LBJ Hospital Administrator Devotes Life to Public Health

Growing up under the watchful eye of her grandmother in the impoverished Houston subdivision of Acres Home profoundly affected Dr. Margo Hilliard, administrator of Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital and senior vice president of its parent organization, the Harris County Hospital District.

"I saw good, hard-working people forego basic healthcare needs because they were uninsured and could not afford to pay for their care," said Dr. Hilliard. "I resolved at an early age to become a physician and someday return to Acres Home and make quality health care available to everyone."

Over the years, Dr. Hilliard developed the belief that public healthcare systems, like the Hospital District's, work best when composed of professionals of diverse backgrounds, skills and experiences. Today, she tirelessly works to achieve balance and adhere to the Hospital District's mission of improving "our community's health by delivering high-quality health care to Harris County residents and by training the next generation of health professionals."

Dr. Hilliard has been LBJ Hospital's only administrator since it first opened in 1989. As administrator of the 332 licensed-bed facility, she oversees the operation of a Level III Trauma Center, one of the busiest in the region. LBJ Hospital offers a full complement of services. Annually, LBJ staff handles about 84,500 emergency patient visits and 14,500 inpatient admissions. In addition, LBJ Hospital has delivered nearly 69,000 babies to residents in Harris County over the last 10 years. The hospital has a proud affiliation with The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

Initially interested in geriatric care because of her grandmother's influence, Dr. Hilliard found the specialty emotionally draining. Too many of her patients were dying, instead of getting well.

"Too many of my patients suffered needlessly because of long-neglected conditions that were easily preventable with early detection and appropriate treatment," said Dr. Hilliard.

As a result, she refocused her interests on pediatric care. The change made her happier and gave her a sense of purpose. Her eventual residency at Baylor College of Medicine and her work at the Hospital District's former Jefferson Davis Hospital reinforced her belief that socio-economic factors contribute greatly to an individual's poor health and substandard quality of life.

A native Houstonian, Dr. Hilliard graduated valedictorian of her 1963 class at Booker T. Washington High School. In the years to follow, her education pursuits would take her across the country and expose her to other settings where poverty remained the most pervasive factor in determining a person's well-being.

Dr. Hilliard obtained a biology degree in 1967 from Texas Southern University. She completed a year of postgraduate study as a Robert Woods Johnson Fellow at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania before receiving her medical degree from State University of New York in Brooklyn. Her move to New York City had been a dream since high school when she read The Making of a Surgeon, a book about a physician's work while completing his residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, the oldest public hospital in the nation.

Following medical school, she completed an internship through Cornell Medical School at New York Hospital. She returned to Houston in 1973 and completed a pediatric residency and infectious disease fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine.

Her residency took her to the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units of Jeff Davis Hospital. There she saw firsthand the tremendous needs of Houstonians for adequate public healthcare resources. She recalls at times the labor units being so full, that women were forced to give birth in the halls. Despite this, she remembers the hard work of dedicated staff to provide high-quality care under difficult conditions.

In 1976, Dr. Hilliard joined the Department of Community Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine where she worked in seven of the Hospital District's network of neighborhood health centers. Two years later, she decided to return to school and received a master's degree in public health from the University of California at Berkeley.

Upon her return to Houston, she accepted the position of physician in chief with Baylor and finally achieved her childhood dream of providing health care to the residents of Acres Home. Five years later and a little burned-out by the bureaucracy, she accepted a position as a staff pediatrician for Kelsey-Seybold Clinic.

This move proved to be short-lived. An unexpected telephone call from Dr. James Haughton, director of the City of Houston Department of Health and Human Services, convinced her to return to public health as assistant director of the department's Division of Personal Health Services. Under Dr. Haughton's guidance, she learned practical skills for planning and managing large clinics that served diverse and poor populations.

She left the City of Houston in 1988, and returned to the Hospital District, this time as administrator of Jeff Davis Hospital. Her hiring came under the direction of Hospital District President and CEO Lois J. Moore.

Dr. Hilliard reflects fondly on the experience of working with Ms. Moore.

"Ms. Moore will always remain my pre-eminent role model of strength, dedication and determination," said Dr. Hilliard. "All public health professionals should aspire to be like her if they hope to make a difference in the services for uninsured and underserved populations."

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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