Governor Abbott Appoints Seven to Texas Medical Board
Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Ada Booth, M.D. and Ebony Todd and reappointed Michael Cokinos, Kandace Farmer, D.O., LuAnn Morgan, Jayaram Naidu, M.D., and Sherif Zaafran, M.D. to the Texas Medical Board for terms set to expire on April 13, 2027. The Board regulates the practice of medicine in Texas.
Ebony Todd of Fort Hood is an attorney and member of Jackson Todd & Lambert, PLLC. She previously served as a judge advocate for the Department of the Army before her retirement from the service. She currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Greater Killeen Community Clinic and as a service chair with Rotary International. Todd received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Baylor University and a Juris Doctor degree from Texas Wesleyan School of Law, now the Texas A&M School of Law. She is currently a Masters of Law candidate at the University of Alabama.
Ada Booth, M.D. of Corpus Christi is a Child Abuse Pediatrician with the Child Abuse Resource & Evaluation team at Driscoll Children’s Hospital. She is a member of the Texas Pediatric Society, Nueces County Medical Society, Corpus Christi Pediatric Society, Coastal Bend Child Fatality Review Team, and the Ray E. Helfer Society. Booth received a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies: Pediatric Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a Doctor of Medicine from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Michael Cokinos of Houston is founder and president of Cokinos Energy Corporation. He serves on the Board of Directors at South Texas College of Law in Houston and is a Board Director of Greek Orthodox Legacy Fund and a member of the Houstonian Club. Additionally, Cokinos is the former mayor pro tem and city councilman of Hunter's Creek Village, substitute teacher for Spring Branch I.S.D., past chairman and police commissioner of the Memorial Village Police Department and a member and past chairman of the Texas A&M University at Galveston Board of Visitors. Cokinos received a Bachelor of Arts from Texas A&M University and is a graduate of the Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business Executive Management Program.
Kandace Farmer, D.O. of Highland Village is a radiologist and breast imaging specialist in diagnostic radiology at Rose Imaging Specialists. She is a member of the Texas Medical Association, Society of Breast Imaging, American College of Osteopathic Medicine and the American Osteopathic College of Radiology Mammography Committee. Additionally, she is a member of The Links Incorporated, past member of the North Texas Women Business League and past volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club. Farmer received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and she completed her breast fellowship training at Johns Hopkins University.
LuAnn Morgan of Midland work is retired after over 40 years of service in the electric utility industry and volunteering for nonprofits. She began her career with TXU Electric, eventually becoming District Manager serving 11 West Texas Counties. Upon early retirement, she became an adjunct instructor at The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) in Statistics and Marketing, served three terms on Midland City Council, and served as a past gubernatorial appointee of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. She has served as president and campaign chair of United Way of Midland, Chair of Economic Development for the Midland Chamber of Commerce, Finance for Boy Scouts of America, Senior Services Chair and Rotary International Exchange Program Chair. She is a Leadership Texas graduate and co-founding member of two nonprofits, Midland Humane Coalition and Communities in Schools of the Permian Basin. Morgan received a Bachelor of Science from Texas Tech University and a Master of Business Administration from UTPB.
Jayaram Naidu, M.D. of Odessa is a physician and president of Naidu Clinic and an assistant clinical professor for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He has been in private practice as an internist for over 40 years. He is a member of the Texas Medical Association, Ector County Medical Society and the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center Advisory Board and a past board member of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, he is a former gubernatorial appointee of the Chronic Kidney Disease Task force. Naidu received a medical degree from the Guntur Medical College in Andhra, India in 1966, and completed his residency Internal medicine at the A.C. Logan Memorial Hospital in New York.
Sherif Zaafran, M.D. of Houston is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist and is the Vice-Chair of the Clinical Governance Board for US Anesthesia Partners for the Gulf Coast region as well as a member of the Clinical Governance Board for US Anesthesia Partners Texas. He serves on the Board of Directors of Lucid Lane and is a member of the FDA Analgesia and Anesthesia Drug Product Advisory Committee. He has also served as subcommittee chair on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pain Management Taskforce. He is also a delegate for the Texas Medical Association (TMA), Texas Society of Anesthesiologists, delegate and Fellow for the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and a member of the TMA delegation to the American Medical Association. Zaafran studied biochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin and finished medical school and residency at The University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston. He is the current chair of the Texas Medical Board.