Leadership & Steering Committee

Live Smart Texas is led by two Co-Chairs with support and guidance from a Steering Committee that represents several statewide agencies, Schools of Public Health and regional representatives from the eight Texas Department of State Health Services Health Service Regions.  Co-Chairs and Steering Committee members serve for two years and for no more than 3 terms consecutively. 

Leah Whigham, PhD, FTOS
Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences
Director, Center for Community Health Impact
UTHealth School of Public Health in El Paso
Leah.D.WhighamGrendall@uth.tmc.edu

Emily Dhurandhar, PhD
Chief Scientific Advisor
Obthera, Inc.
emily.dhurandhar@obthera.com  

Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health in Austin 
Deanna Hoelscher, PhD, RD, LD, CNS
Director and John P McGovern Professor in Health Promotion
Deanna.M.Hoelscher@uth.tmc.edu

Texas Action for Healthy Kids
Michelle Smith
State Coordinator
msmith@actionforhealthykids.org

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Mike Lopez, MUP
Extension Program Specialist, Environmental Health
MLLopez@ag.tamu.edu

Texas Association of City & County Health Officials
Jennifer Smith, MSHP
Interim Executive Director
Jsmith@taccho.org

University of North Texas Health Science Center / FitWorth
Katy Heesch
Manager, Community Relations
Katy.Heesch@unthsc.edu 

Texas State University
Lindsey McClune, MPH
Lecturer
Grant Writer, Hays County
Lnm28@txstate.edu