Tommye Austin
Senior vice president and chief nurse executive, University Health System
“I just want my staff to be safe,” Austin says in a YouTube video describing her invention—the TM2020. It’s a mask made from surgical draping and an AC filter that produces 97.8% filtration efficiency; it was tested by the Southwest Research Institute. A step-by-step design is posted on the health system’s website. No stranger to a crisis, Austin previously led nursing units as they responded to a mass shooting in 2017 and recovery efforts during Hurricane Harvey.