73-year-old named Country Doctor of Year
Dallas Business Journal - by Stephanie Patrick
We've received advance news on this year's winner of Irving-based Staff Care's national Country Doctor of the Year Award. Honors go to Dr. Howard Clark, a Morton, Miss., family practitioner who works nearly 100 hours a week despite being 73.
Clark, who has practiced in the community of 4,000 people since 1956, was selected from 501 nominations. Staff Care, known for temporary staffing of physicians, is awarding Clark an interim physician for one week who will take over his duties and allow Clark to take a vacation.
The ceremony will be Dec. 17 in Morton.
"Urban doctors work 46 hours a week on average," said Joe Caldwell, Staff Care's executive vice president. "Country doctors work 52 hours."
Clark's "fight to keep the hospital open, his initiative in purchasing mobile equipment this year in order to further extend quality health care across the country (and) his willingness to operate the mobile MRI and CT scan without profit should change some minds about health care in Mississippi," Caldwell said.
About 20% of Americans live in rural areas, but only 10% of all physicians practice in country settings. Nearly 460 rural hospitals have closed since 1980.
Mississippi ranks last in the nation in access to primary care in several health care rankings.
The award, now in its sixth year, has honored doctors in Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama and Louisiana. Five Texans were among the nominees this year including Waxahachie doctors John Compton, who has practiced for 45 years, and John Bousquet, who has practiced for 13 years.
Work granted
Researchers at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas are celebrating after receiving a $2 million grant to investigate how certain blood cells affect the course of lupus in children.
Dr. Virginia Pascual, assistant professor of pediatrics, and head of pediatric rheumatology at the center, and her team hope to identify common molecular markers in diseases caused by lupus.
"We are hopeful this will allow us to better understand the disease and treat our patients," said Pascual, who also is assistant investigator at Baylor Institute for Immunology Research.
Lupus is a chronic, sometimes fatal, autoimmune disease, which causes the immune system to become hyperactive and attack normal tissue.
Pascual and the other researchers are studying about 70 pediatric lupus patients at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and the Children's Medical Center of Dallas.
Noteworthy
• Dr. Kirk Calhoun has been named medical director of Parkland Health & Hospital System. He also will serve as an associate dean at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center of Dallas.
• Dr. Edward L. Middleman has been named management board president of the Dallas unit of the American Cancer Society. He is medical director of Methodist Hospitals of Dallas Cancer Program.
Volunteer Mary Blake Meadows will continue in her role as chairman of the board until September. Other board members are Dr. John Antoine, vice president; Harold Edwards, vice chairman, Cherry Elder, treasurer; and Patricia A. Kelly, secretary.
• Richardson-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas' Southwest Texas HMO Inc. has received a commendable accreditation rating from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Southwest, which does business as HMO Blue Texas, has more than 142,000 members in the Metroplex, Tyler and Amarillo.
• Irving-based VHA Inc. has signed an agreement with iPath to offer its operating room information systems technology to VHA's more than 2,000 heath care members. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• The offices of Texas Cancer Care and of Operations Pathway Systems have moved to 1612 Summit Ave., Suite 100, in Fort Worth.
• The Community Council of Greater Dallas' new officers are David Kellogg, president; Delia Reyes, first vice president; Barbara Cottrell, second vice president; Bertha Outler, secretary; Robert Patterson, treasurer; and Cynthia Watkins Clanton, parliamentarian.
Newly elected directors are Les Tanaka and Dr. William Wenrich. Directors elected to their first three-year terms are the Rev. Richie Butler, Robert Patterson, Wally Reed and Sonja Romanowski. Directors elected to a second three-year term are Laura Estrada and Dan Nicewander.
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