College of Medicine announces two recipients of Distinguished Alumni Award

Scott McAninch, MD, and Laura Tenner, MD, MPH, graduates of the Texas A&M University College of Medicine in 2003 and 2007, respectively, have been chosen as recipients of the 2022 College of Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award.

The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor the College of Medicine bestows upon a former student. It is awarded to former students who—through distinction in their chosen field of endeavor and dedication to the college—exemplify the university’s core values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service.

Scott McAninch, ’03 MD (posthumous)

McAninch was an emergency medicine physician at Baylor Scott & White Memorial Hospital and McClain’s Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Texas A&M College of Medicine.

In his roles, he provided exceptional bedside and classroom clinical instruction for emergency medicine residents, medical students, nursing students and pre-hospital providers, including formal lectures, simulation labs, ultrasound training, emergency airway management and resident mentorship. In 2014, he earned the Baylor Scott & White Emergency Medicine “Outstanding Clinical Faculty Award.”

McAninch received his bachelor’s degree at Dallas Baptist University in 1999 and graduated with his medical degree at the Texas A&M College of Medicine in 2003. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Texas at Houston Medical School in 2006.

He also served as the medical team manager for the Texas Task Force I in College Station since 2009. Prior to that, he served as an emergency medicine physician at Seton Harker Heights Hospital and as the emergency department medical director, trauma medical director and an emergency medicine physician at Metroplex Adventist Hospital.

He was also a contributor to several peer-reviewed articles and served in the United States Army through deployments with Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. There, he was a flight surgeon and a battalion surgeon, training other doctors and medical professionals and providing supplies for hospitals.

McAninch was awarded numerous medals throughout his military career, including the Bronze Star Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal and the Army Service Ribbon Medal.

In 2021, McAninch passed away from lung cancer, as a result of being exposed to burn pits while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was a beloved educator, father, husband and clinician who has left a lasting legacy at the Texas A&M College of Medicine.

Laura Tenner, ’07 MD, MPH

Tenner is an associate professor in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology with a focus on gastrointestinal cancer. She will also serve as the Directorship of Cancer Survivorship beginning in July at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

She received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Dallas Constantine College in 2003 and graduated with her medical degree at the Texas A&M College of Medicine in 2007. She then completed her residency in internal medicine and fellowship in hematology-oncology at Indiana University School of Medicine, in 2010 and 2014, respectively. She also completed her clinical ethics fellowship at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2013. She later received a Master of Public Health in public health and health services research at George Washington University in 2017.

Before her current role, Tenner served as chief resident in the Department of Internal Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine from 2010 to 2011. She then served as an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center from 2014 to 2020. She later served as an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center from 2020 to 2021.

In 2021, she spearheaded and co-hosted an “Alumni Conversations: Life after MD” series at the Texas A&M College of Medicine to help prepare current medical students for residency and subsequent practice in their disciplines.

She also spoke at the College of Medicine’s “Alumni Leaders” series, providing background on her extensive career path that has demonstrated her outstanding leadership in all avenues of clinical practice and patient care, innovative research, teaching and mentoring and community service.

Her research focuses on principles of ethics to inform health services, cancer care delivery and health policy research. She served on the Texas Society of Clinical Oncology Board for three years, advocating for cancer patients and physicians in the Texas legislature. She has also served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Board of Ethics, ASCO Cancer Prevention Committee and ASCO Government Relations Committee. She was also chosen as one of two physicians across the United States for the ASCO Health Policy and Leadership Fellowship, which she completed in 2020.