stances of the country. That fashioned my outlook considerably.
Texas Medicine: What drew you to neonatology?
Dr. Speer: It was a new field. I had looked at surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, radiology, psychiatry, and other specialties and decided against them for various reasons. By process of elimination I came to pediatrics, which initially didn’t enthrall me, but I was told by some of the pediatric residents when I was a student on the rotation that I was really good with the kids. You can actually make kids well. Antibiotics work in ear infections, and they work in pneumonia, and kids have a lot of that. And here was neonatology, a brand-new specialty that had just been designated a couple of years before, so I was getting in on the ground floor. There were one or two neonatologists here at Baylor … so that’s what I thought I wanted to be.
Texas Medicine: It must be incredibly satisfying when you have a tiny help- less infant and you make a difference in whether that child has a life or not.
Dr. Speer: It is. It has been very reward- ing, which is why I’m still in full-time practice.
Texas Medicine: Is there any one child who you didn’t think was going to make it but did?
Dr. Speer: There was a little girl who was small for gestational age born at a referring hospital. She was terribly tiny and was essentially DOA at Texas Chil- dren’s Hospital, and while she was in the ICU she had two other cardiorespiratory events that were rather significant. She’s now in her 30s, and she’s a bright, intel- ligent, master’s-prepared person who is just delightful.
Texas Medicine: Well, now that you’re president, what are your plans for the next year?
Dr. Speer: I hope to reach out to the nonmembers of TMA and try to encour-
8 TEXAS MEDICINE June 2012
age more physicians, both academic and nonacademic, to join. I’ve learned over the last decade or two that if you go to the legislature and try to get things done that are beneficial to patients and to the practice of medicine, the more voices you have, the more diverse phy- sicians who are saying the same thing, it’s more likely you’re going to accom- plish what you set out to. So we’ve got 45,000 members, and I would like to have 50,000.
Texas Medicine: How do we get to 50,000 members and beyond?
Dr. Speer: I’ve told Lou (TMA Execu- tive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Louis J. Goodman, PhD) I want to be invited to the major medical meet- ings in the state, from the family medi- cine folks to the orthopedist folks; I don’t care, whomever. I’ll go talk to medical staffs. I’m prepared to go talk to as few as one and as many as several hundred because there’s a message that I don’t think physicians have taken to heart.
Texas Medicine: What is that message?
Dr. Speer: I firmly believe that if we hadn’t passed tort reform we would have fewer physicians in practice because with all of the other economic hurdles we have to jump, I’ve got a hunch the money saved from the liability premi- ums is the money that has kept people afloat. In reality, physicians each year since tort reform passed in 2003 have basically saved 50 percent of their liabil- ity insurance premiums from what they were paying before 2003. That is way in excess of any dues dollars they have to pay annually. This is a savings that keeps going. It’s beneficial for everybody. Bay- lor is self-insured, but its costs for self-in- suring have dropped similarly. It’s been beneficial for every single physician in the state, and they need to look to TMA to help maintain that position and to enhance the practice of medicine to the degree possible.
Texas Medicine: You say you’re willing to talk to anyone. That sounds like a po- litical campaign.
Dr. Speer: In a way, yes, because pro- fessional organizations are political ani- mals. Whether we wish to recognize that or not, we are. Which is why, if profes- sional organizations want to exist, in my mind, they ought to work very hard to maintain a neutral ground, recognizing the far positions on either side of a sub- ject, but trying to bring people together to a consensus to get something done.
Texas Medicine: Do you see increased membership as the key to TMA’s future?
Dr. Speer: I think so. If you can, as an organization, draw up a strategy that has broad appeal and get people to join and remain as members, you’re going to be successful. You have to have pro- fessional leadership like Lou Goodman and the staff and physician leaders who are willing to stand up and devote some time. What I tell my younger partners, because some of them are raising fami- lies and getting their career going, is pay the dues dollars and when you have some time and the interest, put some boots on the ground and work your way into being a leader, particularly if you want to change policy. Be a leader. Don’t sit out there carping all the time because you don’t like what’s going on.
Texas Medicine: You’re now head of the TMA family. Tell us about your own family.
Dr. Speer: My wife, Mary, and I were married 43 years ago in April. I couldn’t do what I’ve done, what I do, and what I hope to do in the future without her beside me. We have two sons. The oldest, James, is 38 and a full-time musician in Austin. He works with Eddie V’s across the country. The youngest, Mark, is 32 and also a musician. He plays gospel and jazz in Houston. He’s recently decided to go to college to major in industrial design and minor in nanotechnology. I think Mary and I have been successful because even when things weren’t al- ways agreed upon, both boys wanted their hugs whenever we saw them.
Texas Medicine: Do you or your wife have a musical background?
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