Karen Moriarty, associate professor of nursing at Midwestern State University, has been named by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as an advisory member to a task force that will address healthcare workforce shortages in Texas.

Earlier this year, Abbott sent a letter to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board directing them to create a task force to address the shortages in the healthcare workforce. In May, the Governor announced Victoria Ford, president and CEO of Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute, as chair of the Healthcare Workforce Taskforce.

The task force is comprised of knowledgeable experts and leaders who are representative of the various needs across Texas. Additionally, more than 60 subject matter experts were selected from submitted nominations to participate as advisory members in substantive workgroups.

Moriarty began teaching in the Wilson School of Nursing at MSU Texas in 2001 and earned her doctorate of nursing practice in 2007. She has served as chair and as graduate coordinator of the Wilson School of Nursing. She has been a registered nurse for more than 44 years and a family nurse practitioner for more than 26 years. As a family nurse practitioner, she worked for the Department of State Health Services of Texas in a psychiatric facility, providing medical care to patients of all ages. She volunteered during global disasters, including the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone (2014) and Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

The Healthcare Workforce Task Force and advisory members will meet monthly and gather insights from state agency experts and additional health care stakeholders throughout Texas. The task force will issue a final report on Oct. 1, 2024.

Read the official release here.