Letter From The Executive Director
FIRST YEAR AT FRESNO MADERA MEDICAL SOCIETY CHECK Yep, yesterday was my one year anniversary at Fresno Madera Medical Society and I celebrated by working a 12-hour day that included four NICOLE BUTLER meetings, a working lunch with a dozen doctors, and a Scholarship Foundation dinner meeting where we gave $25,000 to medical students from the Central Valley. Okay, I know that is a normal work day for most doctors, and I am not complaining one bit. In fact, I feel lucky to be part of such a great organization. We are working on so many things right now I don’t even know where to begin. Membership is still a priority—even though we are half way through the year new members can still join at a prorated rate. This is a great way to try our services and member benefits, so now is the time to give it chance if you are still on the fence. Current membership growth—drum roll please...is at 15percent, so we exceeded our goal of 13 percent. I am thrilled to share that we have never had this many members in the history of Fresno Madera Medical Society. Never! In addition, our growth of new members is second in the state behind the San Francisco Medical Society. Those that know me know that I would much rather be in first, so we will continue working with doctors to educate them about membership benefits and the importance of being a member of the medical society. Our next big project is our Summer Meltdown fundraiser. This event is going to be held on Friday, August 12, at Clovis Veterans Hospital and ZDoggMD will be the entertainment for the evening. For those of you who don’t know him—no worries, I didn’t either—he is really a doctor and he’s from the Central Valley. He grew up in Clovis and graduated from Clovis West High School, and went on to UC Berkeley—which he completed in three years—and attended medical school UC San Francisco. He is currently practicing medicine in Las Vegas and an is an internet celebrity known for his music videos, parodies, and comedy sketches about contemporary medical issues and working in the medical field. Take a look at some of his YouTube videos; he’s hysterical! We haven’t had this type of event in a long time, so please come join us for a fun evening and support the Scholarship Foundation and Fresno Madera Medical Society. Honestly, I can’t believe it has already been a year! Thank you,
PRESIDENT Hemant Dhingra, MD PRESIDENT-ELECT Alan Kelton, MD VICE PRESIDENT Trilok Puniani, MD SECRETARY-TREASURER Cesar A. Vazquez, MD PAST-PRESIDENT A.M. Aminian, MD BOARD OF GOVERNORS Christine Almon, MD, Alan Birnbaum, MD, Jennifer Davies, MD, Joseph Duflot, MD, William Ebbeling, MD, Don Gaede, MD, David Hadden, MD, Christina Maser, MD, Ranjit Rajpal, MD, Oscar Sablan, MD, Katayoon Shahinfar, MD, Roydon Steinke, MD, Jessica Lee, MD CENTRAL VALLEY PHYSICIANS EDITOR Alan Birnbaum, MD MANAGING EDITOR Nicole Butler EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Alan Birnbaum, MD - Chair, Don Gaede, MD - Associate Editor, Virgil Airola, MD, Hemant Dhingra, MD, Roydon Steinke, MD, Cesar Vazquez, MD, Nicole Butler CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sherry Lavone Williamson www.sherrylavonedesign.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alan Birnbaum, MD, Erin Kennendy, Nicole Butler, Millie Thao, Ronald Morton, MD CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Nicole Butler, Mike Steenburgh CENTRAL VALLEY PHYSICIANS is produced by Fresno Madera Medical Society PLEASE DIRECT ALL INQUIRIES AND SUBMISSIONS TO: Central Valley Physicians 1040 E. Herndon Ave., Suite 101 Fresno, CA 93720 Phone: 559-224-4224 • Fax: 559-224-0276 Email Address: nbutler@fmms.org MEDICAL SOCIETY OFFICE HOURS: Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed from 12 to 1 p.m. MEDICAL SOCIETY STAFF Nicole Butler - Executive Director Alissa Fowler - Marketing Manager and Becky Gentry - Receptionist CMA HOUSE OF DELEGATES REPRESENTATIVES Hemant Dhingra, MD*, A.M. Aminian, MD, Patrick Golden, MD, Brent Kane, MD, Ranjit Rajpal, MD, Oscar Sablan, MD, Roydon Steinke, MD, Toussaint Streat, MD ALTERNATES Alan Kelton, MD*, Naeem Akhtar, MD, Praveen Buddiga, MD, William Carveth, MD, Trilok Puniani, MD, Swarnpal Sekhon, MD *Automatic Delegate
Nicole Butler Executive Director Fresno Madera Medical Society
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CENTRAL VALLEY PHYSICIANS
Summer 2016