 |
Thomas Tape, M.D. |
Dr. Tape began his four-year term as governor on May 17 after serving as governor-elect during the previous year.
“I am deeply honored to be asked to serve by my peers,” Dr. Tape said of his election. “My fellow governors are an outstanding group of medical leaders who feel passionately about improving the health care system.”
The ACP is the country’s largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group behind the American Medical Association. About 125,000 internal medicine physicians, related subspecialists and medical students are ACP members. Its mission is to enhance the quality and effectiveness of health care by fostering excellence and professionalism in the practice of medicine.
Chapter governors are elected by local ACP members and supervise chapter activities, appoint members to local committees and preside at regional meetings. They also attend ACP Board of Governors meetings two times each year to network with other chapter leaders and make recommendations to the ACP leadership.
On May 15, the governors combined with ACP members to form a group of 500 internal medicine physicians who visited their respective congressional delegations to advocate for health care reform.
Dr. Tape — who takes over for Richard Hranac, M.D., of Kearney, Neb. — has been a member of the ACP for more than 25 years. His surveys of ACP physician members have been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
He also co-edited an ACP book titled, “Diagnostic Strategies for Common Medical Problems,” and since 1991, he has been a fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP).