Oklahoma Dental Association installs new officers

Scott Waugh of Edmond is the new president-elect of the Oklahoma Dental Association.

He had served the organization as vice president last year. An ODA member since 1974, the Baylor graduate has chaired its mediation review council, served as secretary/treasurer and as both an alternate delegate and delegate to the American Dental Association. He will be installed as president next year.

Installed as ODA president for 2001 was Raymond Cohlmia of Oklahoma City, last year's president-elect. He also has served as the association's secretary/treasurer and as chairman of the American Dental Association's committee for new dentists. He will serve as the ADA delegate this year.

Other officers include: vice president, Steve Glenn of Tulsa; alternate ADA delegate, Steve Hogg of Broken Arrow; speaker of the house, James S. Torchia of Tulsa.

Cohlmia has named William "Lee" Beasley of Oklahoma City as secretary/treasurer and David Shadid of Oklahoma City as the ODA Journal editor.

The association has honored Thomas Murdoch with its Benjamin Franklin Scroll Award for the year's most significant contribution to the ODA Journal. His article "No Man's Land: Panhandle Dentists" in the winter 2001 issue chronicled the lives and practices of dentistry in the state panhandle. He had previously received this honor in 1978.

James Lea Sr. has received the ODA's Thomas Jefferson Citizenship Award. His past volunteer work includes service for the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and with several Oklahoma County district councils.

The association has presented its Young Dentist of the Year Award to Donna Sparks of Norman. The University of Oklahoma graduate has served as a clinical instructor at OU and at Rose State College while practicing dentistry with Jamie Wedemeyer in Norman.

St. Michael

St. Michael Hospital has added several physicians to its medical staff: Iftikhar Ahmad, Niraj Prasad and Surindar Bhatia, specializing in cardiovascular disease; Chris Carey, Kevin McMullen, Kent Webb and M. Jamshidi, general/vascular surgery; Gary Casper, Arthur Conley, Cheng-Lun Soo and Harvey Jenkins, orthopedic surgery; James Love, internal medicine; Dan Northey and Robert Wilson, gastroenterology; Nicholas J. Pappas, urology; and William Smith Jr. and Steven Walker, D.P.M.

Other people

Kevin T. Avery, professor and chair of the OU Department of Community Dentistry, has received the 2001 St. Ignatius Award from the by Boston College High School. The honor to one of the school's 1961 alumni celebrates Avery's service to the Native American community, community health centers, Head Start programs and to the U.S. Job Corps, among other achievements.

Nancy Woodard is the new public relations and marketing coordinator for Mercy Health Center. The Southern Nazarene University and University of Arkansas graduate served as senior editor at Oklahoma Today magazine, where she remains a contributing editor.

George H. Becker Jr. has been named president and chief executive officer of Santa Ana, Calif.-based PacifiCare Health Systems' Southwest regional subsidiaries, PacifiCare of Texas and PacifiCare of Oklahoma. Previously executive vice president and chief financial officer of NYLCare Health Plans in New York, Becker will be based in PacifiCare's regional management offices in Dallas. He replaces Jim Cassity, who is leaving the company. Becker, a graduate of Notre Dame and Central Missouri State, will lead the PacifiCare plan's commercial and Medicare operations, providing services for the more than 480,000 members in Texas and 125,000 members in Oklahoma.

Health Management Associates, owner of the Midwest Regional Medical Center, has promoted former MRMC head Peter M. Lawson to executive vice president of hospital operations. Lawson had most recently served as a senior vice president overseeing the Midwest region's hospital operations.

Business

Deaconess Hospital has opened its remodeled oncology medical surgery unit, which was moved from the third to sixth floor. It features 20 beds with private rooms.

The Cardiovascular Clinic has added a second metro location in the Deaconess Medical Offices North building. It also has added a new member: Kris Mullins, an OU graduate who interned at the Kansas University Medical School.

The Oklahoma Cardiovascular Institute also has opened a second metro office, this one at 2149 SW 59th St., Suite 206.

Brad Britton has laid claim to performing the state's first procedure to treat farsightedness with an intraocular contact lens. The surgery at Physicians Hospital of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City used a lens made of collamer by STAAR Surgical.

Events

At 1 p.m. Thursday, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority will hold its monthly meeting at 4545 N. Lincoln Blvd., Suite 124. The agenda includes the OHCA 2002 budget work program, the conflicts of interest panel, various fiscal contracts and revised rules.

On June 13, attorney Day Edwards Propester and Christensen attorney Laura L. Cross will discuss risk management, documentation and confidentiality of medical records with the Oklahoma City\County Health Department.

On June 14, the 2001 Summer Geriatric Institute will meet at the OU Center for Continuing Education, with Cross presenting "Training the Trainer."

On June 19, Cross will talk about "physician education in end-of- life care" before an audience at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center.

From 8:30 a.m.-2:45 p.m. June 22, The Children's Center in Bethany will host the Pediatric Spasticity Conference. Speaking at the $55 conference will be Ann Tilton of Children's Hospital of New Orleans, Edward Dabrowski and Gretchen Backer of Children's Hospital in Michigan, Mark Abel of Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center and Marc R. Hille of The Children's Center. The registration deadline is June 15. For more information, call 440-9866.

Etc.

The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation is seeking candidates for research by the new firm ProhibiTx on the genetics of breast cancer. For details call 271-7458.

The organization Healthier Aging for Senior Oklahomans has a full slate of community education programs for June, with topics ranging from pain and stroke to men's health, breast cancer, medication safety and fire prevention. To learn more, call 942-8500.

Midwest Regional Medical Center has several free support groups and community education classes on tap for June, ranging from "Better Breathers" to diabetes, the heart and infant death experience. Call 610-3627.

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse is holding four regional "shareholder" meetings this week to gauge interest in cross-training for mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence providers. These 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. meetings started yesterday in Tulsa. They will continue today with a meeting at Oklahoma City's Metro Tech center, followed Thursday with a meeting in Woodward and Friday in Lawton. For more information, call 573- 8226.

At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, the first heat will begin in the sixth annual McBride Clinic and Bone and Joint Hospital's Mini Grand Prix for Arthritis at the Oklahoma Motor Sports Complex in Norman. Admission is free, though the adjoining carnival admission is $1. For more on this fund-raiser for the Arthritis Foundation's Oklahoma Chapter, call 236-3399.

At 6 p.m. June 19, the OU Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience will present a panel discussion on "The Brain and Pain" at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. For more information on the free presentation, call 271-6267 or visit www.ocns.org.

At 7 p.m. June 19, Cross will discuss end of life treatment issues in a presentation by Midwest Regional Medical Center and Hospice Quality Care in MRMC's Educational Classroom A. Seating for the free presentation is limited; call 610-3627.

At 6 p.m. June 22, the Oklahoma Sports Science and Orthopaedics and the Oklahoma RedHawks will begin the First Annual Mark Harmon Celebrity Weekend with a celebrity auction at the AMF Boulevard Lanes in Edmond. It continues 3 p.m. Saturday with an exhibition Celebrity Benefit Baseball Game between the Mark Harmon's Bombers and the OSSO Outlaws at the Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark, along with a silent auction before that and the following 7:05 p.m. RedHawks game. Proceeds benefit The Children's Center. For details, call 427-6776.

On June 24, speakers with the Contact Crisis Helpline will address Oklahoma City church audiences to raise awareness about the program's services and volunteer needs. Call 840-9396 to learn more.

Kirby Lee Davis welcomes your comments and contributions. You may reach him by phone at 278-2843, by fax at 278-2890 or by e-mail, kdavis

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