our board
COALITION
CHAIR
Lisa Owens, DO
Texas Children's Hospital
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Lisa Owens, DO, earned her BS in Microbiology from the University of Oklahoma, and continued her education at Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, where she received her DO degree in 1989. She completed her Pediatric Residency and Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine in 1996.
Dr. Owens accepted a job in Oklahoma where she became a member of a variety of community agencies, including the Tulsa County FIMR (Fetal and Infant Mortality Review). Noticing that every month, a case of a full term healthy baby who had died in an unsafe sleep environment, she became curious about why the current programs in birthing hospitals were not successful in preventing these deaths. She became involved at the National level by becoming the Oklahoma State Representative to the NICHD Safe to Sleep Campaign. She attended extensive training at the NICHD center in national and state statistics, AAP guidelines and media training. She used this training for TV, radio and print campaigns. She also appeared before the Oklahoma Legislature to urge funding for programs that support programs that reduce infant deaths.
Following her move to Texas, she found the statistics were no different. As a member of the CFRT, Karen Thomas shared the death rates after each meeting of the committee. The two of them decided to attack this problem with a community wide initiative, and joining with Dr. Hobbs, created the Montgomery County Safe Sleep Coalition.
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Organizational
development chair
Janice Hobbs, MD, MPH, FAAP
Director Neonatal services
HCA Conroe
Janice E. Hobbs MD, MPH, FAAP earned her BA in Biology from the University of Virginia. She continued her education at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA, where she earned her MD and MPH in their dual-degree program in 2008. Dr. Hobbs completed her pediatric residency at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and served as Pediatric Chief Resident from 2011-2012. After 10 years in Philadelphia, Dr. Hobbs moved to Baltimore, MD to complete her training in Neonatal/Perinatal fellowship training at Johns Hopkins and graduated in 2015.
Dr. Hobbs began working for Mednax in 2017 and currently spends most of her clinical time at HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe. She also serves as the medical director of neonatal services at HCA Conroe. Dr. Hobbs joined the Montgomery County Safe Sleep Coalition in the fall of 2019. On the Board of Directors, she serves as the Organizational Developmental Chair to help obtain charitable, non-profit designation and file the necessary documentation to maintain 501c3 designation.
COALITION
Secretary
Karen Thomas, MSN, RNC
Karen received her BSN from Baylor University in 2003 and her Masters of Science in Nursing Administration and Leadership from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston in 2013. She has also completed a certification in Neonatal Nursing and in Legal Nurse Consulting from Duke University.
Faculty - Lecturer
Texas A&M University College of Nursing
Karen worked for Texas Children's Hospital The Woodlands for seven years, in the NICU and most recently as the House Supervisor. She served as a data entry coordinator for The Montgomery County Child Fatality Review Team from 2018-2021. She is now a faculty lecturer at Texas A&M College of nursing and plans to pursue a PhD in Nursing Science starting in the fall of 2025. As a founding member of this coalition, Karen serves as secretary, organizing meetings, compiling resources, leading community outreach, and developing/maintaining the coalition website.
our Mission
Chasing Zero
The Montgomery County Safe Sleep Coalition aims to eliminate preventable, sleep-related deaths over a 5-year period by increasing safe sleep awareness among clinicians and families in our community. We plan to accomplish this through standardization of education, community partnerships, and county-wide community outreach initiatives.
We want to make sure every baby in Montgomery County has the best chance to celebrate turning 1 year old!
The Business of Birthdays