Some people are known for their ability to go the extra mile. Thelma Morgan has won multiple awards during her 35-year tenure at UT Southwestern, including one past award aptly called “Going the Extra Mile.” To cap it off, she won the 2020 Heart Month Step Challenge with an impressive one-day total of 85,637 steps. That’s 40 miles!

“I wanted to do the Step Challenge in honor of my dad – my hero – whom I lost to a massive heart attack four years ago. All the time when I was walking, I said to myself: ‘I’m doing it for Pops,” Ms. Morgan says.

Her Step Challenge reward? Breakfast tacos for her team delivered on March 6 by Dr. John Warner, Executive Vice President for Health System Affairs.

Ms. Morgan’s determined spirit makes her a valuable addition to any team. And that’s not just for walking. Her colleagues describe her as friendly, helpful, and pleasing.

“I love interacting with others. I can truly say that I am a ‘people person,’” she says with a smile. Which, by the way, she also won an award for – “The Smiler Award” – while working at the former St. Paul University Hospital.

Ms. Morgan’s journey to UT Southwestern came via Brookhaven, Mississippi, where she was raised. She relocated to Dallas in the 1970s and began her UTSW career in 1984 as Secretary for the former Department of Nutrition Services. During her career, she’s worked in the former Centers of Excellence Heart Institute as Department Secretary and in the Department of Pathology as Medical Secretary. She enjoys her current position as Medical Transcriptionist in Clinical Laboratory Services at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

“Helping, encouraging, and being of assistance to others are my strong suits, which I love wearing,” says Ms. Morgan.

After work, Ms. Morgan loves spending time with family and friends, singing, cooking, baking, bowling, playing board games, traveling, reading, and writing. She’s a self-described “Hallmark movie junkie.” A dedicated fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints, Ms. Morgan has also been a member of the Concord Church of Dallas for 41 years, where she enjoys singing in the choir and serving as a Bible study facilitator. She’s a proud mom of one son, Jermaine. In addition, she volunteers at local nursing homes and lives by her favorite saying: “People may forget what you said or what you did, but never how you made them feel.”