Melissa Ann Walker, D.O., MPA-HS

Dr. Melissa Ann Walker is a family medicine physician and the owner and founder of Carol Clinic for Family-Centered Healthcare in San Antonio, Texas.  Carol Clinic is named for her late mother, Mrs. Carol Williams Walker.  Dr. Walker’s mother suffered a stroke at the age of 53 and was hospitalized for greater than two years before her death.  After her mother’s death, Dr. Walker’s initial desire to become a physician was reignited.  She had previously placed her pursuit of medicine on hold to complete her graduate studies.   After completing medical school and residency training, Dr. Walker returned to San Antonio to open the Carol Clinic. This name is also an acronym: C – Care, A– Attention, R– Respect, O– Oneness, and L – Loyalty.  She believes these and so many other attributes were possessed by her mother.  Dr. Walker strives to exemplify the same in the care of her patients.

Growing up in rural Louisiana, she saw firsthand the disparities in healthcare and the seeming lack of care shown by people of her community when it came to their health.  Dr. Walker believes that the lack of education, not the lack of care, is the leading cause of her mother’s death and the poor outcomes of so many.  She has made it her mission to provide education to not only her patients, but to the entire world.  She travels both nationally and internationally providing care and education.  Along with a team of twelve nurses, she journeyed with Destiny Ministries to Southern Africa and Botswana.  While there, Dr. Walker and the nurses held medical clinics in the rural villages of Botswana.  For her work, she received a personal note of recognition from the late Bishop Sarah Davis of the African American Episcopal Church.  As an ambassador for the American Stroke Association’s Power to End Stroke campaign, Dr. Walker has traveled across the country doing talks on stroke prevention.  She was the featured speaker for the San Antonio ASA’s concert featuring Kirk Franklin.  Dr. Walker was also chosen to address the Congressional Black Caucus in Austin, Texas.  For her work with the American Heart Association, she was the recipient of the J. Kent Trinkle Physician Volunteer of the Year.  Specifically, for her work with the American Stroke Association, she was awarded the ASA’s Visionary Award.  This award is given to an ambassador who has done the most to educate others and promote the cause of stroke prevention.  Dr. Walker has appeared on Trinity Broadcasting Network’s (TBN)”Doctor to Doctor” show.  Two of her segments on Colon Cancer and Diabetes brought many letters and emails from viewers across the Nation.  She was also featured in San Antonio Medicine Magazine’s “A Day in the Life.”

Dr. Walker is the Founder of a caregivers’ conference called “Heal the Healer San Antonio.”  This one-day symposium targets both formal and informal caregivers.  This role Dr. Walker knows all too well; having been a caregiver for both her parents during their illnesses.