Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Announces Appointment to the Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council



 

AUSTIN – Today, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the appointment of Dr. Denise Wilkes, of Kemah, to the Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council. Upon making the appointment, Lt. Gov. Patrick issued the following statement:

“Funds recovered by Texas from statewide opioid settlement agreements must be spent wisely to address the opioid crisis hurting our communities. I have full confidence that Dr. Wilkes will be a responsible steward of the money from these settlements and will recommend strategies that best address the ongoing crisis.”

Dr. Denise Wilkes, M.D., of Kemah, is a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Dr. Wilkes is a member of the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists and the Texas Pain Society, and received her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch.

The Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council was created to manage the distribution of money allocated to the council from the opioid abatement trust in accordance with a statewide opioid settlement agreement, and ensures money recovered is allocated fairly and spent to remediate the opioid crisis in Texas. The council is tasked with submitting an annual report to the legislature detailing all expenditures made during the previous fiscal year.