Gift honors doctor by funding chair in his name

In the early 1990s, Robert Mennel, M.D., played a large part in the last two years of Mary Alice Worsham’s life, treating her as she struggled with treatments for leukemia.

 

The care he gave her made a lasting impression on her husband, Gordon Worsham, M.D., and her family, who have chosen to honor Dr. Mennel’s legacy at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

 

To say thank you, Dr. Worsham and his wife, Sudie, have funded a gift annuity that will ultimately establish the Robert G. Mennel Chair in Hematology-Oncology at Baylor Dallas.

 

“We want to honor Dr. Mennel for his years of dedicated service to Baylor Health Care System,” said Dr. Worsham. “My children and I were privileged to have his care for Mary Alice during her long battle with leukemia. He was an astute specialist, counselor and confidant.”

 

Mary Alice’s son, Richard, feels that Dr. Mennel’s care helped lengthen his mother’s life.

 

“The care Baylor showed our mother was remarkable,” Richard said. “It’s something that other institutions should aspire to. If not for Baylor, she wouldn’t have had that last year.”

 

Joel Allison, president and chief executive officer of Baylor Health Care System, expressed his appreciation for Dr. Mennel’s long legacy of quality care.

 

“Thank you for the exceptional care you provided Mary Alice Worsham and have provided countless other patients and their families at Baylor over the years,” he said. “You epitomize the highest ideals Baylor stands for as we continually strive to carry out our mission of providing safe, quality, compassionate care to every person who enters our doors.”

 

The gift will help create a program of distinction in hematology and oncology, said Alan Miller, Ph.D., M.D., medical director of the cancer center at Baylor Dallas.

 

Dr. Mennel has been on the medical staff of Baylor Dallas since 1979. He is the medical director of clinical oncology at Baylor Dallas.

 

For more information about planned giving, contact Cynthia Krause at 214.820.7928 or Cynthia.Krause@BaylorHealth.edu.