MMA News
Noel R. Peterson, M.D., Elected MMA President
Noel Peterson at a Glance
Education
M.D., University of Iowa; master’s degree in administrative medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison; urology residency, the Naval Medical Center San Diego
Career
After spending 20 years in the U.S. Navy, Peterson joined Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester and eventually served as its medical director, president, CEO, and chair of its board of directors. He currently is a practicing urologist.
Organized medicine involvement
MMA Trustee from 1994 to 1995 and again from 2005 to 2008; member, Professionalism Work Group and Veterans Health Care Task Force; past MMA treasurer; member and chair, subcommittee on coverage for the MMA Health Care Reform Task Force in 2004 and 2005; member, Healthy Minnesota: A Partnership for Reform; member, MMA Committee on By-Laws and Committee on Administration and Finance; delegate since 1991 to the MMA House of Delegates. Member, Zumbro Valley Medical Society’s Executive Committee and Legislation Committee and past president of the society.
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The MMA’s newly elected president, Noel R. Peterson, M.D., of Rochester, told how a farm boy from Iowa became a career Navy officer, physician, and then president of the MMA during his inaugural address at the MMA’s 155th Annual Meeting in St. Paul.
In a talk that was witty and warm, Peterson, a urologist, described his careers in the U.S. Navy and at the Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester. He also told about his family—including his wife of 39 years, Ann Peterson, and their two grown sons—and a childhood spent on an Iowa farm.
He said that he was adopted by farmers of Scandinavian heritage when he was 10 days old and later in life learned that he was most likely of Italian descent. He joked about his heritage and personality, noting, “I found that an Italian introvert and a Norwegian extrovert are almost exactly the same thing.”
As president, Peterson said he hopes to focus on three aspects of medical professionalism: the patient’s welfare, autonomy of the physician, and social justice. “Our association, and we as individual physicians, must strive toward the highest levels of professionalism,” he said.
He also will focus on health care reform, which he believes must strike the right balance between market freedom and government regulation. “Over the next year, there will be further implementation of the health care transformation measures initiated by this association and put into statute by the Minnesota Legislature,” he said. “If anything, we must be even more engaged in the process than we have been, as we will be sharing the process with others outside of the medical profession.”
Peterson was elected during a special election held because George Schoephoerster, M.D., resigned his position as president-elect in August.
House Acts on Resolutions
The MMA’s House of Delegates considered topics ranging from medical home to stem cells during deliberations at the MMA’s 155th Annual Meeting in St. Paul last month. About 250 physician delegates from around the state voted on resolutions put forward by their physician colleagues. The House meets each year to determine the association’s policies and direction. In the end, 22 resolutions were adopted, nine failed to be adopted, and nine were referred to the MMA Board of Trustees. The following are some of the items the House of Delegates adopted:
Medical home certification. R205 calls for the MMA to ensure that the certification process for medical homes be designed so that those already providing the services of a medical home can be certified as a medical home. It also says that medical homes should be physician-directed health care teams and not entities created by insurance companies and asks the MMA to submit a resolution to the AMA requesting that it work to ensure that physician-
directed health care teams currently acting as medical homes be designated as such.
Embryonic stem cell research. R405 calls for the MMA to update its neutral policy on stem cell research by adopting the AMA’s position in favor of embryonic stem cell research. In accordance with the AMA’s position, the MMA will
- support research on multipotent stem cells (including adult and cord blood stem cells),
- support using somatic cell nuclear transfer technology in biomedical research (therapeutic cloning),
- oppose the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology for producing a human child (reproductive cloning),
- encourage strong public support of federal funding for research involving human pluripotent stem cells, and
- continue to monitor developments in stem cell research and the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology.
Undocumented residents. R300 calls for the MMA to oppose any policies, regulations, or legislation that would criminalize or punish physicians and other health care providers for giving care to patients who are undocumented immigrants. The MMA also will oppose efforts to make physicians collect and report data about a patient’s legal status or efforts to make citizenship a condition of receiving care.
Physical education. R401 calls for the MMA to support legislation that would increase the level of physical activity in schools for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Unequal copays. R302 asks the MMA to provide resources and information to physicians regarding the legal issues and options associated with reducing fees or waiving copays for uninsured or underinsured patients.
Capitated payment. R308 asks the MMA to provide physicians with information about payment methodologies such as capitation as it relates to the 2008 health care reform legislation.
Student loan forgiveness. R100 calls for the MMA to advocate for an increase in funding for state-run student loan forgiveness programs including the Minnesota State Loan Repayment Program and the Rural Physician Loa Repayment Program. It also calls for the MMA to encourage the federal government to support the 20-220 pathway for economic hardship deferral.
Reading to children. R101 calls for the MMA to encourage physicians to speak to their patients about the importance of reading to their children and to seek community partnerships that encourage and support the reading of books to children.
Visit the MMA website, www.mmaonline.net, for complete results.
Doctors Honor Their Peers
The following awards were presented at the MMA’s 155th Annual Meeting.
Physician Communicator Award
Frank A. Bures, M.D., a Winona dermatologist, for his weekly “Healthful Hints” column for the Winona Daily News.
MMA Physician Leadership in Quality Award
Brian J. Anderson, M.D, a Minneapolis internist and cardiologist, for his leadership in quality improvement.
Minority Affairs Meritorious Service Award
Charles E. Crutchfield Sr., M.D., of St. Paul, a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist, for his service to the African-American community and his support of African-American physicians in Minnesota.
MMA Community Service Award
- Fred T. Nobrega, M.D., of Rochester for service as executive director of the Zumbro Valley Medical Society, chair of Citizens for a Smoke-Free Rochester, and member of the Olmsted County Community Health Advisory Committee. He opposed a tire-burning facility in Preston and helped pass Olmsted County’s ban on smoking in the workplace.
- Gene F. Kishel, M.D., of Virginia for his tireless work to protect the public’s health as a leader with the Smoke-Free Coalition of Northern St. Louis County.
MMA President’s Award
Three members were recognized for their MMA service.
- John W. Larsen, M.D., of Edina has been a member of the MMA Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, a delegate, speaker, and vice speaker of the MMA House of Delegates.
- David L. Estrin, M.D, of Edina is an alternate delegate to the AMA House of Delegates and a past secretary of the MMA.
- Stephen L. Hadley, M.D., of Duluth has been an active member and a valued leader in both the MMA and the Lake Superior Medical Society.
MMA Medical Student Award
Andrew P. Landstrom, a student at Mayo Medical School.
Distinguished Service Award
G. Richard Geier, M.D.
MMA Elects New Officers
The MMA House of Delegates elected the following officers for 2008 to 2009:
Officers
- Noel R. Peterson, M.D., president.
- Benjamin H. Whitten, M.D., president-elect. Whitten, an internist at Abbott Northwestern General Medicine Associates in Edina, is an alternate delegate to the AMA House of Delegates and chair of the MMA Committee on Legislation. He has served on the MMA Board of Trustees and several MMA committees.
- David E. Westgard, M.D., secretary-treasurer. Westgard, a family physician and chief medical officer for the Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, has been an active member of the MMA, serving on several committees.
- Lyle J. Swenson, M.D., re-elected speaker of the MMA House of Delegates. A specialist in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular diseases at St. Paul Cardiology, Swenson has served as president of the Joint Services Organization for the MMA and has been the vice speaker of the MMA House of Delegates.
- Karen K. Dickson, M.D., re-elected vice speaker of the MMA House of Delegates. Dickson is a psychiatrist in private practice at Family Life Medical Center in Coon Rapids. She has served on the MMA Board of Trustees.
AMA Delegation
Paul C. Matson, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon with the Orthopaedic and Fracture Clinic in Mankato, was elected to the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates.
Re-elected to the delegation were
- Kenneth W. Crabb, M.D., a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology at Advanced Specialty Practice for Women, PA, in Woodbury;
- John M. Van Etta, M.D., an internal medicine physician at St. Luke’s Internal Medicine Associates in Duluth; and
- Blanton Bessinger, M.D., a retired pediatric cardiologist.
- David D. Luehr, M.D., a family physician at the Raiter Clinic in Cloquet, and
- Benjamin H. Whitten, M.D., were elected alternate delegates.
MMA Board of Trustees
- Michael P. Heck, M.D., re-elected, Northeast Trustee District
- Donald M. Jacobs, M.D., re-elected, West Metro District
- Beth A. Baker, M.D., re-elected, West Metro District
- Aaron Friedman, M.D., elected, at-large trustee
- Daniel E. Maddox, M.D., re-elected, Southeast District
- Wade T. Swenson, M.D., elected, North Central District
- Charles G. Terzian, M.D., re-elected, East Metro District
- Douglas L. Wood, M.D., elected, Southeast District
G. Richard Geier, M.D., Receives Distinguished Service Award
Rochester surgeon and past MMA president G. Richard Geier, M.D., was presented with the Minnesota Medical Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
The Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor bestowed on a colleague by the MMA. Recipients must have made outstanding contributions to medicine and to the organization.
“I have more to thank the MMA for than they have to thank me for,” Geier said as he accepted the award. “It gave me so many wonderful opportunities. It is a great organization, and it is open to anyone willing to pitch in.”
Geier was president of the MMA from 2006 to 2007, while the organization was advancing two significant public health issues: banning smoking in the workplace and creating a framework for statewide health care reform. He has served as chair of the MMA Board of Trustees and of the board of directors of The MMIC Group, which was founded by the MMA.
A native of Evansville, Indiana, and a graduate of DePauw University and Northwestern University Medical School, Geier joined Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester in 1974. He served as the center’s president and CEO from 1984 until 2000. He retired in 2007.
Geier has been an MMA delegate since 1982. He has served on the MMA Professional Liability Committee, the Committee on Quality Assurance and Data Utilization, and the Committee on Committees, Bylaws, and Membership. He also chaired the Committee on Medical Practice and Planning and is currently chair of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee.