Project Team

Dr. Lichorad has expertise in women’s health services and is board-certified with the American Board of Family Medicine and a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Lichorad is an Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Faculty Physician, School of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center. She is the Principal Investigator/Program Director for the breast and cervical cancer prevention grant. Dr. Lichorad has primary responsibility for women’s health services at Texas A&M Health Family Care and oversees the development of the simulation training modules for training of the resident physicians and nursing students.

Dr. McKnight currently serves as Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Primary Care and Rural Medicine within the Texas A&M University School of Medicine, Director of Residency Recruitment for the Texas A&M Family Medicine Residency program, and Medical Director of the Texas A&M Human Clinical Research Facility . He is a team leader for Texas C-STEP, a cancer prevention, screening, and education collaborative for rural and underserved populations across central and eastern Texas. Jason is board certified in family medicine and has been named a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Prior to medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston Medical School (McGovern Medical School), he completed graduate training in nutrition, metabolomics, and amino acid biochemistry from Texas A&M University. Jason’s primary appointment is for clinical and medical education, in which he provides care in both the inpatient and outpatient setting in Bryan-College Station, and trains medical students and resident physicians in undergraduate and graduate medical education. He also has teaching responsibilities at the graduate level, lecturing frequently about the responsible conduct of research and advising on graduate student committees. In 2023, Jason was elected to the Texas A&M University School of Medicine Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators. In addition to his education appointment, he has service obligations to the University including serving as physician member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Jason is the current Chair of the Texas Medical Association Committee on Rural Health and consults with the Texas Department of State Health Services as a member of the Cancer Alliance of Texas. Finally, Jason conducts lung, colorectal, and liver cancer prevention services and research in rural and underserved populations through grant support from CPRIT. His projects have aided thousands of rural and underserved patients by giving them access to free cancer screening services such as colonoscopy, fecal immunochemical testing (FIT), low-dose lung CT scans, Hepatitis C screening, and liver imaging/diagnostics. Individuals have also received education on appropriate cancer screening, cancer risk reduction, tobacco cessation counselling, and free nicotine replacement therapy as part of Texas C-STEP’s initiatives. A vast number of communities and medical providers in central and eastern Texas have been provided education services and healthcare system navigation assistance from Texas C-STEP, all thanks to CPRIT’s funding support. Growing up in an economically disadvantaged rural community in deep east Texas, Jason has always been passionate about rural healthcare, improving access to high-quality medical care, and improving rural health outcomes.

Dr. Kroll is a triple board-certified adult, family, and psychiatric nurse practitioner (ANP-C, FNP-BC & PMHNP-BC), a Clinical Associate Professor, and the Associate Dean for Clinical and Outreach Affairs for the School of Nursing. She has an extensive background in academia, research, and clinical practice and have experience in leading grand-funded projects and research with a focus on rural healthcare. She is currently the Project Director for HRSA grants TXAN Mobile e-STAR- Texas A&M Nursing Mobile Expanding School-based Telebehavioral Access and Resources, NExSTEP – Nurse-led Expanded Substance Use Disorder Training and Education Program and TXAN Mobile CARE – Texas A&M College of Nursing Mobile Care Access through Rural Engagement and Education and the recently received funding from the TLL Temple Foundation to increase access to primary and mental health care in East Texas. These clinical endeavors offer great opportunities to deliver needed cancer screening opportunities in counties where healthcare is needed the most. Previously, she has worked on clinical research trials including but not limited to trial management, IRB approval, staffing, project management, implementation and evaluation, participant recruitment and retention, and data collection. She is well versed in delivering exceptional patient care and curriculum development.

Dr. Lockman is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at Texas A&M School of Public Health and Evaluation Director for the Southwest Rural Health Research Center. She is an interdisciplinary health policy researcher exploring how place matters for Americans’ access to health care services and views of public health and health policy issues. Her work specifically focuses on challenges affecting rural health care systems, including improving patient-provider communication and reducing barriers to care in rural communities, with a focus on cancer prevention and screening.

Dr. Colwell is a Professor of Health Behavior at the Texas A&M School of Public Health.  He has over 30 years of experience researching smoking and vaping among adolescents and young adults as well as tobacco use in sub-Saharan Africa.  Among other projects, he serves as an Investigator on the Lung Cancer screening grant from the Cancer Prevention  & Research Institute of Texas.

Dr. Pope is an Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Family Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Pope is Board Certified in Family Medicine and has been a faculty member of the Department of Family & Community Medicine since 1996. He serves as a contracted provider for Hospice Brazos Valley and is a member of the American Association for Primary Care Endoscopy and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Dr. Pope is involved in community outreach and is the recipient of the Texas A&M Health Science Center President's Award for Excellence in Community Outreach. Dr. Pope is also fluent in Spanish.

Dr. Williamson is a Clinical Associate Professor and Associate Program Director at the Texas A&M Health Family Care Family Medicine Residency Program. He is a full spectrum family physician who performs endoscopy, women’s health services, medication for opioid use disorder, and inpatient care while training the next generation of physicians to do the same for rural America. Dr. Williamson is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and provides clinical services in colorectal cancer screening and prevention through our Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) grants.

Dr. Vargas is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Texas A&M School of Nursing. She is a registered nurse and a family nurse practitioner. Dr. Vargas serves as Co-Investigator for our CPRIT grant, where she oversees and serves as a preceptor for  nursing and nurse practitioner students in direct patient care during grant-supported rural well-woman clinics. Dr. Vargas is also fully bilingual in both English and Spanish.

Dr. Page is an Associate Professor at the Texas A&M College of Nursing. She is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse/Certified Nurse Midwife with more than 3 decades of providing services to at-risk and underserved women. Dr. Page supervises nursing and nurse practitioner students providing direct patient care before, during and after well-woman clinic procedures.