Governor Abbott Reappoints Three to Advisory Committee to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments
Governor Greg Abbott has reappointed Sanjay Adhia, M.D., Denise Oncken, and Roger Rodriguez to the Advisory Committee to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments for terms set to expire on February 1, 2027. The committee advises the board and the director of the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments on matters related to offenders with medical or mental impairments and perform other duties imposed by the board.
Sanjay Adhia, M.D. of Sugar Land is a Psychiatrist, who treats patients at Memorial Hermann TIRR and Avenue 360, and serves as the medical director of Ekklesia Telepsychiatry & Mental Health. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the McGovern Medical School at University of Texas Health. He also assists attorneys and others nationwide as an expert witness and independent medical examiner in his private forensic practice. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians, and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. He is board-certified in Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Brain Injury Medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Adhia completed his Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Psychiatry Residency at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, and received a Doctor of Medicine from MS Ramaiah Medical College.
Denise Oncken of Houston is an Assistant District Attorney with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and Bureau Chief over the Special Victims and Mental Health Bureau, which includes Crimes Against Children, Adult Sex Crimes and Trafficking, Family Violence, Mental Health, Victims Services, and Child Fatality. She is a member and co-chair of the Senior Lawyers Committee with the Houston Bar Association and a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Texas District and County Attorney’s Association. In a volunteer capacity, she has served as a chapter chair of the Arthritis Foundation and is a member of the Houston Bar Foundation and the Texas Prosecutor Society. Oncken received a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston and a Juris Doctor Degree from South Texas College of Law at Houston.
Roger Rodriguez of El Paso is a presiding judge of a municipal court within El Paso County. He is vice president of the Binational Commission Rule of Law and former member of the Texas State Bar Municipal Court Association, Texas State Bar Committee on Taxation, and the Texas State Bar Committee on Criminal Justice. He volunteers with the American Patriots Veterans Association, EP BUILD, and the Network, Int. Business Association. Rodriguez received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The University of Texas at El Paso, a Juris Doctor degree from Texas Tech Law School, and a Master of Laws degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
These appointments are subject to Senate confirmation.