In 2006, Lark A. Ford, PhD, MA, MSN, RN, joined the nursing faculty in the School of Nursing at UT Health San Antonio. Her educational accomplishments include a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Maryland at Baltimore through the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing Administration degree with a clinical emphasis in Cardiovascular Nursing from Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. She also obtained a Master of Arts in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, and in 2015 completed her PhD in Human and Organizational Development.
Prior to joining the School of Nursing, Dr. Ford served over 33 years in the United States Army Nurse Corps, retiring as a Colonel. Her military assignments included serving as the Hospital Commander at the U.S. Army Medical Activity Department and Weed Army Community Hospital at the National Training Center located at Fort Irwin, California. She also served as a Chief, Department of Nursing, at Madigan Army Medical Center, Fort Lewis, Washington; Chief Nurse at the USA MEDDAC, National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California; and Chief Nurse for the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Other assignments included: Nurse Counselor, U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC); Section Chief for the Combat Medical Specialist Course; Director of the Critical Care Nursing Course at the Army Medical Department Center and School. Dr. Ford also served as the Nurse Management Fellow for the Chief, Army Nurse Corps, at the Pentagon, where she assisted in reviewing and establishing nursing and healthcare policy. From July 2002 to May 2006, Dr. Ford served her final assignment before retiring from the military as the Deputy Commander for Nursing at Brooke Army Medical Center and the Chief Nurse Executive for the Great Plains Regional Medical Command which comprised nine additional military hospitals.
Dr. Ford brings a wealth of leadership, organizational, educational, and clinical expertise to the UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing. As a nurse educator, she facilitates learning for students in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. She was selected to provide mentoring and instruction for eight nursing faculty from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León and to serve as one of the collaborators for the School of Nursing’s Caring for the Caregiver program.
Dr. Ford has held numerous leadership positions at the nursing school and has served as an active leader and educator for the University’s Realizing Enhanced Student Inter-Professional Education through Clinical Teamwork (RESPECT) project since its inception in 2009. The RESPECT project encourages medical, dental, dental hygienist and nursing students to work in inter-professional teams while serving an under-served community residing in the San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries Transitional Living and Learning Center.
Building from this interprofessional educational experience, Dr. Ford was appointed to serve as the Interim Director of Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC), UT Health San Antonio’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for university-wide accreditation in 2018. From 2019-2021, she served as the inaugural LINC Faculty Council member representing the School of Nursing. Dr. Ford, in collaboration with her health professions colleagues across campus, designed an inaugural IPE orientation for first-year health professional students that was subsequently transformed into the university’s first-ever required interprofessional education experience. They successfully established a seed grant program and presented at the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education annual Nexus Summit in 2020.
UT Health San Antonio students, faculty and staff wish to establish this special scholarship, with the intention of creating an endowment to last in perpetuity. This scholarship will support first-generation undergraduate nursing students who demonstrate financial need. Preference will be given to students with a military affiliation. This will honor Dr. Ford's legacy as a model interprofessional educator, beloved nursing mentor, and consummate proponent of nursing excellence.
To make a gift to the Dr. Lark Ford Nursing Excellence Scholarship in honor of Mable C. and David Ford, complete and submit the form below. If you have any questions, please contact Anna Chowdhury, School of Nursing Director of Development, at (210) 450-7308.