2009 Governors-elect Candidates' Bios and Vision Statements

The ballots for the current Governors-elect election have been mailed. Members can vote via telephone at 1 800 218 4026 (US only), online or mail. You will need your mailed ballot for your ACP Number and PIN in order to make a vote.

Below are the bios and vision statements of the candidates that are running in this election. The deadline for submitting ballots is November 26, 2009 at 12 midnight CT. Please be sure to vote!

Thomas A. Bledsoe

DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 1/30/60, Dubuque, Iowa; EDUCATION: Dartmouth College AB 1982, Biology, Dartmouth Medical School 1984-1986 Brown University Program in Medicine MD, 1986-1988; POST DOCTORAL TRAINING: Primary Care Internal Medicine, 1988-1991 Chief Medical Resident, 1991-1992, Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University; CERTIFICATION: Internal Medicine; PRESENT POSITION: Primary Care Physician, University Medicine Foundation; Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Alpert Medical School of Brown University; teaching associate, Center for Biomedical Ethics, Alpert Medical School; ACP ACTIVITIES: Member since 1991, Fellow 7/2000; HOSPITAL/COMMUNITY SERVICE: Chair, Rhode Island Hospital Ethics Committee; Chair and ACP representative, Primary Care Physician Advisory Committee (PCPAC), Rhode Island Department of Health; co-chair, Chronic Care Sustainability Initiative (Patient-Centered Medical Home pilot project) steering committee; past Chair and coordinator, Schwartz Rounds, Rhode Island Hospital; educator, ethics seminars for medical students in core clerkships; preceptor, residents’ clinic, Rhode Island Hospital; attending physician, teaching service, Rhode Island Hospital; Scoutmaster, Troop IV Barrington Boy Scouts; Warden, S. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Providence; AREAS OF PROFESSIONAL INTEREST/EXPERTISE: Primary Care, Medical Ethics, Medical Education, Professionalism, Medical Informatics and Information Technology, end-of-life care

Vision Statement
After years of watching the current health care “system” fail in so many ways, fail the profession, fail the patients, fail the payers and fail the purchasers, I believe the time for change has arrived. Directing this change will require knowledge, creativity and commitment. The American College of Physicians is well-poised to play a pivotal role in health care reform over the coming months and years. A deep commitment to medical professionalism from medical school to the end of one’s career, flexibility to try new models of care and a firm commitment to the welfare of our patients and our society ground that commitment. As medical professionals, our involvement in the current health care reform discussion for the purpose of patient welfare and the welfare of the profession is our responsibility and our privilege. The days of finger-pointing are over and the days of cooperative problem-solving are ahead. Let’s go!

Kelly A. McGarry

DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: January 2, 1965, Providence, RI; EDUCATION: 1983–1987 – Undergraduate – Brown University, 1988–1992 – Yale University Medical School; POST DOCTORAL TRAINING: (General Internal Medicine) 1992 – 1993 – Internship – Rhode Island Hospital/Brown Medical School, 1993 – 1995 – Residency – Rhode Island Hospital/Brown Medical School, 1995 – 1996 – Chief Medical Resident – Rhode Island Hospital/Brown Medical School; CERTIFICATION: 1996 – Board Certified in Internal Medicine, 2006 – Board Re-certified in Internal Medicine; PRESENT POSITION: Associate Professor of Medicine – The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Program Director – General Internal Medicine Residency/The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; ACP ACTIVITIES: 2007 – Moderator, American College of Physicians (ACP) Associates’ Forum Competition. ACP Regional Conference, Warwick, RI, June 13, 2007. 2006 – present – Mentor, American College of Physicians (ACP) Mentoring Program for medical students, physicians in training and early career physicians, 2004 – present – Abstract Reviewer, National Abstract Board, 2000 – present – "Getting Through the Match." Workshop leader with Michele G. Cyr, M.D. and Dominick Tammaro, M.D., American College of Physicians – American Society of Internal Medicine Annual Sessions; HOSPITAL/COMMUNITY SERVICE: 2002 – present – Volunteer for Rhode Island Free Clinic, Providence, RI, 2004 – Participant in the Brown Medical School Physician Shadowing Course for high school students, 2003, 2005, 2007 – Participant in Ride Far – 5 day, 500-mile bike ride benefiting local, national and international HIV/AIDS organization; OTHER APPOINTMENTS: 1998 National Advisory Committee for Removing the Barriers, The Mautner Project, Mary Helen Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer, 1998 – 2002 Board Member, Rhode Island Medical Women’s Association, 1998 – 2002 Medical Consultant, Professional Advisory Committee, Capitol Hill Home Care Network, Inc., 2001 – present Graduate Medical Education Committee, Brown Medical School, 2001 – 2003 Board Member, University Medicine Foundation, 2002 – 2003 Member of Advisory Group, Office of Women in Medicine, Brown Medical School, 2005 –2008 Education Director for the National Center of Excellence in Women's Health, Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital, 2009 Board Member, University Medicine Foundation; AREAS OF PROFESSIONAL INTEREST/EXPERTISE:Medical Education, Women’s Health, specifically in osteoporosis, substance abuse and lesbian health care.

Vision Statement
I will consider my time as Governor of the ACP a success if I am able to accomplish the following: 1) I hope to continue the push for the Patient-Centered Medical Home. Through the appropriate recognition of the primary care provider as central to a patient’s well-being through prevention and early recognition of illness and avoidance of costly hospitalizations, primary care be reassigned its rightful position in medicine and primary care as a career option will be revitalized. 2) I hope to engender more involvement in the local and national ACP amongst both the medical students and the medical residents in the Brown training programs. I feel that my position as a program director and my involvement with the medical students puts me in position to accomplish this goal. I bring to my time in the ACP energy and enthusiasm for the tasks before me. Thank you for your consideration.

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Contact Information

Nitin S. Damle, MD, FACP
ACP Governor for Rhode Island

Nancy Baker-Hobin
ACP Rhode Island Chapter
Ph: 401-725-8671
Email: NBaker4@cox.net