Danika Franks

Danika Franks, M.D., is a board certified emergency medicine physician and the founder and chief strategist for Community Flourish, LLC. Community Flourish (CF) is a consultancy that partners with design oriented professionals, thinkers and innovators within the healthcare and education industry to redefine the functional space where healthcare exchanges occur. CF elevates how healthcare and healthcare education is done by designing the physical space that matches the rigor of the science of healing and delivers the gold standard physical environment. CF creates an environment where every human in healthcare is the priority. Combining 20 years of experience in emergency medicine clinical practice, medical education administration and interior space design, Dr. Franks brings rich experiences in startups, hospital and healthcare environments and medical education training spaces.

Dr. Franks most recently served as the inaugural Dean of Students for the TCU School of Medicine. Her special areas of interest include community engagement and community well-being. Dr. Franks developed a longitudinal medical student learning community model that engages clinical and non-clinical service-learning opportunities in partnership with Fort Worth community leaders. These learning community service-learning models have contributed positively toward building trust within the local communities as well as providing context for learners to best understand the patient population that they serve in their environment. Additionally, Dr. Franks developed the THRIVE Well-Being Curriculum which provides a longitudinal experiential learning framework to promote practices that establish well-being for undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education and the clinical practice space.

Dr. Franks is a graduate of the Physician Development Coaching Fellowship and utilizes coaching as a framework for supporting teams, mentees and professional associations across the arc of their professional identity formation. She has mentored and worked with students on multiple platforms stemming from her work as a high school biology teacher. Dr. Franks currently serves as a board member and Vice Chair for the Foundation for the Young Women’s Leadership Academy, serving the young women of Fort Worth and encouraging them to pursue careers in STEM.

Dr. Franks is the current Executive Director for The Court Ministry (TCM), a new 501(c)(3) serving the Fort Worth Community by providing access to tennis instruction for youth in addition to providing a recreational sport venue for youth and TCU students. TCM is partnered with local communities to provide instruction both onsite at TCM main facility in addition to providing programming and events within these physical communities. TCM seeks to provide access to the sport of tennis to youth in communities where exposure is limited as well as to increase the number of underrepresented people participating in competition at a high level within the sport of tennis.