Texas Medical Association Alliance

Attending one ALLMED is all you need to get hooked! If you haven’t experienced TMAA’s annual conference before, 2025 is the year to start! Alliance members statewide are invited to San Antonio in May for ALLMED. And bring your spouse along for TexMed, TMA’s annual conference, held concurrently. Opportunities will abound to connect with other alliance members, celebrate alliance successes, and be enriched. Let’s make 2025 our best attended ALLMED yet!

Peggy Cleaves, known to readers as USA Today bestselling author Ann Major, achieved her dream to become a writer through dedication and determination. After six years of crafting manuscript after manuscript, Peggy sold two books to two publishers in one week. Throughout her remarkable career that spanned more than 40 years, she authored nearly 80 novels for Dell Publishing Company, Harlequin Books, and Mira Books.

In 1980, Peggy co-founded Romance Writers of America, an international organization dedicated to promoting the professional and collective business interests of career-minded romance authors. Upon reviewing her latest royalty statement from Harlequin, which showed she had sold nearly 18 million books globally, she was thrilled to discover her stories had resonated with so many readers.

Peggy has been married to Wilbur Ratliff Cleaves, MD, a retired family practitioner, for 55 years. Currently, Dr. Cleaves, who has practiced medicine for 57 years, volunteers four days a week at a clinic for low-income patients. He and Peggy have two adult sons and a daughter, all successful professionals, along with seven grandchildren.

Peggy became a member of the Nueces County Medical Society Alliance in 1977 and has served on the board since 2018 in several positions.
Ann Major (Official)

Thank you, TMA Alliance members, for helping Texas kids receive a book to help them learn healthy habits and improve their literacy.
Texas Medical Association Foundation

The 1993 TMAA Fall Conference in Austin, attended by 170 alliance members, featured sessions on fund-raising, parliamentary procedure, public relations, and, of course, membership. LaFon Ditzler, Bell County Medical Alliance, and Ann Morales, Travis County Medical Alliance, helped attendees gear up for the annual membership campaign. In 2025, what’s your pitch to recruit a new member to the alliance or bring someone back whose membership has lapsed?
Bell County Medical Alliance, Travis County Medical Alliance & Foundation.

Welcome new and returning TMAA members! 2025 is going to be one great year for the alliance in Texas, and we encourage you to get involved in your local chapter and join in activities offered through TMAA.
Big Country County Medical Society Alliance, Cameron-Willacy County Medical Alliance-NC, Dallas County Medical Society Alliance, Hidalgo-Starr Medical Alliance, Lubbock County Medical Society Alliance, Potter Randall County Medical Society Alliance, Tarrant County Medical Society, Travis County Medical Alliance & Foundation.

Fantastic work and results!

We made the front page! WooHoo!
Thank you Temple Children’s Museum,
Dr. Ponder and Feed My Sheep volunteers for your collaboration at our Hard Hats for Little Heads event!❤️ It was a great day and we are already planning one in March.

The 89th Texas Legislature convenes tomorrow, and it’s time to plan your trip to Austin for First Tuesdays at the Capitol. On the first Tuesday of each month during the session, TMA Alliance members and TMA physicians and medical students descend on the Capitol to help inform legislators about how proposed legislation can impact patients and the practice of medicine. Today is the last day to reserve a hotel room for the Feb. 4 event. Register now: https://hubs.li/Q0326r5W0

Don’t miss the first TMAA Enrichment Series session of 2025. If your resolutions aimed at better health are already waning or you haven’t kicked them in yet, tune in next Wednesday to hear how small changes can make a big impact. TMAA’s own Margaret McDonald, a Tarrant County Medical Society Alliance member, will share her expertise as a registered, licensed dietitian for improved nutrition and wellness. RSVP to receive the Zoom link ([email protected]).

Recently elected to represent District 1 on the Wichita Falls City Council, Whitney Flack is a dedicated and inspiring community leader. Whitney began volunteering with the Wichita County Medical Alliance (WCMA) in 2018 and brought a visionary approach to local projects, including one that has become a beloved community highlight.

After the WCMA collaborated with the city to create a new playground structure near the city’s Circle Trail, Whitney envisioned an even more impactful project – a free, public splash pad for families to enjoy.

During her tenure as WCMA president in 2021-22, she and her fellow members turned this vision into reality, gifting the completed splash pad to the city in 2021. Today, it remains one of the most popular spots in town each summer.

Whitney is married to Allen Flack, MD, a pathologist, and they are raising four young children together. She also serves as board chair at her children’s school and actively volunteers at her church, where she generously supports her faith community. In her free time, she enjoys playing Mahjong, gardening, and spending quality time with family and friends.

Thanks for all you do, Whitney!

The Power of One feature spotlights alliance members who are making a difference in their alliances and communities.

One-to-one is a powerful way to grow the alliance. Do you know someone in your local physician community who isn’t yet an alliance member? The new year is a great time to share what the alliance means to you – and to add your Plus 1 member for 2025. TMAA will recognize members who recruit a new member or bring back a member who stepped away from the alliance (since 2022 or earlier). Recruiters also will receive a new TMAA swag item at ALLMED, TMAA’s annual conference, in May. Be sure to snap a photo of you and your Plus 1 for TMAA to share on social media.

Put your New Year’s resolutions into action with Small Changes, Big Impact: Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Better Health during TMAA’s first Enrichment Series event of 2025. Margaret McDonald, a registered, licensed dietitian and Tarrant County Medical Society Alliance member, will provide pointers to help you feel better overall with tips for weight loss, improved cholesterol, strengthened immune defenses, slowed cognitive decline, and more. RSVP to receive the Zoom link: [email protected].

The holidays can be difficult for those with anxiety and depression. They may struggle for many reasons including loneliness or because they have lost a loved one. In this issue of TMA’s Healthbeat podcast series, Sarah Lynette Martin, MD, a psychiatrist in El Paso and member of TMA’s Committee on Behavioral Health, talks about what causes depression and behavioral health decline during the holidays and why it is beneficial to get help as soon as possible.

Dealing with Anxiety & Depression During Holidays | TMA Health Beat The holidays can be difficult for those with anxiety and depression. They may struggle for many reasons including loneliness or because they have lost a loved one. Sarah Lynette Martin, MD, a psychiatrist in El Paso and member of TMA’s Committee on Behavioral Health, talks about what causes depres...

Wishing our community a joyous holiday season!

Your gift to the TMAA Holiday Sharing Card makes a difference for Texas families in need. Small monetary donations add up and can help TMAA exceed the $3,150 donated last year to benefit the Texas BookShare program, which is funded by the Texas Medical Association Foundation. This year’s donations also will support Texas BookShare, which has provided more than 13,000 books to children across Texas since 2021. Make your gift today! https://hubs.li/Q02_QxlQ0

A former professional dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, Lori Bodine Benold has been teaching dance for 40+ years, developing excellent technique and artistry in hundreds of dancers, from their balletic beginnings to their debuts as professional dancers, and beyond.

Benold received her first formal dance training in Corpus Christi, where she performed with the Corpus Christi Ballet Theatre. At the age of 15, Lori received scholarships from Robert Joffrey to attend his workshops in San Antonio and New York City. She also studied at the School of American Ballet in New York City and under scholarship at San Francisco Ballet School, where she became one of the few students to bypass an apprenticeship to go directly into the San Francisco Ballet’s professional company.

Lori later performed as resident principal artist for the Corpus Christi Ballet. She has choreographed numerous pieces chosen for performance at Regional Dance America festivals. Lori founded and directed dance schools in Corpus Christi and Austin, and she continues to teach and choreograph. She served as adjudicator for the Regional Dance America Southwest Region in 2021 and the Pacific Region in 2024.

Lori’s husband, Terrell Benold, MD, is retired from the faculty of the Family Medicine Residency at The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. Lori serves as corresponding secretary on the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance board. She also serves on the TMA Alliance board as vice president of fiscal affairs.
Travis County Medical Alliance & Foundation
Dallas County Medical Society Alliance

As you’re making your 2025 plans, be sure to put TMAA’s annual conference, ALLMED, on your calendar. The meeting, held in conjunction with TMA’s TEXMED conference, is open to all TMAA members and is a great opportunity to make and reconnect with alliance friends across the state. And the venue is a great family location, so plan to bring your spouse and kids. We’ll handle TMAA business, hear great speakers, present awards, and have tons of fun. Watch for more details.

2024 was a year of rebirth and growth for the Potter-Randall County Medical Alliance. We focused on recruiting new members and recapturing past members, with the board prioritizing fun membership events, such as a Bunco night, medical student and resident outreach events, a family potluck and barbecue competition, and a cookies-and-costumes daytime social.

We intentionally plan events to reach all facets of our membership, hosting family-centered and couples-only gatherings, and aim to include medical society members as guests. Our intent is to blur the line between spouse and physician and welcome all to the alliance.

September brought back an annual member favorite not hosted since 2019 – the Couples Social. A beautiful September evening played host to an outdoor event at a member’s home on Lake Tanglewood, a private lake near Amarillo. Friends, old and new, networked and caught up over delicious street tacos from a local food truck, hand-shaken specialty cocktails, and live music. Many medical society members expressed their appreciation for being able to put a face to a name for the many referrals they share.

One memorable highlight came from Kyle, a third-year medical student, and his wife, Kaitlin, who are new to Amarillo and have two young children, including a newborn. Kyle and Kaitlin said the Couples Social was their first night out since their baby arrived. They appreciated having a planned event to attend rather than taking on the mental load of planning a date night.

In addition to solidifying community ties among members and reestablishing a member favorite gathering, the Couples Social kicked off the 2024 fundraising efforts for our Hard Hats for Little Heads event at the North Side Toy Drive. We were especially excited to welcome three new members at the social and re-enroll three past members, bringing our 2024 total to 12 new members.
Potter Randall County Medical Society Alliance