Pat Kalmans

Pat, while never officially part of the student workforce in SHC, was a major player in the early work of SOCM and ETRC.  She primarily worked on setting up and finding resources, including funding, for the Mountain People’s Health Clinics (MPHC).

She graduated Vanderbilt in 1973 and eventually went to law school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.  She was a young litigant in a landmark case of libel, brought by a Washington, D.C. politician who Nixon had nominated to the TVA Board, but whose nomination was defeated after publication of his backstory.

Pat eventually moved back to Texas, her home state. She settled in San Antonio where she became a strong advocate for education and women’s health issues, and was deeply involved in Jewish communal life. She also established and managed an all-women commercial law practice.

Related Content:

“It isn’t easy to catch a pig, not even in the confines of the back of a truck.”

[Story contributed by Pat Kalmans] The whole bee thing with Bill started in Nashville on the Vanderbilt campus. Bill had been wanting to raise bees for a while, but didn’t want to necessarily mail order the suckers.  One day, literally… Continued

John Kennedy

Contributed by John E. Davis, November 2019. The summer before his final year at the Vanderbilt Law School and during the summer and fall after his graduation, John Kennedy worked for the Student Health Coalition in 1971 and 1972. He… Continued

On the Bradley’s motivation to organize a community clinic in Petros, Tenn.

Kate Bradley frames the initiative to organize a local health council and community clinic as a direct response to the Petros health fair’s preliminary identification of needs. She details early fundraising efforts, including Pat Kalmans’ key role in securing grant… Continued

Bill Corr reflects on the Coalition’s and Center’s roles in providing avenues to act on values

Bill Corr recounts his introduction to the Student Health Coalition (SHC) and Center for Health Services (CHS) shortly after graduating from Vanderbilt Law School. He was working with the Tennessee Department of Public Health at the time Irwin Venick encouraged… Continued