodriguez said. “COVID and a doctorate program at the same time was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, but by the grace of God I made it through.”

While Rodriguez has served as CNO for 10 years, she’s been a part of the organization for the last 20 years. Her role gave her different lenses of leadership as her D.N.P. focus was on executive nursing leadership. 

“I was always mainly focused on the inpatient and acute care side, and we have a lot of ancillary outpatients off-site. It gave me the ability to say, ‘There’s an opportunity for us to collaborate from the inpatient side to the outpatient side to help the patient’s journey through the healthcare system be more seamless.’ The program I went through contributed to that,” Rodriguez said. “Ultimately, I think our community is getting or has the opportunity to navigate the healthcare system in a way that’s healthier for them.”

Rodriguez began her Baylor doctorate program in August 2020 and learned quite a bit about herself through the process. She, along with several in her cohort, worked in leadership positions within healthcare while the pandemic surged. While she and her fellow students were invested in the work they were doing, so were their faculty. 

“We had frequent touchpoints — they knew about our families, they knew what was happening in our specific geographic locations in relation to the pandemic. They made us stop and recognize how much we were doing and reminded us to show ourselves grace. They were great encouragers and inspirers,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know if other universities would’ve been that flexible while also challenging us when we needed to be challenged. That’s one of the reasons I chose Baylor — outside of my daughter having a phenomenal experience in her own undergraduate education there — being faith-based makes a huge difference and it drives what I do.” 

Rodriguez constantly works to consider how her leadership affects those she works with. She leads by example, especially when it comes to caring for patients. 

“My intent is to be as inclusive as possible. Sometimes people may forget that there are nuances that affect people’s health that we should consider,” Rodriguez said. “As healthcare providers, we have the opportunity to be inquisitive and learn from our patients. As a leader, I know that the more diversity we have in the room, the better our solutions are going to be.” 

Learning plays a vital role in Rodriguez’s leadership. 

“No matter how many classes I take, how many letters I have after my name, degrees that I get, if I come from a place of wanting to learn, I’m more likely to make the best decision,” Rodriguez said. “I want to develop, encourage and inspire leaders who pause and seek to learn in every interaction. When we point back to compassion and empathy, we move forward.” 

Relationships as a Pathway to Care 

Gary J. Sheppard, B.A. ’87, M.D., wants to make a difference in his patients’ lives through long-term care that is relational. Today, he is an internal medicine physician in private practice and offices at Houston’s Memorial Hermann Southwest.

“I can see somebody when they are 30, and I’ll still be seeing them when they’re 50 or 60 or 80,” Sheppard said of the impact he hopes to make in his patients’ lives. “That longitudinal care allows me to take care of them as they age.”

His career aspirations developed through his love of science in middle school. While in high school, Sheppard attended a two-week Farm Bureau leadership program on Baylor’s campus, and it was thereafter that his mind was set on attending the University as a pre-med major. 

“During the first semester, I was concerned about not being able to keep up,” Sheppard says. “But I did just as well as everybody else. My faith was a big part of being able to confront self-doubt. That support I always got from my church family back home was continued at Baylor.”

After graduating from Baylor, Sheppard earned his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He completed his residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, and he joined Southwest Memorial Physicians Associates in 1994 where today he is a partner in the practice.

It was in his third year of medical school that Sheppard settled on being an internist. He liked the idea of longitudinal care — being able to care for patients and their families for the duration of their lives. Sheppard has been a strong advocate for the healthcare needs of underserved populations.

“My two main interests are high blood pressure and diabetes,” Sheppard says. “It’s rare for me to go through a day not seeing half my patients either have high blood pressure or diabetes or both.”

Sheppard, who was the first Black chief of staff at Memorial Hermann Southwest, also was president of the Harris County Medical Society in 2021 — the nation’s largest county medical society. He previously was chair of the National Medical Association board of trustees. Sheppard currently serves on the boards of Memorial Hermann Health System and Texas Medical Liability Trust, and he began his tenure as chair of the Memorial Hermann Physician Network board in January 2025.

Through his decorated career, Sheppard has exhibited a humble spirit and a focus on serving others. He is a reflection of talent and personality bestowed upon him by God.

“You have to learn to use what you’ve been given, your gifts and talents, and how that fits into what kind of doctor you’re going to be,” Sheppard said. “If I can develop a rapport with my patients and then make a difference for them, then I’m doing my job.”

Care for All

When Jon Foster, B.B.A. ’84, thinks back to his time at Baylor, he remembers how formational it was. He made lifelong friends, expanded his career perspectives and received a foundation that influenced the rest of his life. 

As the chief operating officer of HCA Healthcare — the largest hospital system in the country caring for 34 million patients a year — Foster’s role is no simple one. 

“Our mission is to care for and improve human life,” Foster said. “Bettering the human condition is a noble mission and one we take very seriously.” 

Foster first learned about hospital management in his junior year at Baylor after researching and speaking with hospital CEOs throughout the state. Upon completion of his master’s degree in Hospital Administration at Trinity University, Foster started his career at The Methodist Hospital System in Houston. From there, he was recruited to the Baptist Health System in Tennessee. HCA Healthcare then recruited Foster to Austin, Texas, in 2001 to serve as the CEO of the St. David’s Healthcare System. After 10 years in that role, he was promoted to the corporate headquarters of HCA Healthcare in Nashville to serve as a senior officer, a role he has held since 2011. 

 As chief operating officer, Foster is responsible for the company’s operations, which encompass 185 hospitals across the United States and London. 

“Supporting our front-line caregivers and challenging ourselves to continuously raise the level of care and service for our patients is paramount,” Foster said. “Leadership development — being able to hire, develop and promote leaders, to witness them succeed and grow —is important to me.” 

When he considers the future, Foster’s goal is to help prepare the next generation of leaders who will take the company forward.

“Things in this industry are only going to get more complex. At the end of the day, we want HCA Healthcare to be the safest place to get care in the world. We’ll always be working toward that,” Foster said.

Foster’s Baylor experience continues to influence him as he encourages future leaders to embrace humility, continually build their competency and take accountability for what they’re entrusted with. 

“You learn different things at different times in your career. I’ve learned something from everybody I’ve ever worked with, everybody I’ve ever worked for and from those who’ve worked for me,” Foster said. 

As Foster passes these lessons on, he knows that executing the same level of excellence, compassion and personal responsibility is no small feat across an organization the size of HCA Healthcare. He describes a big part of HCA Healthcare’s culture as one of curiosity and exploration. This inquisitive mindset often reminds him of the foundation he received as an undergraduate at Baylor.

“I really do appreciate how formational the Baylor experience was for me and appreciate so much that both my daughters had the opportunity to attend and graduate from Baylor,” Foster said. “I’m proud of the University and grateful for my time there.” 

People First

When Brigadier General Deydre Teyhen, M.P.T. ’95, D.P.T. ’08, considers her current role in healthcare and the strain on the U.S. healthcare system, she often thinks back to a quote by Muhammad Ali: “It’s not the mountains ahead we climb that wear us out. It’s the pebbles in our shoe.” 

Brig. Gen. Teyhen serves as the director of the Defense Health Network National Capital Region, which serves as the Department of Defense’s medical facilities in northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., as well as parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

“It’s an honor to figure out how we best serve America’s sons and daughters while we also determine how to optimize their healthcare,” Teyhen said. “We’re constantly asking — how do we make healthcare more accessible for the people we’re serving?” 

Teyhen began her career as an Army physical therapist and loved being a clinician. She also served on the Army-Baylor faculty for seven years. 

“The graduate school programs between the Army and Baylor are amazing — I loved being on faculty. It was fun building up the next generation and preparing them to be amazing clinicians,” Teyhen said. “I never thought I’d do anything else, but the Army had different plans.” 

After being deployed to Iraq, Teyhen was asked to run a section of the combat support hospital near the Iranian border. 

“I realized as a clinician that I loved evidence-based medicine. As I moved into leadership, I realized there’s a need for evidence-based leadership,” Teyhen said. “It’s the question of, ‘How do we make the whole system better so that everyone can thrive? How do we create a healthcare platform that allows all clinicians, all support people, to thrive so that we can better take care of those in our charge?’” 

As her experience in Iraq moved her into leadership, Teyhen said that the Army has continued to guide her in that direction ever since. 

“After the pandemic, we’re bringing the joy and soul back to medicine by teaching leaders how to take the pebbles out of people’s shoes so they can fall in love with being a healthcare provider or a healthcare administrator and support an administrative staff,” Teyhen said. “We work to create an environment where the healthcare system can thrive so that they can take care of the patients in their charge — it’s not only fun but an honor.” 

Teyhen has adopted a transformational leadership style — or a “people first” focus — into everything she does. 

“If you take care of your staff and the healthcare teams, they have more energy to focus on the patient in front of them,” Teyhen explained. “Not only does that improve the patient experience, but it improves the provider experience and decreases medical errors. It improves quality and safe outcomes.” 

Throughout her time in healthcare, Teyhen has worked to consider patients holistically and to train healthcare providers to do the same. Whether physical, mental, spiritual, sleep or nutritional health, each is considered so that providers can build safety and trust with each patient. As she continues to help guide the next generation of leaders, Teyhen hopes to instill a passion for lifelong learning so they can be “people first” leaders. 

“For those seeking to go into healthcare, I encourage them to enter the profession with a servant’s heart. It’s all about selfless service and thinking through the needs of others before our own,” Teyhen said. “The work is hard, but it’s helping others. There’s no more noble responsibility than to help your neighbor.”  

The Future is Bright

Ali Villagran, B.S. ’17, M.D., knew from a young age that she’d pursue medicine. 

“One of the things that drew me to Baylor was that it was not only a Christian institution but also took science, research and academic excellence seriously,” Villagran said. “I’d applied to some other major academic research powerhouses and small liberal arts Christian colleges, but Baylor was a great middle-ground that gave me the benefits of both. Once I was accepted to the Baylor2Baylor Medical Program, I knew that was it.” 

The Baylor2Baylor Medical Program is a combined eight-year baccalaureate/medical doctorate program for selected high-achieving undergraduate students through which students complete their degrees at Baylor and then immediately transition to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. As an undergraduate, Villagran credits her education in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) and medical humanities program for establishing a foundation for approaching the holistic health of a person. Today, she’s in residency at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

“I’m in a program that provides training in pediatrics, adult psychiatry and child psychiatry, and I’m planning to do something that combines those fields,” Villagran said. “I’m excited to try to find a way to combine my training in pediatric medicine and child psychiatry.” 

When Villagran first started medical school, she believed she’d pursue pediatrics, but as she continued her medical rotations, she was drawn more and more to psychiatry. 

“With psychiatry, I felt like I got to meet with people where they were and hopefully provide a little bit of light and hope for them,” Villagran said. “I think that’s what brings so many of us into medicine in the first place — wanting to feel like we’re helping people.” 

One of the things Villagran noticed throughout her experience was how often physical health and mental health were siloed from one another in the healthcare system while constantly witnessing how they’re interconnected in the care needed by individuals. 

“My training program will put me in a unique position where I can see both sides of that and work to try to bridge that divide,” Villagran said. “We can bring the two together where we’re treating the whole person and not just mental health and not just physical health — because it’s all your health, your well-being.”

As she’s continued her residency, Villagran has experienced incredible leadership and mentorship — something she hopes to incorporate as she continues her career. 

 “Medicine can feel incredibly hierarchical, but we were reminded in my residency program that we’re all in it together — medical students, nurses, techs, etc. Every opinion was valued, and we were encouraged to speak up,” Villagran said.

This leadership and Villagran’s experience at Baylor continue to influence her today. 

“From medical humanities to the BIC program, it all helped me to have a broader view of the world and the diversity of thoughts and backgrounds,” Villagran said. “It’s all impacted the way I approach my patients — with an open mind and readiness to meet them where they are and learn more about who they are outside of whatever medical problem I’m seeing them for. I have a lot of my experiences at Baylor to thank for the fact that I chose to do what I’m doing.”

Preparing Future Leaders in Healthcare

Baylor students go on into nearly every specialty in the field of healthcare, with several pursuing global health and engaging with rural health populations. Typically, between 70%-75% of Baylor students who apply to medical school in a given application year are accepted — this is a significant success rate compared to the national average of 40%-41% of people accepted to medical school who apply. 

Director of Prehealth Studies Richard Sanker, Ph.D., said Baylor students stand out not only because of an excellent Baylor academic education but also because of their interest in worldwide service and the compassionate care they give their patients.  

“Baylor graduates in the healthcare field are both very intelligent and compassionate,” Sanker said. “I believe the quality of the Baylor education prepares our graduates to become some of the top students in their medical school classes and engage in cutting edge medical research.”

Baylor prehealth students are supported by several programs and opportunities that undergird their studies. From scholarship programs and professional shadowing opportunities to student organizations and structures for mentorship, Baylor is investing in the future leaders in medicine.  

To learn more about the programs that prepare prehealth students for their careers, visit prehealth.web.baylor.edu/resources.