Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography. Donna Howard is a native of Austin, Texas. Howard earned a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in health education from the University of Texas. She has worked as a critical care nurse at Brackenridge and Seton hospitals and as a health educator at the University of Texas. Howard was the first hospital-based patient education coordinator in Austin and helped start the Seton Good Health School. Howard is a co-founder of Advocates for Eanes Schools, and sits on the Board of the Expanding Horizons Foundation. She is a former board member of Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, Common Cause Texas, the Texas Freedom Network, and the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Howard also formerly served as president of the Texas Nurses' Association, district 5. As of 2023, Howard served as a board member of the Expanding Horizons Foundation. Howard was a candidate for the Texas State Board of Education in 2000 and 2002, and served on the Eanes Independent School District Board from 1996 to 1999.