Dr. Subi Gandhi, Tarleton State University Professor of Public Health in the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Public Health and Nutrition Science and co-Director of the Center for Rural Resilience, secured a $100,000 Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Principal Investigator and Program Director, Dr. Gandhi is spearheading the development of the Rural Mental Health Network (RMHN), a strategic initiative aimed at strengthening behavioral health infrastructure across Brown, Comanche and Erath counties. Her leadership reflects Tarleton State\u2019s commitment to advancing rural resilience through innovative, community-driven solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The RMHN will unite key regional partners \u2014 Comanche County Medical Center, AccelHealth and the Center for Life Resources \u2014 to build a sustainable framework for care coordination, digital health integration and culturally responsive service delivery. The initiative is supported by UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, which will provide technical guidance in collective impact and integrated health systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joining Dr. Gandhi in this interdisciplinary effort are two Tarleton State faculty members, Dr. Cecilia Marrugo Puello in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Dr. Jean Lonie Dudley in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, whose expertise will enrich the network\u2019s community engagement and rural outreach strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This planning grant focuses on infrastructure development rather than direct service delivery, allowing the team to conduct needs assessments, engage stakeholders and design a strategic roadmap for future implementation and funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Gandhi\u2019s work exemplifies Tarleton State\u2019s leadership in rural public health and its dedication to serving underserved communities through collaboration, innovation and empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read the full news release here: https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/grant-to-allow-tarleton-state-key-partners-to-strengthen-rural-mental-health-in-region\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr. Subi Gandhi, Tarleton State University Professor of Public Health in the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Public Health and Nutrition Science and co-Director of the Center for Rural Resilience, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":960,"featured_media":7528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"swmmangold1","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/author\/swmmangold1\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/67\/2025\/11\/Untitled-720-x-480-px-2-300x200.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Uncategorized<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Uncategorized<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 months ago","modified":"Updated 5 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 4, 2025","modified":"Updated on November 4, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 4, 2025 4:20 pm","modified":"Updated on November 4, 2025 4:23 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7524"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7529,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524\/revisions\/7529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}