Thomas C. Sparkman, MD, ABFM, a board certified family practice physician from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, will serve as President of the Missouri State Medical Association in 2009-2010. He was formally installed in Kansas City, April 4, 2009, during MSMA’s 151st Annual Convention.
Dr. Sparkman was born in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, to Thomas and Gertrude Sparkman. He graduated from Poplar Bluff High School and then graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a major in Zoology. He then served in the United States Army before entering medical school.
Dr. Sparkman completed his medical degree at Baylor University College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, in 1962. His rotating internship was at Ben Taub City Charity/Jefferson Davis Hospital in Houston, Texas (now LBJ City/Charity Hospital). He is board certified in Family Medicine.
Dr. Sparkman returned to Cape Girardeau, and for the past 45 years has been dedicated to the practice of family medicine. He currently serves as Medical Director to several area nursing homes and has limited his practice to the geriatric population in these and other long term care facilities. He has been on the Active Staff at Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau since 1963.
Dr. Sparkman has been involved in professional organizations on the local, state and national levels and has served the following groups including: the Southeast Missouri Hospital Board of Trustees since 1985 and is now an Honorary Trustee; the Board of Directors, and was instrumental in the development, of the Cape Girardeau Doctors’ Park and has served in many capacities on that Board of Directors, including most recently as President.
Long active in organized medicine, Dr. Sparkman has served the Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society since 1963 where he has served as a Journal editor, Board member, treasurer and president; the American Academy of Family Practice since 1963; the American Medical Association since 1963 and to which he was a delegate to the OMSS for Southeast Missouri Hospital Medical Staff from 1985 to 1998 and has served as an Alternate Delegate from MSMA since 2002; the Southern Medical Association since 1963 which he has served in many official capacities as Associate Councilor since 1993, as a Family Practice Section Officer (chair for two years and currently as secretary), a multi-year member of the Coordinating Committee on Long Range Planning, and a Trustee two years on the Southern Association for Primary Care Board. Dr. Sparkman has served in a succession of posts at the Missouri State Medical Association since 1997.
Dr. Sparkman has been involved in his community through active involvement in St. Andrew Lutheran Church, the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, the Southeast Missouri District Fair Board and numerous health related organizations.
In 2005, Dr Sparkman’s involvement was recognized by his receiving the Outstanding Service Award by the Southeast Missouri Hospital Board of Trustees. In 2003 he received the SEMO District Fair Board Volunteer of the Year Award. He was recently honored by the Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society by their renaming the Family Practice Symposium to the Thomas C. Sparkman, MD, Primary Care Symposium.
Dr Sparkman is married to Carol Ann Sparkman. They have four children, Thomas Kendall, Randy, Mark and Tara. They have six grandchildren.
His goals for the MSMA during his tenure as presidency are:
- To place emphasis on preventive care for success in our limping economy;
- To develop business models to cope with hassle factor of third party payers;
- To keep our members informed, engaged and proactive in our legislative arena;
- To continue to work with our MSMAA partners in increasing our membership and retention efforts;
- To cultivate participation and support for our medical students, residents and young physicians.
