Letter From The Executive Director
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I cannot believe 2016 is already over. It was such a good year for the Medical Society; we grew membership by 20 percent, provided 35 hours of Continuing Medical Education (that is twice as many hours as the year before), and held our first fundraiser supporting the Fresno Madera Medical Society Scholarship Foundation. Those are just few on the list of accomplishments in 2016. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed working with Dr. Hemant Dhingra. He kept me on my toes and NICOLE BUTLER provided a never-ending list of ideas and support. I want to thank him for all of his time and energy that he provided, and I am glad to have him on the board for one more year. The medical society is launching into the new year with a new president, Dr. Alan Kelton, and some new board members, Drs. Uma Swamy and Alfred Valles. Our main goals will stay the same; membership growth and retention, and continue to grow membership benefits. If you are interested in becoming a member of the medical society, now is the time! We have launched a new monthly payment plan with automated monthly payments that make your membership affordable and easy to maintain. For more information on this, or to become a member, you can go to www.fmms.org, or call me directly. I know there has been a lot of talk about a CME cruise to Alaska and I am happy to announce that the cruise is finalized and we are now accepting reservations through our travel agent. Please see page 5 for more information. Our goal for these CME vacations is to provide them once a year to different locations. I would like to encourage those who are interested in taking a vacation to Alaska join us in July; it will be educational, informative and not to mention fun! Finally, I am happy to introduce our new events coordinator, Nicole Tenorio. Yes, another Nicole in an office of three people, but I could not pass up on the experience Nicole would bring to the organization. Last year we hosted over 20 events; everything from monthly office manager forums to CME events, major fundraisers, and family movie nights. This year we will be planning just as many events and Nicole will be overseeing most of them. Personally, I am thrilled to have her as part of the FMMS team and I am looking forward to taking our events to the next level. I hope everyone had a great Holiday and cheers to 2017! Nicole Butler can be reached by phone at (559) 224-4224 or by e-mail at nbutler@fmms.org. Thank you,
Nicole Butler Executive Director Fresno Madera Medical Society
PRESIDENT Alan Kelton, MD PRESIDENT-ELECT Trilok Puniani, MD VICE PRESIDENT Cesar A. Vazquez, MD TREASURER Alan Birnbaum, MD PAST-PRESIDENT Hemant Dhingra, MD BOARD OF GOVERNORS Christine Almon, MD, Jennifer Davies, MD, Joseph Duflot, MD, William Ebbeling, MD, Don Gaede, MD, David Hadden, MD, Christina Maser, MD, Katayoon Shahinfar, MD, Roydon Steinke, MD, Janae Barker, DO, Uma Swamy, MD, A.M. Aminian,Alfred Valles CENTRAL VALLEY PHYSICIANS EDITOR Don Gaede, MD MANAGING EDITORS Nicole Butler EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Don Gaede, MD - Chair, Alan Birnbaum, MD - Associate Editor, Ranjit S. Rajpal, MD, Hemant Dhingra, MD, Roydon Steinke, MD, Cesar Vazquez, MD, Nicole Butler CREATIVE DIRECTOR www.sherrylavonedesign.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alan Birnbaum, MD, Don Gaede, MD, Jennifer Seita, Alan Birmbaum, MD, Erin Kennedy, Malissa Rose, Jay Lewis, Marylisa Russell, Christopher Staub, Frederick Elmore, MD CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Nicole Butler, Tomas Ovalle, James Ramirez 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. MEDICAL SOCIETY STAFF Executive Director, Nicole Butler CMA HOUSE OF DELEGATES REPRESENTATIVES Alan Kelton, MD, A.M. Aminian, MD, Patrick Golden, MD, Brent Kane, MD, Ranjit Rajpal, MD, Oscar Sablan, MD, Roydon Steinke, MD, Toussaint Streat, MD, Don Gaede, MD ALTERNATES Trilok Puniani, MD, Naeem Akhtar, MD, Praveen Buddiga, MD, William Carveth, MD, Trilok Puniani, MD, Swarnpal Sekhon, MD *Automatic Delegate
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CENTRAL VALLEY PHYSICIANS
Winter 2017