Her Story
About Dr. Rebecca (Becky)
Dr. Becky Stokes-Poths, DNP, MS, RN-BC, CFE, CJCP, LSSYB, is a retired United States Air Force Colonel and an accomplished healthcare executive with more than 30 years of experience in nursing, healthcare administration, infection prevention, regulatory compliance, and clinical leadership. A third-generation military medic, she began her distinguished career upon graduating from Baylor University and commissioning into the U.S. Air Force in 1993. During her 25 years of military service, she held numerous leadership positions around the world, culminating in her role as Air Force Chief Nurse at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where she oversaw nursing operations, aeromedical evacuation coordination, and care transitions for wounded service members returning from combat operations. Throughout her career, Becky has demonstrated expertise in executive leadership, strategic planning, infection control and epidemiology, healthcare accreditation, patient safety, and workforce development.
She has been board certified in Medical-Surgical nursing since 1995, and board certified in infection prevention since 2000. She has served in both military and civilian healthcare systems. Following her military retirement, Becky has served as a Joint Commission Resources Infection Control and Accreditation Consultant for eight years, and was most recently The Manager of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, leading a team of infection prevention specialists and advancing initiatives to improve patient safety and healthcare quality.
Committed to developing the next generation of healthcare professionals, Becky earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Executive Leadership from the University of San Francisco in 2021. She currently serves as Adjunct Faculty at the University of St. Thomas in Houston and has also taught at Lone Star College in Houston. Her passion for education, mentorship, and leadership continues to shape her work as she combines decades of clinical, operational, and regulatory expertise to support excellence in healthcare delivery and nursing practice.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Dr. Rebecca (Becky)
01What do you attribute your success to?
I really believe that my love and passion for healthcare started in my family as I am a third generation military medic. My grandfather was a flight surgeon in the Army Air Corps in World War II, and my father was also a military medic in the Army. He said to me, Becky, the greatest crime I can imagine is you graduating nursing school in Dallas and never leaving Dallas. He said, I think you should go in the Air Force. And I said, wow, that sounds like a great idea! So I did, I was commissioned May 15th, 1993, the day I graduated from nursing school at Baylor University, and I never looked back. I served 25 years and retired. I lived all over the world and saw just amazing places and people, and I tell everyone, I cannot imagine loving a job more than I loved what I did for those 25 years. I think what I value most is work ethic, strong work ethic and integrity - that's the first Air Force core value, integrity first. My name and my reputation mean a lot to me, and my work. I really invest and pour myself into teaching and bringing along those that have ever worked for me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Always preparing my subordinates to one day take my place. We're always preparing the next generation. I always told my subordinates, you are my tomorrow, and you will be taking care of me as a retiree in the military healthcare system. I just paid it forward. I never forgot where I came from. I received a lot of great advice and wisdom from many people that culminated in those things. It wasn't from one specific person or one separate bit of advice, but putting it all together.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Preparing and applying for nursing school is and always has been quite competitive. I recommend really focusing your grades in high school because the bottom line for admission to a nursing program is your GPA.
Find a mentor early on in your career that can guide and advise you as a new nurse. I also still strongly recommend starting out in Med/Surg nursing for a couple of years to get your foundational skills that cannot be taught anywhere outside of experience.
Another bit of advice I share is to prepare yourself in the best ways possible, and becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant or a Medical Assistant really help prepare you to become a nurse as well.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges right now are new graduates getting jobs because we need experience in the hospital setting as so many of our experienced nurses are either retiring or taking positions outside of hospital/ bedside nursing. Therefore, we have new nurses training new nurses.
As far as opportunities, that is what I love the most about being a nurse, the opportunities are endless!
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My brother and sister and I have just been talking about this, about our values and what our family values were. I think as I said before just having our parents instill tremendous work ethic, and Integrity.
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