Two longtime School of Nursing professors retired in 2026 and were awarded Emerita status in recognition of their distinguished service
Alex García
Alexandra A. García, PhD, RN, APHN-BC, FAAN, served as professor in the School of Nursing and Interim Director of the St. David’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Populations (CHPR). She previously served as the Graduate Advisor from 2020 to 2022, Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs from 2022 to 2024 and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs from 2024 to 2025.
Dr. García is also a courtesy professor of Population Health at Dell Medical School, where she served from 2016 to 2020 as Chief of the Division of Community Engagement and Health Equity. She also held educational leadership roles at Dell Med, including associate director of the Primary Care, Family and Community Medicine Clerkship and director of the Distinction in Population Health project from 2018 to 2019.
“As a deeply committed educator, Dr. García has taught across the spectrum of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs at UT Austin and Dell Medical School,” Dean Kavita Radhakrishnan said. “She has developed and led innovative courses in public health nursing, global health, epidemiology and health promotion. Dr. García is a highly regarded mentor who has chaired or served on dozens of PhD dissertations, DNP scholarly projects, master’s and undergraduate honors projects and she is widely recognized for her generosity, rigor and dedication to student and faculty development.”
Her research focuses on social, cultural and economic factors that influence self-management of chronic diseases and symptom experiences, particularly among Latino adults with type 2 diabetes and other co-occurring chronic illnesses.
She previously directed faculty-led study abroad programs to Guadalajara, Mexico, and Heredia, Costa Rica. She also collaborates with clinicians and nurses in Eldoret, Kenya, on education and research projects.
Dr. García is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Texas Public Health Association. She is past President of the Texas Public Health Association and past Chair of the Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association.
Dr. García received her Diploma in Registered Nursing from The Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing; her Bachelor of Science from The College of Notre Dame of Maryland and her Master of Science from The University of Maryland at Baltimore. She earned her PhD in nursing from The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing.
Sharon Horner
Sharon D. Horner, PhD, RN, MC-CNS, FAAN, received her PhD in Nursing and her MSN in Parent-Child Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia prior to joining the UT Austin School of Nursing faculty in 1994. Her research focuses on improving the health of children and families, with particular emphasis on childhood asthma.
As principal investigator (PI) or co-PI, she has been awarded $7.6 million from extramural funding sources and has collaborated as a co-investigator (Co-I) on projects totaling an additional $8 million. Her funded research has received support from the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, as well as the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Dr. Horner’s scholarship is prolific and enduring,” Dean Radhakrishnan said. “She has authored nearly 100 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and invited journal columns and has delivered almost 200 refereed and keynote research presentations at international, national and regional conferences. Her work is widely cited and has had a sustained impact on nursing science, pediatric health, family nursing and health equity research.”
Dr. Horner is perhaps best known for her intervention research with school-aged children with asthma and their families, particularly those living in rural communities. This NIH-funded intervention work focused on strengthening asthma-management behaviors among children and parents and improving health outcomes. Her Enhancing Children’s and Parents’ Asthma Management intervention became a significant component of her long-running program of research.
The intervention produced significant improvements in children’s asthma-related quality of life, asthma self-management behaviors and skills in using a metered-dose inhaler, along with reductions in asthma severity, hospitalizations and emergency department visits.
Dr. Horner is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and was inducted into the Sigma International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in 2022. At UT Austin, she served as Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Cain Center for Nursing Research from 2011 to 2024 and as director of the St. David’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Populations (CHPR) from 2015 to 2025. She also held the Dolores V. Sands Chair in Nursing Research from 2011–2024. A longtime member of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, Dr. Horner was elected to the 3-year sequence of leadership roles of President-elect, President and Immediate Past President (2015–2018). She has been honored as recipient of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists’ 2014 Sue B. Davidson Service Award, the Southern Nursing Research Society 2013 Award for Research in Minority Health and the Texas Rural Health Association, 2013 Researcher of the Year.
Drs. Alexandra García and Sharon Horner both retired in June but will continue their work as educators and researchers.