AMA elects Arkansas radiologist to board of trustees
Arkansas radiologist Scott Ferguson, MD, was elected to the American Medical Association (AMA) board of trustees this week after serving as an AMA delegate for nearly a decade, the organization has announced.
Ferguson, who currently serves as chair of the AMA House of Delegates, has worked as a diagnostic radiologist at his West Memphis, Arkansas, practice for 33 years, according to a release. He joins the Board of Trustees after a lengthy history of public service, including time as president of the Arkansas Medical Society and Crittenden County Medical Society. During two terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives, he also fought for women’s healthcare, children’s insurance and immunization efforts.
“I have spent my career fighting to preserve physician choice and autonomy, patient protections and the physician-patient relationship,” Ferguson said in the release. “I look forward to continuing that fight and serving as an advocate for patients and physicians alike.”
Of the handful of newly elected and incumbent board members, Ferguson is the lone radiologist. Others work in anesthesiology, plastic surgery, dermatology, cardiology and internal medicine.
The AMA simultaneously announced the election of its new president, Patrice A. Harris, MD, who will assume the role in June of next year. Harris is the first black woman elected to the role.
“It will be my honor to represent the nation’s physicians at the forefront of discussions when policymakers and lawmakers search for practical solutions to the challenges in our nation’s health system,” Harris said. “I am committed to preserving the central role of the physician-patient relationship in our healing art.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.