Women in STEM

The San Antonio Report and San Antonio Woman Magazine have partnered to create a series of three in-depth articles looking at the STEM ecosystem in San Antonio.

This is the second article in that series, examining SA Ready to Work, a city program aimed at training thousands of workers for highly skilled careers with better pay.

Born here, trained here: How San Antonio’s ambitious workforce experiment wants to jumpstart hiring

By Waylon Cunningham, San Antonio Report | Photography by Bria Woods, San Antonio Report

Dr. Lyssa Ochoa has a vision, but she needs help.

Sitting for a brief moment of calm in her office at the San Antonio Vascular and Endovascular Clinic (SAVE), she explains the issue she’s trying to address by pulling up two maps on her computer.

The first map shows the current concentration of diabetic amputations in San Antonio. The second map shows the areas of the city that were redlined in the 1930s.

The overlap is almost total.

What the maps illustrate, Ochoa said, is that health is about more than about individual choices; it’s about the conditions in which people are born, live, work, and age.

Ochoa had a front-row seat to the city’s glaring health inequities in the years she worked at a large medical practice. It compelled her to split off and form a clinic of her own, offering comprehensive vascular care to the city’s most underserved and diabetes-prone communities.

The four locations she first opened in 2018 have now become eight, and she’s looking to grow its number of doctors — maybe even one day open similar vascular clinics and surgery centers on the near East and West sides of town. Ochoa’s Mission Surgery Center, which adjoins the SAVE Clinic, is the only surgery center south of downtown.

But to do any of that, or even just to fill out her existing operation, she needs staff. Nurses and medical assistants. Ultrasound technologists and billing personnel. Competition for these applicants has always been fierce, and only more so under the pandemic. Workforce Solutions Alamo reports that jobs related to STEM — short for science, technology, engineering and math — are sought by local employers more than any other career path they measure.

Ochoa doesn’t want just anyone with a certificate, though. She wants someone who is motivated to learn, someone who understands the importance of that redlining map, someone who, with that knowledge, will go to great lengths to help patients.

Ideally, Ochoa would like to hire from one of San Antonio’s historically underserved communities, who might be especially passionate about helping their neighbors.

“There’s nothing better than a well-trained employee who lives close, and who understands the community that we’re serving,” she said. “Someone who’s not just capable of doing the job, but is inspired by the mission.”

She believes she’ll find these kinds of people in the city’s newly launched $230 million workforce development program.

The program, calledSA Ready to Work, is said to be the first of its kind in the country. It aims to take thousands of residents stuck in low-wage jobs and give them training for in-demand, high-paying careers. A former line cook could learn to become an IT specialist, or a rideshare driver could finish a college degree and earn an accountant’s certification. Applicants are guided through training pipelines by case managers. And those emergencies which too often derail ambitions — unexpected bills, a lack of internet access, the need for childcare — are kept at bay with $1,500 of support for each participant.

Ochoa is one of dozens of local employers that have signed a pledge with the city to participate in the program. These employers tell the program what jobs they’re looking to fill and what trainings are required for them. This equips the case managers with real-time information when they advise applicants. Employers are also committed to hiring workers from the program.

City voters overwhelmingly approved a broad outline of SA Ready to Work and a sales tax to fund it in November 2020. Since enrollment opened in May, more than 3,100 people have already signed up.

The program has been cast as a win-win for two enormous challenges in the city. Advocates call it a monumental anti-poverty effort, given urgency by the pandemic’s economic shocks but designed to counter systemic trends that far predate it. At the same time, it’s also an answer to the business community’s pleas for a more skilled workforce, including in-demand STEM positions, which has long posed a barrier in developing San Antonio’s professional economy.

Neighborhoods on the city’s South, West and East sides should be hearing a lot about the program in the coming months. COPS/Metro — a grassroots coalition of church congregations, schools and unions that campaigned aggressively for the program’s approval — is set to host hundreds of house meetings in underserved neighborhoods. For its part, the city is pushing radio ads, bus wraps, social media campaigns, and more to get the word out.

“We’re going to try to make sure the people who live in those communities are aware that this program is

here to help,” said Michael Ramsey, executive director of San Antonio’s Workforce Development Office, which is running the program.

For a Southside clinic like Ochoa’s, Ramsey said the goal of this outreach is to create a “pipeline of nurses and medical assistants who come from the communities themselves.”

At a minimum, that could help the SAVE Clinic attract applicants and retain employees. Right now, many of the city’s nurses and other professionally certified staff live on the North Side.

Carl Negley, Ochoa’s business partner and husband, said some job applicants have withdrawn after realizing that the primary clinic’s location, near Mission San Jose, would be too far of a drive. That distance was also a contributing reason why two of the clinic’s office managers recently left for jobs closer to their Northside homes.

SA Ready to Workisn’t the only community resource Ochoa and Negley have tapped. They are also welcoming a group of paid interns from CAST Med High School, one of the San Antonio Independent School District’s network of STEM-focused high schools.

The pace at the clinic is frenetic, but the vibe is friendly. On a recent Monday, clinicians performed six procedures to improve patients’ blood flow. One staffer brought in homemade tres leches cake. Staffers at all levels, even in the billing department, do everything from helping patients use the restroom to arranging transportation for them. Many volunteer to do community lectures and free screenings out in the field.

Ochoa and Negley understand that for their clinics to succeed and to retain employees, they need support, too.

Everyone at SAVE makes more than $15 an hour. One employee wants to be a registered nurse, so the clinic is subsidizing her nursing school.

“I’ll give our employees anything they want if it can help the next patient,” Negley said. “Whether it’s education, whether it’s materials, transportation, it’s this-bloodpressure-cuff-is-better or this laptop-works-better. You can have it.”

San Antonio Native Underlines Rewarding, Impactful Work at SAWS

Andrea Beymer | Vice President, Engineering & Construction An analytical skillset and an interest in local water issues piqued an interest in Andrea Beymer and led her to a career at San Antonio Water System that has spanned 25 years.

“I majored in civil engineering at Texas A&M University, with an emphasis in water resources because of the water issues I grew up hearing about,” she said. “San Antonio was facing water supply uncertainty that was threatening our community. I wanted to be part of the solution. I started my career at SAWS straight out of college.”

Now Vice President of Engineering and Construction at SAWS, Beymer has managed major projects that have helped secure San Antonio’s water supply for future generations, including the game-changing Vista Ridge pipeline that provides water from 142 miles away in Central Texas.

The opportunity to get her steel-toe boots on the ground at a job site is one of her favorite parts of the job, Beymer noted.

“As a young engineer, I was encouraged to go to project sites to learn about construction challenges. One of the things I love is the opportunity to keep learning new things, whether it’s a new construction method or just a better way to deliver a project.”

She credited the importance of positive relationships to successfully complete a project or meet a goal.

“I have learned that I need to have a team that works well together and trusts each other. I have a great team at SAWS! I am proud of the work we do and the service we provide.”

As an Alamo City native, Beymer knows firsthand the impact that SAWS makes in the community. She is responsible for executing a capital improvement program of more than $500 million per year to provide water and sewer infrastructure for the community.

Beymer encourages STEM-minded young students to take advantage of every opportunity to gain hands-on experience.

“It is gratifying to work on projects that improve your community and help it to thrive,” she said. “The thing I love most about being an engineer is to see an idea go from a drawing on paper to reality. It is incredible to be a part of a project from concept through construction and to see the positive impact it has in the community where you live.”

Those projects include the Aquifer Storage & Recovery program and Brackish Groundwater Desalination, projects, as well as improvements to the community’s sanitary sewer collection system.

One of the key projects Beymer currently oversees is the W-6 sewer project, which involves tunneling five miles in length more than 100 feet below ground to avoid impeding traffic and military activity in the JBSA-Lackland area. The project includes nearly $170 million in sewer main upgrades.

The increased capacity will serve an additional 500,000 customers for our growing city.

Akudo Anyanwu, MD, MPH

Vice President, Development | Texas Biomedical Research Institute

Dr. Akudo Anyanwu has long had a passion for global health. Born in Philadelphia to Nigerian parents, she was introduced early to global perspectives and helping others by her father, a professor of international relations. When she was 11, she helped raise funds for and deliver donations to a leprosy camp in Nigeria.

“I love science, and I am a caregiver and problem solver, so medicine was always a natural fit for me,” said Dr. Anyanwu, who studied molecular biology at Lehigh University and medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.

“But it was the era of the HIV epidemic, and I realized I wanted to impact the population level compared to the individual level,” she says. Following her medical training, Dr. Anyanwu earned a Master in Public Health from Harvard University, which helped open the door to working on the international stage. She worked on public health policy for HIV and malaria and developed programs to take treatment and prevention to scale in Rwanda and Nigeria. She was particularly drawn to the power of nonprofits and social entrepreneurship to make a difference. Notably, as Country Director for Columbia University’s Access Program, she helped establish a mechanism for countries to receive millions of dollars from The Global Fund for public health programs.

“It’s exciting to grow something and see the impact you can have on people’s lives,” Dr. Anyanwu says.

She has continued to combine her entrepreneurial spirit and passion for global health in leadership roles at Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, and Texas Biomed. As Vice President of Development, she helps raise critical funds to grow Texas Biomed’s innovative infectious disease research, global health portfolio, and education programs to train the next generation of scientists.

Dr. Anyanwu wants all young women and girls to feel empowered to follow their dreams. “Reach for the stars,” she says. “Especially in science, your perspectives are unique and needed.”

For more information please contact: Akudo Anyanwu, MD, MPH | AAnyanwu@txbiomed.org | TXBiomed.org

Brenna Halverson

UTSA Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

By Antonio Gutierrez When Brenna Halverson tells people she works in volcanology, she often gets a puzzled look followed by the remark, “Oh, you study Star Trek for a living?”

Halverson will then have to explain that volcanology is the study of volcanoes and lava. And if you’re a fan of the “Star Trek” franchise, then you know the Vulcans are the humanoid species from the planet Vulcan. Big difference, although volcanology is derived from the Latin word, “vulcan.”

“I think of it as studying the living pulse of the earth,” Halverson said. “There’s something so dynamic about volcanoes. I find great beauty in them.”

Since age 5, Halverson has had a wild fascination with volcanoes, which all began when her parents took her on a trip to Hawaii, where she saw lava flows up close. “My parents and I were able to go out to a lava flow with a park ranger,” she said. “It was just really exciting at such a young age.”

Halverson is now doing research as a Ph.D. candidate and works in UTSA’s Earth and Planetary Sciences Department. Her current research includes studying Kilauea, an active volcano on the big island of Hawaii.

“(Regarding Kilauea,) I am focused on how the rheology (the study of how a fluid moves and responds to stress) evolves in lava flows and to see how bubbles affect how the lava flows move and form,” Halverson said. She’s also studying lava flow from a volcano in central Iceland, Askja, that last erupted in 1961. “It’s located just north of the Vatnajökull glacier and has a huge crater in the middle of it,” Halverson explained. “In 1961, it had a fissure open on the side (of the volcano). The lava flowed about 4 miles in 10 hours, which was actually quite rapid.” This ties it to her research in Hawaii, as the lava flow she is working on there, the main Ahu’aila’au flow from the 2018 eruption, also traveled very rapidly.

Research is something that Halverson has always enjoyed, and she takes after her parents, who, she said, are both researchers in their respective fields. For instance, her parents were Naval dentists and worked in medical research. “They’re both scientifically and analytically minded, and they encouraged me to take a scientific path,” she said. “I like tackling a problem and learning how to fix it.”

After getting her Ph.D., Halverson has her ultimate sights set on working for the U.S. Geological Survey, the main branch of the government that studies geology and earth sciences. “A volcano observatory is where I would like to work,” she said. “They are tasked with monitoring, modeling, and determining the likelihood of an eruption occurring, as well as hazard mitigation and disaster preparedness.”