NATURAL ELEMENT

IN HER NATURAL ELEMENT

For Cynthia Pickett-Stevenson, the beauty and power of God’s natural creation have remained a lodestar throughout her life. From having treasured childhood memories around Galveston Bay to taking solace in the outdoors during life’s difficult moments, Pickett-Stevenson says she is deeply touched by the healing power of nature. She has sought to share that blessing with others. That passion helped launch the Center for Health & Nature in 2018, a unique collaboration among Houston Methodist, Texas A&M University and Texan By Nature, a conservation group founded by former First Lady Laura Bush. “I’ve always believed that God’s glorious creation is pivotal to wellness and healing,” says Pickett-Stevenson, an accomplished attorney, philanthropist and conservationist. “There’s nothing else like this Center anywhere in the world, and I truly believe it can help change the world.” This one-of-a-kind convergence of medical innovation, community leadership and expertise across a range of disciplines focuses on developing evidence-based, medically sound methods of using nature to promote healing and wellness. Since its launch, the Center for Health & Nature has gained critical momentum by assembling leading talent who conduct groundbreaking studies. They measure how exposure to nature impacts a patient’s well-being. Further boosting the Center, Pickett-Stevenson and her husband recently made a commitment to establish the Cynthia Pickett-Stevenson and Donald E. Stevenson Chair in Health & Nature in honor of Dr. Robert E. Jackson. The endowment will support physician-scientists and scientists who study the effects of nature on cardiovascular health, wellness and disease prevention. Dr. Jackson, the C. Richard Stasney, M.D. Distinguished Chair in Performing Arts Medicine at Houston Methodist, also helped spearhead the Center’s creation. Dr. Jackson and Pickett-Stevenson became close while he cared for her late mother. Pickett-Stevenson notes Dr. Jackson’s expert care added quality years to her mother’s life. “Dr. Jackson is my dear friend, and he is my brother by choice,” she says. Pickett-Stevenson credits her mother with instilling an abiding love of nature and the outdoors. After she married, Pickett-Stevenson and her parents even built vacation homes on adjacent properties in Chambers County to enjoy the beauty of Galveston Bay. During her mother’s long illness and ultimate passing in 2014, Pickett-Stevenson found solace in nature. “My faith walk in search of healing over the loss of my mother was charged with a longing for nature, which is planted in our human soul,” Pickett-Stevenson says. “The connection among nature, health and healing is simply divine.” That exciting intersection of nature, science and wellness is the focus of the Center’s research projects, which currently include studying the effects of virtual nature, using nature to reduce health care worker burnout and increasing the use of nature exposure as a physician-prescribed treatment.

Additionally, Houston Methodist will construct a rooftop healing garden that will not only serve as a resource for patients, families and hospital staff to enjoy but also will provide a laboratory for researchers to measure the day-to-day impact nature has on patients’ health. All those initiatives align with Pickett-Stevenson’s priority to share the healing power of nature with others. “I go walking and see the beauty of birds nesting in the trees or flying across the water,” says Pickett-Stevenson, who will soon offer her late mother’s home and the surrounding property as a mini retreat to Houston Methodist’s front-line workers. “I remember what truly matters.”

CYNTHIA PICKETT-STEVENSON AND DONALD STEVENSON AT THE KATY L. ROOKERY CREATED IN HONOR OF CYNTHIA’S MOTHER, KATHLEEN LLOYD-PICKETT, ON THEIR PROPERTY IN CHAMBERS COUNTY