LORRAINE BIRABIL | Co-founder and Executive Director, Barbara Jordan Leadership Institute

Lorraine is an attorney and dedicated servant leader who has served in various capacities at federal, state, and local levels to help shape legislation and policy for the benefit of working people. While serving as a state legislator, Lorraine was a tireless advocate on the issues that matter most including healthcare, education, economic opportunity, and justice reform. She has helped organize voter protection efforts, trained attorneys in election law, and played an important role in major election law litigation efforts that led to court ordered Texas redistricting maps as well as stopped Texas from implementing Voter ID as drafted. In her free time, Lorraine has served fellow Texans in a variety of capacities including service on public boards, and mentoring up and coming community organizers.

Lorraine is currently executive director of the Barbara Jordan Leadership Institute, a nonprofit that provides a comprehensive approach to community based leadership in action through community education and empowerment. She has been instrumental in getting legislation passed and organizing events during the first official Uterine Fibroid Awareness Month in Texas.

TERESSA PHILLIPS | UFE Patient

Teressa is the VP of human resources for a large healthcare organization in the DFW metroplex. She has been in HR for over 18 years years and has a BBA in organizational development and human resource management from UNT.

After the untimely death of her beloved mother, and a mother to an amazing daughter herself, Teressa took the reigns of her own mental, physical, and emotional health and began strongly advocating for tests and appointments to make sure her body, mind, and life goals were all in sync. Her advocacy for herself and her ability to ask questions in her network, personal and professional, and her knowledge about the prevalence of fibroids among Black women and search for alternatives to the potential complications and implications of a hysterectomy, led Teressa to Dr. Slonim. We are very grateful for Teressa’s willingness to share her personal uterine fibroid journey with us.

SUZANNE SLONIM, MD | Founder and Medical Director, Fibroid Institute

Dr. Slonim is a recognized interventional radiologist and leading fibroids expert in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex who has performed more than 30,000 procedures, trained numerous doctors in her technique, presented at more than 28 national medical association meetings, and authored over 23 peer-reviewed publications in her 30+ year career.

She has consistently received the Texas Super Doctor award in Texas Monthly and voted D Magazine’s Best Doctor in Dallas in her category. She is a Dallas Business Journal Woman in Business award honoree. She also is a sought-after speaker and author of the 2018 book, Pain-Free Periods — Banish Menstrual Misery, Fight Fibroids, and Get Your Life Back.

Dr. Slonim is board certified in radiology as well as vascular and interventional radiology. Before founding Fibroid Institute, Dr. Slonim was the first woman to serve as medical staff president at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. She was also a partner and president of Radiology Consultants Association. She has become a national advocate for treating uterine fibroids without surgery.