Abstract
Ron AndersonPhoto courtesy of UT Southwestern Medical Center
Ron Anderson, MD, died of cancer at age 68 on September 11, 2014. He was the former CEO of Parkland Health & Hospital System and longstanding member of the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern). A respected leader, Dr. Anderson worked to make healthcare accessible to all patients, regardless of ability to pay, and he was a recognized proponent of the physician-patient relationship. In the 1990's, he provided influential opposition to welfare reform measures that would require healthcare providers to report undocumented immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In 2005, he was selected as No. 1 on both Modern Physician magazine's list of the 50 most powerful physician executives and Modern Healthcare magazine's list of 100 most powerful people in healthcare.
Dr. Anderson earned his MD from the University of Oklahoma and pharmacology degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. In 1973, he began an internship in Internal Medicine at Parkland Hospital and UT Southwestern. He was Chief Resident from 1975–76, and he became a member of the UT Southwestern faculty and an attending physician at Parkland after completion of his training. He served as Medical Director of Parkland's Emergency Room from 1980 until 1982, when he became President and CEO, a post he held for nearly three decades. He remained on the faculty as Professor of Internal Medicine after retiring from his leadership position at Parkland in 2011.
During the final years of his tenure at Parkland, Dr. Anderson led the bond campaign to secure public funding for the new Parkland Memorial Hospital. The new, $1.3 billion, hospital is set to open in 2015 and will feature a statue of Dr. Anderson in its lobby. A new outpatient clinic will also be named in his honor.
Richard Satran
Richard Satran, MD, longtime faculty member at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, died on Saturday, September 20 at the age of 85. During his tenure, Dr. Satran twice served as acting chair of the Department of Neurology during the 1980's and was associate dean for Admissions for four years.
Dr. Satran completed his undergraduate education in Biology at the University of Louisville. He earned a Master's Degree in Education from New York University in 1951 and his Medical Degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1956. He completed internship and residency at the University of Michigan Medical Center before joining the University of Rochester faculty in 1962. A founding member of the institution's Department of Neurology, he served the remainder of his career at Rochester, becoming professor emeritus in 1997.
An accomplished educator, clinician and researcher, Dr. Satran received a number of honors and awards. The University of Rochester Medical Alumni Association honored him with its Gold Medal Award in 1990. In 1998, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Upstate Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and, in 2009, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. From 1992–1994, he was Chairman of the National Council of Professional Advisory Committee Chairs of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Dr. Satran was a member of the advisory board of the local Multiple Sclerosis Society chapter until the time of his death. He served as chair of the American Academy of Neurology's section on the History of Neurology and was co-editor of the section on the history of neurology for Archives of Neurology.