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September/October 2005: Issue 127
Dr. Joe Thompson and Dr. Joycelyn Elders to Speak at SCC/MLA Conference:
The South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association (SCC/MLA) will have their annual Conference, Public Health Challenges: The Librarian’s Role , October 22-26, 2005, at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas. Special events include a general session keynote address, Public Health Challenges, by Dr. Joe Thompson; a luncheon address, The Role of Medical Librarians in Improving Health Care, by Dr. Joycelyn Elders; and a Farewell Banquet at the Clinton Presidential Library and Park. There are various registration options and opportunities for participation by non-SCC/MLA members. The UAMS Library has been handling local arrangements for the Conference, and many of the staff will be participating in Conference activities and meetings.
Joe Thompson, MD, MPH
Chief Health Officer for Arkansas, and Head of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, Little Rock, AR
Joseph W. Thompson, M.D., M.P.H, is an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and practices as a general pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist. As the Director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI), Dr. Thompson is responsible for developing health policy, research activities and collaborative programs that promote better health and healthcare in Arkansas. He works closely with the Governor’s office and the Arkansas Legislature as well as with public and private organizations to support relevant public health policy topics such as access to quality care. Through ACHI, Dr. Thompson has led efforts in planning and implementing healthcare financing reform, tobacco- and obesity-related health promotion and disease prevention programs.
Most recently, Dr. Thompson was nominated by Governor Mike Huckabee and confirmed by the Arkansas Department of Health’s Board of Directors to serve as Arkansas’s first Chief Health Officer. In this position, Dr. Thompson will be responsible for identifying strategies and shaping policies to improve the health of Arkansans.
Joycelyn Elders, MD, MS
Former U.S. Surgeon General and Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas College of Medicine, Little Rock, AR
Joycelyn Elders was nominated surgeon general of the US Public Health Service by President Bill Clinton in July 1993. She served in this post until January 1995, after which time she went to work at the University of Arkansas Children's Hospital until her retirement in June 1998. She is now a professor emeritus of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine.
At fifteen, she received a scholarship from the United Methodist Church to attend Philander Smith College in Little Rock, AR. Upon graduation at eighteen, she entered the US Army as a first lieutenant and received training as a physical therapist. Elders attended the University of Arkansas Medical School on the G.I. Bill. After graduation in 1960, she was an intern at the University of Minnesota Hospital–Minneapolis and did a pediatric residency and an endocrinology fellowship at the University of Arkansas Medical Center–Little Rock. She ascended the academic ladder to full professorship after her fellowship and board certification in 1976. Elders joined the faculty at UAMS as a professor of pediatrics and received board certification as a pediatric endocrinologist in 1978. She was appointed director of the Arkansas Department of Health in October of 1987. While serving as director, she was elected president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers. She also holds a Master of Science degree in biochemistry.
You are invited to visit the conference website for complete program information and continuing education opportunities: http://www.library.uams.edu/scc2005/. For further information, please contact Dena Plaisted, Local Arrangements Chair, at PlaistedDenaK@uams.edu, or Mary Ryan, Program Chair, at RyanMaryL@uams.edu.