Executives & Staff
- President - Joseph W. Stubbs, MD, FACP
- Chair, Board of Regents - Frederick E. Turton, MD, MBA, FACP
- Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer - John Tooker, MD, MBA, FACP
- Treasurer - W. James Stackhouse, MD, MACP
- Immediate Past President - Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, MACP
- Immediate Past Chair, Board of Regents - William B. Applegate, MD, MPH, MACP
- President-elect - J. Fred Ralston, MD, FACP
- Chair-elect, Board of Regents - Robert G. Luke, MD, MACP
President, 2009-2010 - Joseph W. Stubbs, MD, FACP
Joseph W. Stubbs, MD, FACP, an internist practicing in Albany, Ga., is 2009-2010 President of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists. He became President during Internal Medicine 2009, the ACP scientific meeting, held April 23-25 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Dr. Stubbs served two terms on the ACP Board of Regents, the organization’s main policymaking body. He also served as Chair of the ACP Medical Service Committee. Dr. Stubbs has served on the 2003 ACP Scientific Program Committee, the Member Insurance Subcommittee, the Publication Committee, and the Managed Care Subcommittee. He has also been Chair of ACP Services. He is in his second term on the Board of Trustees of the ACP Foundation and is currently Chair-elect of the ACP Foundation for 2009-2010.
Dr. Stubbs has been active in the ACP Georgia Chapter, joining the Governor’s Council in 1988 and serving on the Public and Professional Communications Committee, the Health and Public Policy Committee, and as Chapter Secretary. He was elected to serve the 1999-2003 term as ACP Governor for Georgia. In 2003, he was named a Laureate of the Georgia Chapter. That year, the Georgia Chapter was recognized by ACP with an Evergreen Award for outstanding chapter activities in the advocacy area.
Dr. Stubbs graduated, summa cum laude, from The College of William and Mary in 1975. He received his medical degree, summa cum laude, from Emory University School of Medicine in 1979. His postdoctoral training included an internship, residency in internal medicine and primary care, and training as chief resident at the University of Washington affiliated hospitals in Seattle. Dr. Stubbs is board-certified in internal medicine and geriatric medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP). FACP is an honorary designation that recognizes ongoing individual service and contributions to the practice of medicine.
Dr. Stubbs is a member of the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition Prevention Task Force. He has also served on the Medical Association of Georgia Legislative Council and as the ACP Delegate to the Georgia Primary Care Coalition. He is a past President of the Dougherty County Medical Society.
Chair, Board of Regents, 2009-2010 - Frederick E. Turton, MD, MBA, FACP
Frederick E. Turton, MD, MBA, FACP, is 2009-2010 Chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists. He became Chair during Internal Medicine 2009, the ACP annual scientific meeting, held April 23-25 in Philadelphia, Pa. The Board of Regents is ACP’s main policymaking board.
Dr. Turton is an internist in private practice in Sarasota, Fla., and is also Chair of Emergent Health Technologies, LLC. He served in the National Health Service Corps from 1980 to 1983 and has been in the practice of internal medicine since 1980.
Dr. Turton has served on the Board of Regents since 2003. He has served as chair of the ACP Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee and was also Vice Chair of the ACP Services Political Action Committee. Dr. Turton has been vice chair of the ACP finance, strategic planning, and health and public policy committees.
Dr. Turton served as Treasurer, Secretary, Council member and Chairman of the Membership Committee for the ACP Florida Chapter. He was named Key Contact of the Year 2000 and received special recognition in 1999 and 2003 for his contact with legislators on behalf of internal medicine. Dr. Turton was elected 2000-2004 ACP Governor for Florida by the local membership. In 2003, he was elected to chair the national ACP Board of Governors for 2004-2005.
Dr. Turton was named a Laureate of the Florida Chapter in 2005. Laureate Awards honor local Fellows or Masters of ACP who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to excellence in medical care, education, or research, or have provided service to their community, chapter, and the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Turton received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Emory University. He completed internship and residency training at Vanderbilt University Affiliated Hospitals. He is board-certified in internal medicine and has been a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP) since 1998. FACP is an honorary designation that recognizes ongoing individual service and contributions to the practice of medicine. Additionally, Dr. Turton was awarded a Master of Business Administration from the University of South Florida in 2007.
Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer - John Tooker, MD, MBA, FACP
Dr. John Tooker is the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Physicians--the largest medical specialty society in the U.S., representing 128,000 specialists, subspecialists and medical students in internal medicine. ACP’s mission is to foster excellence and professionalism in medicine.
ACP has been in the forefront of health care reform efforts, working to develop new models of patient care delivery and practice and payment reforms that will make internal medicine more attractive as a career choice. Dr. Tooker represents ACP in a variety of national forums to ensure the views of internists are heard during this important time of health care reform in the U.S. He has testified at congressional hearings and participated on many panels with legislators and other key policy makers with the goal to improve health care for patients. Dr. Tooker is a frequent speaker on topics such as health information technology (HIT), the Patient-Centered Medical Home, provider reimbursement, and quality improvement (QI).
Dr. Tooker chairs the boards of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC). He also serves on the boards of the National Quality Forum, the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, and the Electronic Health Record Patient Safety Advisory Board. He represents ACP as a founding member of the AQA, serves on the Quality Alliance Steering Committee (QASC), Connecting for Health steering committee and is a member of the Center for Payment Reform.
Dr. Tooker earned his medical degree at University of Colorado School of Medicine, completed an internal medicine residency at the Bellevue Hospital Center and the University of Colorado, and a pulmonary/critical care fellowship at the Maine Medical Center and the University of Washington. He is a graduate of the Fox School of Business at Temple University, and is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Treasurer - W. James Stackhouse, MD, MACP
W. James Stackhouse, MD, MACP, an internist in private practice with Goldsboro Medical Specialists, Goldsboro, N.C., is Treasurer of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists. His three-year term began in 2007. As Treasurer, Dr. Stackhouse chairs the Finance Committee, the Member Insurance Subcommittee, and serves ex officio on the ACP Board of Regents.
Dr. Stackhouse, a native of Raleigh, N.C., is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He was named a Master of the American College of Physicians (MACP) in 2006, an honor held by less than 650 internists worldwide. Election to Mastership recognizes outstanding career accomplishments and notable contributions to medicine. According to the ACP Awards Committee, “He is known for his relentless advocacy on behalf of the practicing physician, evident during his many years’ service to the ACP and his local medical societies.”
Dr. Stackhouse was a member of the ACP Board of Regents from 1998 to 2001, serving as a Transitional Regent from the American Society of Internal Medicine (ASIM) after the ACP-ASIM merger. He was again elected to the Board in 2002. As a Regent, he served on the Membership Committee, the Marketing and Communications Committee, the Physician’s Information and Education Resource Steering Committee, and the Finance Committee.
Locally, Dr. Stackhouse has been extensively involved with the North Carolina Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society. In addition, he has served as the Governor’s appointee to the North Carolina Legislative Task Force on Stroke and Heart Attack Prevention for the past ten years. In 2000, the North Carolina Chapter of the ACP presented him with its Laureate Award. Dr. Stackhouse was on the Board of Directors of the Wayne Memorial Hospital Medical Staff and served as its president in 1987, after serving as vice-president and secretary. His medical career includes service in the U.S. Air Force, Seymour Johnson AFB Hospital, as an internist from 1979 to 1981.
An Emory University School of Medicine graduate, Dr. Stackhouse completed internal medicine residency training at Emory University Affiliated Hospitals. He is board-certified in internal medicine.
Immediate Past President, 2009-2010 -- Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, MACP
Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, MACP, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, is 2009-2020 Immediate-Past President of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists Dr. Harris continues to serve on the organization’s Executive Committee. Dr. Harris was named a Master of the American College of Physicians in 2009.
Dr. Harris is a resident of Millwood, Va. He has practiced internal medicine and nephrology since 1977. He served on the ACP Board of Regents, the organization's main policymaking body, since 2003. He was Chair of the ACP Board of Governors for 2003-2004 and was ACP Governor for Virginia for the 1999-2003 term.
As President, Dr. Harris served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents, the ACP Finance Committee, and the Strategic Planning Committee. He served as 2005-2007 Chair of the ACP Health and Public Policy Committee and was a member of the ACP Foundation Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2006. Dr. Harris served on the ACP Scientific Program Subcommittee from 1996 to 1998.
Dr. Harris was a member of the Board of Directors of Winchester Medical Center in Virginia from 1994 to 1998 and was President of the medical staff from 1990 to 1991. He also was Chairman of the Winchester Regional Advisory Board of the Thomas C. Sorensen Institute of Political Leadership, University of Virginia, from 1995 to 1998.
Dr. Harris earned his medical degree at The Medical College of Georgia in 1972. He completed his internship at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center. He completed residency training in internal medicine and fellowship training in nephrology at Georgetown University Hospital. He is certified in internal medicine and in nephrology.
Dr. Harris has been a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP) since 1981. FACP is an honorary designation that recognizes ongoing individual service and contributions to the practice of medicine. In 2005, he was presented a Laureate Award by the ACP Virginia Chapter. Laureate Awards honor local Fellows or Masters of ACP who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to excellence in medical care, education, or research, or have provided service to their community, chapter, and the American College of Physicians.
Immediate Past Chair, Board of Regents, 2009-2010 -- William B. Applegate, MD, MPH, MACP
William B. Applegate, MD, MPH, MACP, of Winston-Salem, N.C., is 2009-2010 Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists.
Dr. Applegate is interim president of Wake Forest Health Sciences and dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He has been on the ACP Board of Regents, the organization’s main policymaking body, since 2002. He is immediate past chair of the ACP Strategic Planning Committee and of the ACP Foundation Board of Trustees. Dr. Applegate has served as chair of the ACP Publications Committee and has been a member of the nominations and finance committees.
A board-certified internist and geriatrician, Dr. Applegate has received several awards for excellence in teaching and research and has presented honorary lectures at Johns Hopkins University and Baylor College of Medicine. He is a past president of the American Geriatrics Society (1992-1993) and has served as editor in chief of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Dr. Applegate has researched such topics as hypertension and high cholesterol in the elderly, and geriatric assessment. He is the author or coauthor of 25 books and book chapters and nearly 170 journal articles. He also served as editor for the geriatrics section of ACP’s Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP), tenth edition.
Dr. Applegate earned a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from the University of Louisville, then received his medical degree from the University’s School of Medicine. He then attained a masters of public health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed internal medicine residency at Boston City Hospital and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also completed his fellowship as a Robert Wood Johnson clinical scholar. In 1977, Dr. Applegate joined the University of New Mexico as an assistant professor of medicine and director of its outpatient medicine clinics. From 1979 until 1999, he was a faculty member at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences in Memphis, where his appointments included director of the Center for Prevention and Health Services Research, and chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine.
Dr. Applegate joined the Wake Forest University School of Medicine faculty in 1999 as professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. He was chosen as senior vice president of Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WFUHS) and dean of the School of Medicine in 2002, and was named interim president of WFUHS in 2007 while continuing as dean.
Dr. Applegate has been a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP) since 1984. FACP is an honorary designation that recognizes ongoing individual service and contributions to the practice of medicine. He was named a Master of the American College of Physicians in 2009.
President-elect, 2009-2010 -- J. Fred Ralston, Jr. MD, FACP
J. Fred Ralston, Jr., MD, FACP, is 2009-2010 President-elect of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists. He became President-elect during Internal Medicine 2009, the ACP annual scientific meeting, held April 23-25 in Philadelphia, Pa. The Board of Regents is ACP’s main policymaking board. He was elected to the ACP Board of Regents in 2004 and re-elected in 2007. He will become ACP President in 2010.
Dr. Ralston has been in the practice of general internal medicine in Fayetteville, Tennessee since 1983. His group, Fayetteville Medical Associates, includes internists, family physicians, pediatricians and a nurse practitioner. The group traces its roots to 1909 and serves a rural county of 30,000 near Huntsville, Alabama.
Dr. Ralston was a transitional Governor for ACP's Tennessee Chapter from 1998 to 1999, during the College’s merger with the ASIM, and was elected Governor of the state chapter in 2000. He was named parliamentarian for the ACP Board of Governors for 2003-2005 and was elected Chair of the Board of Governors for 2005-06. Dr. Ralston was also Vice Chair of the ACP Publications Committee (2002-03), Finance Committee (2004-05), and Health and Public Policy Committee (2003-04), in addition to chairing a Special Reference Committee on Recertification in 2002.
Dr. Ralston has served in many leadership capacities for the Tennessee Medical Association, including a term as board chairman. He was chairman of the TMA TennCare Reform Task Force and is involved in many community activities. Dr. Ralston has served as a board member and in many leadership capacities on the medical staff of Lincoln Medical Center in Fayetteville. He was actively involved in a public referendum which succeeded with overwhelming approval for a new community hospital.
Dr. Ralston has a strong interest in electronic health records, efficiency in health care delivery, and health care system reform focused on a close relationship between individuals and a personal physician. He remains concerned about the lack of access to well-trained primary care physicians for increasing segments of our population and understands that a major overhaul of our “system” is required. Dr. Ralston remains active in advocacy on health-care issues, combining his political science background with the real-world perspective of a physician in full-time clinical practice.
Dr. Ralston is co-author of “Achieving a High-Performance Health Care System with Universal Access: What the United States Can Learn from Other Countries,” Ann Intern Med. 2008; 148:55-75, written with Jack A. Ginsburg, Robert B. Doherty, and Naomi Senkeeto, developed for the ACP Health and Public Policy Committee.
A graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., Dr. Ralston received his B.A. in political science from Yale University. He earned his medical degree in 1980 from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency training at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. He is board-certified in internal medicine. Dr. Ralston is married to Farris Lynch Ralston and they have twin teenage sons, Will and Jim.
Chair-elect, Board of Regents, 2009-2010 – Robert G. Luke, MD, MACP
Robert “Robin” G. Luke, MD, MACP, is the 2009-2010 Chair-elect of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists. Dr. Luke is a professor of medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati.
Dr. Luke became Chair-elect during Internal Medicine 2009, ACP’s annual scientific meeting, held April 23-25 in Philadelphia. He will become Chair of the Board of Regents, ACP’s main policymaking board, in April 2010. He has been a Fellow of ACP since 1970 and a Master since 2003. Fellowship and Mastership recognize achievements in internal medicine. Masters are selected for outstanding contributions to medicine.
Since 2004 Dr. Luke has served on ACP’s Board of Regents. Regents may serve two three-year terms. He was named a Laureate of the ACP Ohio Chapter in 2004. Laureate Awards honor local Fellows or Masters of ACP who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to excellence in medical care, education, or research, or have provided service to their community, chapter, and ACP. Dr. Luke was a member (1986-1989) and chairman (1989-1992) of the Nephrology Subsection Committee for ACP’s Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP).
The author or co-author of more than 250 scientific articles, books, and book chapters, Dr. Luke was editor of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases from 1987-1992. He has served as a reviewer for more than 10 scientific journals, including Annals of Internal Medicine.
A native of Scotland, Dr. Luke has been in academic medicine in the U.S. since 1968. As a nephrologist, he is interested in fluid and electrolytes, acid-base, and hypertension. Dr. Luke is actively engaged in the teaching of house staff and medical students especially in these areas. He served as president of the American Society of Nephrology (1996-1997) and was chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati (1988- 2004).
Prior to the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Luke served on the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Kentucky Medical Center, and was a research fellow at Yale University.
Dr. Luke received his medical degree (with commendation) from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1959. He completed his internship at the University of Glasgow and his residency and renal fellowship at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
Page updated: 04-22-09
Related Links
- Past Leaders: The former leaders of ACP from 1923 to the Present.
- Awards & Masterships: ACP presents 18 awards and a number of Masterships each year.
Discount Ending Soon!
Register now for Internal Medicine 2010 in Toronto, Canada and save! Join us at the premier scientific event in internal medicine and the subspecialties. View pricing details.
Your Opinion Counts
Twice a year, ACP participates in a journal readership survey of random internists. If you receive one of these surveys in the mail, please indicate if you read our journals and answer the questions about your reading habits of our journals.
Your voice in these surveys is very important to ACP and enables us to continue to produce the high-quality publications that you expect.
Find out more.