ROUNDS “voice of reason” Medicine’s
BY CRYSTAL ZUZEK With a calm disposition and humble nature, Dallas colon and rectal surgeon Don R. Read, MD, is quick to point out he didn’t ac- tively seek the office of Texas Medical Association president. “The Dallas County
Among his priorities during his term as TMA president, Don R. Read, MD, strives to energize Texas physicians to be active in advocacy and to protect tort reform at all costs.
Medical Society [DCMS] recruited me to run for the TMA Board of Trustees with the ultimate goal of being elected to the presi- dency,” he said. “Voice of reason” be-
came Dr. Read’s campaign slogan during his run for the prestigious office. “On every board I’ve served on, I’ve been called the voice of reason. I think one of my gifts is that I can look at the information on both sides of the issue and come to a reasonable conclusion about what the best answer is.” His calm demeanor serves him well as a leader. During heated debates on
boards and committees in the past, Dr. Read says he would wait for a lull to in- terject and outline the issues being discussed and offer a potential solution. Not one to talk just for the sake of talking, he says his fellow members of the TMA Board of Trustees listened when he did have something to say. Upon graduating from Austin College in 1964, Dr. Read received his medical
degree in 1968 from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He did his internship at Passavant Memorial Hospital at Northwestern University during 1968–69. “I knew I wanted to be a doctor from an early age. The other kids wanted
+ PHOTO BY JIM LINCOLN
Watch Dr. Read tell his West Nile virus story: tma.tips/ReadWNVvideo.
NEWS FROM AMERICA’S BEST MEDICAL SOCIETY
to be firemen or policemen. Nobody in the family was a doctor, and I had no idea why I wanted to be one,” Dr. Read said. He clearly chose the right call-
ing. His journey through medicine has taken him far. He completed his internship and residency training in Chicago in the ’70s. He served as a general medical officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve during 1969–70 and as a battalion surgeon and regimental surgeon in the First Marine Division during the Vietnam War. From 1970 to 1971, he worked as a general medi- cal officer at a naval hospital in Ports- mouth, N.H. As TMA’s 151st president, Dr. Read has four primary priorities:
1. Energize Texas physicians to be ac- tive in advocacy.
2. Protect tort reform at all costs. 3. Advocate better Medicaid payment for Texas physicians.
4. Support physicians in private prac- tice, and protect physicians who are hospital employees.
Dr. Read hopes to generate more
interest in TEXPAC during his time in office. “I’ve gotten on the TEX- PAC bandwagon over the years. Only a small percentage of TMA members are members of TEXPAC. They don’t realize TEXPAC has a separate goal from the association: to elect the right people who can advance medicine in Texas.” (For more information, visit
www.texpac.org.)
May 2016 TEXAS MEDICINE 17
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