Editor’s Choice, Best Phoenix Story
Brian Kennedy had a very bright future ahead of him as celebrated high school broadcast teacher, and Emmy Award-winning mentor and trusted community leader. But then came that moment in 2018 when a lapse in judgment and a cop’s homophobic assumption resulted in an arrest on misdemeanor public lewdness charges. And the life Kennedy had built for himself went up in flames, leaving him to tumble alll the way to rock bottom.
He lost everything: his job, any p[ossibility of future teaching jobs, his direction, his friends, even his own sense of identity and, almost, his will to live. It would have been easy to just give up. But then, he told Dallas Voice in a July 2025 interview, “I had a therapist tell me just to drown, but not in a negative way. You need to sink and find the bottom, because by thrashing around so much, you are going to drown yourself.”
It was that advice from his therapist, and a conversation with his roommate about accepting his own identity, that formed the first steps on Kennedy’s road to a new life. Today, Brian Kennedy is, himself, a licensed therapist, working at Room for Change in Dallas and specializing in helping LGBTQ+ clients— especially LGBTQ+ youth — learn to navigate and eventually escape that same labyrinth of shame, trauma and internalized homophobia that almost cost him everything.
In recognition of his personal journey and his dedication to helping others make that same journey successfully, Dallas Voice recognizes Brian Kennedy with the 2026 Readers Voice Award’s Editor’s Choice for Best Phoenix Story.
— Tammye Nash
Best Healthcare Legacy: Dr. Steven Pounders
Dr. Steven Pounders is a true pioneer in HIV care, standing at the forefront of HIV care in Dallas for some 40 years, beginning his practice back in the 1980s. After earning his undergraduate degree from Austin College in Sherman, Pounders graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston then completed his residency and internship at Baylor College of Medicine in Internal Medicine, with a specialty in HIV.
After establishing his practice, Pounders quickly became known as a leading specialist in the forefront of the AIDS crisis, beginning his career in medicine working at Parkland Hospital where he provided care to patients with HIV/AIDS at a time when so much about the disease remained a mystery, and when some health care professionals as well as many in the general public let fear drive thieir behavior. The fear was so strong, in fact, that some hospital staff members left’ meals on the floor outside of patients’ rooms rather than enter the room of an AIDS patient.
Dr. Pounders went in to private practice in Dallas in 1989, and his reputation as a leading physician in the field of HIV/AIDS reached all the way to Hollywood: One of the characters in the movie Dallas Buyers Club, based on the story of Pounders’ patient Ron Woodruff and starring Matthew McConaughy, is based on Pounders himself.
(Of course, Hollywood changed the gender to female and cast Jennifer Garner in the role.
But we all know that the character was based on Dr. Pounders.)
While other legacy HIV specialists have retired from practice, Pounders remains on the front-lines, providing his patients with the latest treatments and broadening his reach to offer skilled and compassionate care to the transgender community. in fact, rather than slow down after all these years, Dr. Pounders recently opened a new office on Cedar Springs Road, in the heart of The Gayborhood, with fellow legacy doc Nick Bellos.
In honor of his years of dedication to his patients and to the HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ communities as a whole, Dallas Voice is proud to name Dr. Steven Pounders as the winner of the 2026 Readers Voice Awards Editor’s Choice for Best Healthcare Legacy.
— David Taffet
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Best in Health Services
Best Place to Get Tested
Prism Health North Texas
PHNTx.org
214-521-5191
Best General Practitioner
Kelle Tillman
HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health
HELPCenterTx.org
817-332-7722
Best Group Medical Practice
MD Progressive Care
3500 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 700
MDProgressiveCare.com
214-521-0100 • 214-521-0104
Best HIV Specialist
Dr. Marc Tribble
MD Progressive Care
3500 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 700
MDProgressiveCare.com
214-521-0100 • 214-521-0104
Best Trans Healthcare
HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health
HELPCenterTx.org
817-332-7722
Best Cosmetic Practitioner
Peter Triporo
MD Progressive Care
3500 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 700
MDProgressiveCare.com
214-521-0100 • 214-521-0104
Best Dermatologist
Dr. Breck Thrash
U.S. Dermatology Partners
3607 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 200
USDermatologyPartners.com/Provider/Breck-Thrash-MD
469-941-4212
Best Dentist
Dr. Jonathan Vogel
Knox Dental
4514 Cole Ave., Ste. 905
DentistOakLawnDallas.com
214-521-6261
Best Optometrist
Dr. Bill Henderson
Uptown Vision
3710 Rawlins St., Ste. 100
UptownVisionDallas.com
214-953-3937
Best Mental Health Professional
Brian Kennedy
Room for Change
3500 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 200
RoomForChange.info
214-385-5445
Best Pharmacy
HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health Pharmacy
HELPCenterTx.org
817-332-7722
Editors Choice: Best Healthcare Legacy
Dr. Steven Pounders
4211 Cedar Springs Road, Ste. 200
DrPounders.com
214-520-8833