Mayra R. Almendarez, MBA
Project Manager – Patient Engagement and Education Research Lab | Department of Surgery and J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center | Houston Methodist Hospital
Building Connections That Strengthen Healthcare
Mayra R. Almendarez, MBA, serves as Project Manager for Patient Engagement and Education in the Department of Surgery and J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center at Houston Methodist Hospital. With more than 18 years of experience in patient education, transplant program coordination, community engagement, and program development, Mayra brings a unique combination of healthcare knowledge, business expertise, and strategic leadership to the Patient Engagement Lab.
In her role, Mayra leads initiatives that connect patients, families, communities, researchers, clinicians, and healthcare organizations. Her work focuses on building sustainable engagement programs, strengthening community and organizational partnerships, expanding the visibility of patient-centered research, and creating opportunities for patients and families to influence the future of healthcare.
At the heart of her approach is a simple but powerful principle: healthcare is most effective when the people it is designed to serve have a meaningful voice in shaping it.
A Shared Commitment to Patient-Centered Care
Mayra’s journey with the PE Lab began while she was coordinating the Transplant Grand Rounds series, where Dr. Amy Waterman was invited to speak. Mayra was immediately drawn to Dr. Waterman’s commitment to patient-centered research and advocacy for individuals whose perspectives are often underrepresented in healthcare.
She recognized a shared belief that patients and communities should not simply be studied or consulted. They should be respected as partners whose experiences, priorities, and ideas can strengthen research, education, and healthcare delivery.
That shared vision inspired Mayra to join the PE Lab and contribute to building programs that make patient engagement more intentional, inclusive, and actionable.
Leading Engagement, Outreach, and Organizational Growth
Since joining the PE Lab, Mayra has taken on a growing leadership role across community engagement, strategic communications, partnership development, outreach, and digital storytelling. She develops the infrastructure needed to move ideas into sustainable programs, from creating workflows and engagement strategies to training team members and coordinating collaboration across internal and external partners.
Mayra also helps translate the Lab’s research and mission into accessible, compelling communications for patients, families, community organizations, healthcare professionals, and national audiences. Through presentations, educational resources, community outreach, conferences, and digital platforms, she works to ensure that the Lab’s research reaches the people and organizations that can benefit from it.
As the PE Lab continues to grow, Mayra is helping shape the systems, partnerships, and team capacity needed to expand its impact. Her vision is to position the Lab as a nationally recognized leader in patient-engaged research while maintaining the authentic, relationship-centered approach that makes its work meaningful.
Transforming Digital Storytelling into a National Initiative
One of Mayra’s most significant areas of leadership is the PE Lab’s Digital Storytelling Project. The initiative captures and shares the experiences of patients, caregivers, living donors, transplant recipients, donor families, and community members so that others can learn from voices grounded in lived experience.
Mayra leads the development and expansion of the storytelling program, including outreach and recruitment, partnership cultivation, team training, content development, platform growth, and the creation of processes that support long-term sustainability. She is also building the internal capacity needed to manage a growing collection of stories and prepare other team members to contribute to the program’s continued success.
Under Mayra’s leadership, digital storytelling is evolving from a collection of individual stories into a broader engagement and education strategy. Her goal is to expand the initiative nationally by developing partnerships with transplant programs, organ procurement organizations, healthcare institutions, advocacy groups, community organizations, researchers, and patient leaders.
Her vision is to create a trusted storytelling platform that can educate patients and families, support informed decision-making, strengthen professional education, and help healthcare organizations better understand the experiences of the communities they serve.
For Mayra, every story represents more than a piece of content. It is an opportunity for someone to feel seen, for another person to feel less alone, and for healthcare professionals and researchers to better understand the human impact of their work.
Building People Alongside Programs
Mayra’s leadership extends beyond launching initiatives. A central part of her work is creating the structure and knowledge needed for other people to succeed.
She develops training resources, workflows, onboarding materials, tracking systems, and practical guidance that allow team members, interns, trainees, and collaborators to contribute meaningfully to the Lab’s work. By creating clear processes and sharing knowledge, she helps transform promising ideas into programs that can be sustained, evaluated, and expanded.
Mayra believes that effective leadership is not only about delivering results. It is also about developing people, encouraging new ideas, creating opportunities for others to lead, and building a foundation that allows the work to continue growing.
Discovering New Strengths Through the PE Lab
Mayra’s work with the PE Lab has also allowed her to discover a passion for strategic communications, marketing, and digital storytelling. Although her career began in clinical healthcare and transplant program coordination, she found that her ability to understand patients, communicate complex ideas, and build relationships could be applied in new and creative ways.
She has embraced the process of developing messages, materials, presentations, and digital experiences that make the Lab’s work understandable and relevant to broader audiences. This combination of healthcare experience, operational knowledge, creativity, and community engagement has become one of her greatest strengths.
It enables her to see both the larger strategic vision and the practical steps required to bring that vision to life.
A Vision for National Impact
Looking ahead, Mayra envisions the PE Lab becoming a nationally recognized leader in demonstrating how meaningful patient engagement can transform research, education, and healthcare practice.
She hopes to build a national network of patients, caregivers, donors, recipients, researchers, clinicians, healthcare organizations, and community partners committed to advancing patient-centered solutions. Through strategic partnerships, education, research, and digital storytelling, she wants the Lab to provide models and resources that other organizations can adapt to strengthen their own engagement efforts.
Her vision is for patients and communities to be more than participants in healthcare initiatives. They should be respected as advisors, collaborators, storytellers, and leaders whose knowledge can influence the programs and decisions that affect their lives.
For Mayra, national growth does not mean losing sight of the individual. Every partnership, program, and platform begins with listening to one person’s experience and recognizing its potential to help someone else.
Beyond the Lab: Family, Adventure, and Curiosity
Outside of work, Mayra’s greatest joy comes from spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren, who keep her laughing and grounded in what matters most. She and her husband enjoy traveling, experiencing different cultures, discovering local cuisine, and creating new memories together.
Mayra also enjoys murder mystery documentaries and the challenge of identifying clues before the case is solved. When she wants to recharge, she enjoys getting outdoors for a bike ride.
Whether she is exploring a new destination, solving a mystery, developing a program, or building a national partnership, Mayra brings curiosity, energy, and a genuine desire to understand people and their experiences.
Her Advice to Future Collaborators
“Jump in with curiosity, an open mind, and a willingness to learn from others.”
Mayra encourages future collaborators to share their ideas, ask thoughtful questions, and remain open to perspectives different from their own. She believes some of the strongest innovations emerge when people with different experiences and areas of expertise unite around a shared purpose.
For Mayra, asking “What if?” can be the beginning of meaningful change. Every conversation, partnership, and story offers an opportunity to strengthen healthcare and improve the experience of the people it serves.
Through her leadership in community engagement, program development, team training, strategic communications, and digital storytelling, Mayra is helping the PE Lab build the infrastructure and partnerships needed to expand its impact nationally. Her work reflects a belief that every person has a story worth hearing and that listening to those stories can transform how healthcare is understood, designed, and delivered.