Physician Alum turned Businessman Finds Life Balance through Great Ideas

“If you’re smart enough to get in, you’re smart enough to do the work,” encouraged Hardin-Simmons University alum Dr. Jason Terrell as he spoke with students who are considering going to medical school after graduation.

Terrell spoke with students in the Pre-Health Professionals Club while on campus to be honored as one of three Outstanding Young Alumni. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology, the 2002 HSU graduate continued on to earn his medical degree from the University of Texas at Houston as an anesthesiologist.

Holly Lewis, a junior biology major and vice president of the club, encouraged students to ask questions, which Terrell remembered only too well. Some were the very same questions he asked as a student: “How were you influenced to go into medicine?”, and “Did you feel prepared for medical school after graduation?”

Terrell confided to students that his journey as an anesthesiologist was not an easy one. “I worked 90 hours a week for three years. I wouldn’t see my kids at all. Most days I was at work by 4:30 a.m. and didn’t get home until 9 p.m.,” he told the pre-health students gathered in the Sid Richardson Science Complex.

Keeping his eyes and ears open for new opportunities, he heard about a pathology residency. The result was more time to spend with his family, and Terrell volunteered as a soccer coach and attended his daughter’s softball games. Through his pathology residency, he learned of a commercial lab open to the public that contracts with local doctors to oversee branch offices. Suggesting to the company’s head that money could be saved by having a corporate medical director over all of the branches, he was offered the job.

Continuing to keep his eyes and ears open, Terrell learned of a technology that can peer into a vial or syringe and determine the drug inside and its concentration. Seeing a ground-level business opportunity, Terrell did not hesitate to get involved. Then, learning of an advancement in cancer research, he again seized on the business opportunity.

 Terrell now serves as national corporate medical director of Any Lab Test Now and owns two diagnostic centers in Lubbock and Amarillo. The company, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, is the fastest-growing medical franchise business in the nation. Terrell is responsible for the operation of more than 70 Any Lab Test Now facilities and holds medical licenses in 14 states.

Additionally, Terrell serves as chief medical officer and head of U.S. operations for VolitionRx, a pioneering cancer diagnostics company. He also serves on the Board for CDEX, a safety product company.

“Now that you’re more in the business end, do you miss patient contact?” quizzed one of the students. “Yes, but I help out with the high school football team in Marble Falls where we live,” he countered. Terrell says the hardest part of his journey was leaving his residency and learning a new field that he had not prepared for in school.

Terrell is also co-owner of Terrell Property Development, providing multi-family housing in Texas and New Mexico. He also helps with his family’s business, Terrell Oil and Gas Production Company, based in Hamlin, Texas.

Jason and his wife Brooke have two daughters, Katelyn and Kylie. They live in Marble Falls, Texas, where they attend First Baptist Church.