MSMA Members in the news

John S. Daniels, MD, has retired from the clinical faculty of Washington University, Department of Internal Medicine and is stepping down from the Editorial Board of Missouri Medicine. Dr. Daniels is Journal’s longest serving Editorial Board member having joined the Board in May 1986. Dr. Daniels will still be involved in medical education and clinical practice. The MSMA Publication Committee has bestowed the Distinguished Service Award on Dr. Daniels. Editor John C. Hagan, III, MD, reports that Dr. Daniels has set the standard during his tenure for expert, timely, authoritative peer-reviews, and has worked with many authors to improve the quality of their manuscripts. Dr. Daniels has also been a critical liaison with faculty at Washington University and has been consulted on many matters related to the Journal.

Farina Shafi, MD, FACP, will be the new Internal Medicine Editorial Board member for the Journal. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri- Kansas City, is a UMKC Docent, and received the Betty M. Drees Excellence in Mentoring Award in 2020, which acknowledges and celebrates a faculty member who has made significant contributions to enhancing and developing the careers of faculty and trainees as a mentor.

Steve Reintjes, MD, is President and Chief Executive Officer of North Kansas City Hospital and its physician network subsidiary, Mertias Health.

The Kansas City Medical Society welcomes Scott W. Kujath, MD, FSVS, FACS, as the 2021 president, a vascular surgeon with Midwest Aortic & Vascular Institute. Dr. Kujath is also the chief of vascular surgery at Kansas City Veterans Administration Medical Center. MSMA congratulates Betty Drees, MD, FACP, FACE, on completing her year as KCMS president. Dr. Drees is MSMA Seventh District Councilor, Dean Emerita and Professor of Medicine, UMKC, and President of Graduate School for the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri.

MSMA members Bridget McCandless, MD, and Jim Wetzel, MD, were part of a panel for the Kansas City Medical Society’s virtual conference on “Advocating for Your Patients in 2021: How to Lead in a Time of Rapid Change.”

Michael Moncure, MD, appears in a Truman Medical Center video endorsing the COVID-19 vaccine, especially for minority communities. He noted the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on minority communities, and that the vaccine has shown equal effectiveness across races and ethnicity.

Jordan Valley Community Health Center in collaboration with the GCMS, and the Springfield-Greene County Health Department has developed a Mobile Vaccination Unit (MVU). The MVU is financed by a grant provided by the CARES committee. Jordan Valley Health Center Medical Director Matt Stinson, MD, long time GCMS Flu Committee Chair Jim Rogers, MD, and GCMS President Kayce Morton, MD, are leading the effort to prepare for our eventual COVID conquest by developing an innovative method to deliver COVID vaccines in a rapid and efficient fashion.