ANNOUNCING THE WOMAN OF THE MONTH

Meet March’s Fort Worth Woman! Dr. Danika Franks is a lifelong learner, brilliant educator, gifted healer, visionary designer, and passionate family woman. She is the kind of woman who has been uniquely created with the gifts of learning, entrepreneurship, artistry, community, and passion – each of these intricately playing in to both her life now as well as her future as she continues to find her truth.

While she states her hometown is San Antonio, Danika is a self-proclaimed “military brat” who grew up traveling the world and constantly moving with her mom and dad who both served in the Air Force.

Growing up, mostly in Germany, school was not Danika’s favorite. Despite this, she vividly remembers one week in Third Grade when she learned about the human body. This lesson was almost innate to her. She grasped the concept, wanted to learn more, and was motivated for the very first time. That motivation, however, shifted as fast as her class moved on to the next subject. Medicine was her interest from an early age and outside of that, teachers could not quite unlock her passions. They just couldn’t see her or help her to see herself as “above average”. Yet.

Danika and her family moved back to the United States and she reflectively describes this time as full of ‘new friends, although, these friends are different from my previous crew. They are all really smart and also popular and athletic. Suddenly, I am a little embarrassed that I am not in the smart classes. They are all in pre-AP courses, advanced math. Okay, I need to step up my game.” She then spent her high school years catching up and began to see the fruits of her labor as she began to succeed academically. Danika emphatically states, “that one week, you know, the one back in the 3rd grade? That ended up planting the seed for what would determine my life’s work.”

Upon their next move to Texas and as a first generation college student in her family, Danika knew she wanted to pursue all it took to become a doctor. Thanks to the gentle pressures from a dear friend, she decided to attend Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls and even found a way to pay for it herself. Danika describes further, “Midwestern awarded me scholarship after scholarship and when it was all said and done, I owed nothing for my undergraduate education. I had also earned a 4.0 GPA. I was discovering my potential. I attended a pipeline program between my junior and senior year of college called Minority Medical Education Program at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University in Houston. It was a six week immersion program highlighting what was needed to get into medical school as well as key networking opportunities. I prepared for my MCAT. I worked really hard, spoke up in class, and learned how to meet new people and network.”

Her hard work, networking, and boldness then led her to UT-Southwestern Medical School. In an effort to self-verify her intentionality and diligence of her learning, Danika actually deferred her acceptance to medical school for a year and was a high school Biology teacher. After a year of growth and learning her passion for teaching, Danika began her courses at UT-Southwestern and here she continued on her educational journey all while noticing that for the first time the fact that her mother is white and her father is black is not understood by all of those around her. She describes that as a mixed race woman, she felt grossly underrepresented in her new surroundings. Here she was diligently working and wonderfully succeeding – all while still feeling isolated. Danika’s hope was rooted in what she knew she was capable of and what was yet to come.

Danika married the love of her life, Chauncey, her third year of Medical School and stayed in Dallas upon graduation for her residency. Here she became an Emergency Medicine Physician who focused on Clinical Care. As she worked demanding hours, days, and weeks she was also able to have her three beautiful children: Eli, Eden, and Elle.

Family life tends to shift original perceptions and Danika is the queen of trusting day-to-day moments as opportunities to make new decisions. While she loved being a doctor and was a very good one, she also wanted to be more available to her children as they were so quickly growing up. Her entrepreneurial seed had been planted.

Fast forward to this dynamic woman becoming the inaugural Assistant Dean of the TCU Medical School. Here she was able to combine two of her greatest strengths: medicine and teaching. Where walls were sterile, grey, and stoic she brought new color to students’ lives, perceptions, and pursuits. She sat at a desk that allowed her the leadership to open minds to even the most general of opportunities and encourage students to learn with both a diligence and purpose (whether in or out of medicine) that she self-taught herself.

Doctor. Dean. Mom. She was tackling all three – well. Here is where she found herself numb to her chaotic surroundings as she hit her lowest point to date about two years ago. Danika rawly describes that while this was a complex issue, not living her life authentically was what led to her rock bottom, which involved suicidal ideation, that ultimately led to her walking away from her prestigious career as both doctor and dean. Danika describes further, “The real barrier was me trying to be like everyone else. I didn’t want to be so different. I wanted to be just like the other doctors that I trained with and worked with. I wanted that to be the smartest, to read journals about research and all of the most recent advances in the practice of medicine for fun, to want to buy all of the new gadgets that would be helpful in taking care of patients. Instead, my brain almost always went to studying how to make the actual experience of medical education and patient care more human. It was all I could think about. None of the “best” doctors seemed to talk about that, let alone, think incessantly about how the physical space could aid tremendously in making these processes more humane. It’s just not why you go to medical school. To be honest, I still don’t get it. I just know it’s my path.”

Maybe it’s her military upbringing that allows her to see beyond the original mission.

Maybe it’s her drive to learn diligently with both intention and purpose. She can never be still.

Maybe it’s the feeling of isolation wondering why the stares felt different as she, a mixed race woman in leadership, entered the room.

Maybe it’s the pressures of being the best doctor, the most loving wife, the hyper-involved mom, all while lacking time for one’s own passion.

Maybe it’s the vulnerability. The refreshingly honest truth that one cannot do everything set on your heart while trying to appease the masses.

Maybe it’s all of those coupled with the fact that Danika is a visionary. Outside of her natural knack for design, her inquisitive interest and genuine relational talents are still to this day leading her to “redefining the functional space where healthcare exchanges occur.” She knows that while doctors help, the physical space that surrounds us as we accept this care can be encouraging, restful, and healing. At times, what one feels before they even see a physician can be just as important to set the stage for both recovery and wellness. Danika was now ready to use a culmination of her experiences to design such spaces.

Community Flourish is Danika’s next venture. This business was intentionally created to put a sense of humanity back in to healthcare. Medical professionals/offices (and beyond) can now hire Danika to build or renew the design of their healthcare space. And this is why: Danika states, “Studies show that the physical design of healthcare spaces “strongly influences” provider and patient stress, but how often are healthcare environments designed to make the experience positive, safe, joyful, or even healing? And without designated space to rest, recover, or seek shelter, healthcare professionals are leaving their profession by the hundreds—leaving behind crowded rooms, frustrated patients, and diminishing profits.”

Empowering providers and healing patients can be done hand in hand, it just starts with the space the moment you walk in the door. With a design style that is minimalist with a love for natural color palettes, Community Flourish has switched Danika from medical doctor to design doctor. The coolest part? Both still heal.

What Danika loves about Fort Worth is showcased within the mission of her business: community. She describes, “I love the community that we have here. It is unlike anything I have experienced in my life,  ​especially being a military kid. I also love the possibilities that are waiting here in Fort Worth. There is palpable energy around every corner that I turn in this city. It inspires the creator and innovator in me in the very best of ways!”

As a businesswoman in Fort Worth, Danika’s word for herself is epically engaging: disrupter. Danika describes, “Community Flourish is set to partner with those who want to disrupt the current “sick-care” approach to medicine and shift into a real “health-care” model. Just as form defines function, anatomy informs physiology, the physical spaces where healthcare happens informs the work that is exchanged between patients/communities and healthcare providers. Disrupting the model of design of healthcare spaces is a part of how we move from “sick-care” to “health-care”.”

With a faith of what is yet to come, Danika has already delightfully disrupted our city and the ripple effects of her change will be felt for a long time coming. To reach out to Community Flourish about your space, stay tuned to her directory listing! As soon as her website is fully live, it will be listed.