Kimberly Monday, MD, is a graduate of UT Austin, where she studied at the university’s College of Liberal Arts (COLA). Now an associate professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Neurology at the UT Health Science Center in Houston, Monday recently received the Texas Neurological Society’s 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award — an honor she credits in part to her liberal arts background.
“It can take up to 12 years of technical study to become a medical doctor,” Monday says. “There’s simply no way of getting around learning all the scientific principles necessary before entering the field, but I still consider the training I received at COLA to be some of the most important in shaping the kind of doctor I am today.”
Board certified by the American Academy of Psychiatry and Neurology in adult neurology, clinical neurophysiology, and sleep medicine, Monday serves on the board of the Texas Neurological Society, board of the Texas Medical Association and board of Memorial Hermann Physician’s Organization. In short, she’s highly regarded by peers and patients alike.
But to view her success simply through the lens of her academic and career accomplishments would overlook a major part of why she is considered one of the best in her field. Those who know Monday cite her compassion, empathy, and unrelenting interest in the people she treats every day as paramount to her reputation as a leader in her field.
Learning to Listen
In 1988, Monday graduated with her BA from UT Austin’s Plan II program, a competitive and interdisciplinary curriculum that combines STEM-related, social science, and liberal arts courses.
“I can remember feeling really uncomfortable in some liberal arts classes — particularly ethics and philosophy — because many of the ideas being discussed challenged my ethical and moral understanding of things,” Monday says.
But engaging with ideas and conversations outside of your comfort zone is a necessary, albeit disconcerting, ability that is central both to the liberal arts and to life itself — and one that Monday learned well during her time in Plan II.
“The kind of critical and analytical discussions I was exposed to at COLA helped me develop key life skills: knowing not to take things personally, empathy, and avoiding shutting down when someone disagrees with you,” she explains.
Of all the skills she gained from her liberal arts training, Monday says what she calls “true listening” may be the most important in her day-to-day as a medical provider. After all, in order to effectively care for patients a doctor must first listen to and understand their concerns and symptoms.
“Life is very gray, something we often only fully understand once our hair turns gray too, and there’s never one answer,” Monday says. “A liberal arts education shows you this in a way more rigid disciplines like science and engineering cannot, and that has helped me relate more easily to people and patients.”
Expanding Access to Stroke Care
Still, as Monday knows well, some patients require more than a sympathetic ear. Often, they face other obstacles to successful treatment, whether it be language barriers, financial disparities, or a general mistrust of medical professionals.
That’s why Monday has always been committed to expanding access to world-class healthcare beyond those who can afford it or who live near a major medical hub. Most recently her efforts have led her to join a group from the Texas Neurological Society that’s spearheading upcoming legislative efforts to expand funding for mobile stroke units — ambulances kitted with CAT scanners and other related equipment that can travel to people in remote areas who may be suffering from a stroke. A recent study showed that ambulances like these could save many lives in rural areas, Monday says, and she intends to help argue their case in front of lawmakers this spring.
“This legislative session, we are focused on convincing the state to fund more of these mobile units so that we can save more Texans’ lives,” Monday said. “There’s only a handful of legislators that are actually physicians, so it’s hard for people to understand why these matters are important. That’s where we come in, to explain to lawmakers how these units can help us provide essential care more quickly and efficiently to more Texans. Everyone is entitled to care, regardless of their location in the Lone Star State.”
Lifetime Honors
At its Winter Conference this January, the Texas Neurological Society deemed Monday the most deserving of its 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award.
“I’m honored, particularly since it’s selected by my peers,” she says of the award. “I spent a lot of time in organized medicine advocating both for my fellow physicians as well as my patients. This feels like recognition of that work.”
“Lifetime achievement” awards can imply the recipient has reached the end of their career, but that certainly isn’t the case for Monday. If anything, she’s adding to her obligations as she takes up a new position back where it all began. This academic year she was appointed chair of COLA’s Advisory Council, a role she plans on using to advocate for the importance of a liberal arts education.
“What’s exciting about UT Austin being a tier-one research university now is having both a world-class liberal arts program alongside Dell Medical School,” Monday says. “The expertise in sociology, psychology, ethics, and philosophy at COLA can’t be matched. The fact that it is housed right next to a medical school where interdisciplinary collaboration is already a core educational approach is a priceless opportunity for UT Austin.”
As she begins her two-year term, Monday is resolute that a liberal arts education is more important now than ever before — and alongside her wife, Laura Marangell, Monday is working to support liberal arts students directly. Together the couple created the Monday Family Endowment for Liberal Arts to support undergraduate research, and this spring the endowment provided funding for the college’s Rising Researcher Awards, which recognized five students conducting research in linguistics, sociology, policy, and more. But Monday is clear that the liberal arts aren’t just for student researchers – they’re for aspiring doctors, too.
“What we learn in a four-year science degree will have already changed after two years, so our graduates need to be critical thinkers,” Monday said. They also need to be good with people: good listeners, in other words.
“It’s very easy to write a prescription. It’s much more difficult to make sure the patient understands why they should take the prescription,” Monday says. “You can’t address each patient like they are on a conveyor belt. This requires the kinds of skills gained through liberal arts.”