MSMA Constitution & Bylaws/Policies In 1850, when the inhabitants of Missouri were fighting scourges of typhoid, malaria, smallpox, and diphtheria, physicians assembled to “devise a plan by which the entire medical profession of the State can be brought together.” Matters of importance that year were the passage of a good medical practice act; the establishment of a uniform system of registering births, marriages, and deaths; the control of dispensing impure drugs and competent inspections of medicines; and a liberal preliminary education for those entering the study of medicine. Since MSMA's creation, the Constitution and Bylaws and Policy Manual have reflected the changes and modernization of Missouri's medicine. |
Meet MSMA's President and Leadership
MSMA 2023-2024 President: Lancer G. Gates, DO, FACOI Lancer G. Gates, DO, FACOI, Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Internists, will serve as President of the Missouri State Medical Association in 2023-2024. He was formally in Kansas City, Missouri, April 1, 2023, during MSMA’s 165th Annual Convention. Dr. Gates was born and raised in Columbia Cross Roads, Pennsylvania, the son of public school educators Wayne and Juanita Gates. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in pre-medicine from Pennsylvania State University. He matriculated medical school at the Andrew Taylor Still University in Kirksville, Missouri, obtaining a Doctor of Osteopathy degree in 1996. Dr. Gates then completed his internal medicine residency training at Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City, New York. He is board certified in internal medicine by both the allopathic and osteopathic accrediting bodies. Dr. Gates began general medicine practice in 1999 as an employed physician of Lourdes Hospital at Vestal Medical Associates in Vestal, New York, providing both outpatient and inpatient patient care. In 2001, Dr. Gates moved back to Missouri to provide inpatient and outpatient patient care at the Boulware Medical Clinic in Liberty, Missouri. His wife, Stacey, helped him incorporate Gates Hospitalists, and in December of 2002 this private hospitalist group began providing hospitalist care for patients at Liberty Hospital and North Kansas City Hospital. For the first year, he practiced alone 24/7 caring for patients while Stacey served as the practice manager. About a year later, his friend and medical school classmate, Rusty Bergman, DO, joined him, and together they continued to build the group. Nearly 21 years later the practice has grown to 11 board certified physicians, all MSMA members. Dr. Gates has been a proponent of independent physician practice and was a founding member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Physicians Association (KCMPA). He served on the charter committee of CENTRUS, a quality initiative including KCMPA, North Kansas City Hospital, AdventHealth, and the University of Kansas Hospital. Today, he serves on the CENTRUS Health Payment Transformation Committee and is the co-chair of the CENTRUS Health Performance Improvement Sub-committee. As an educator, Dr. Gates each year serves as a preceptor to nearly 20 third and fourth year medical students from the Kansas City University for their rotation in internal medicine. He has also served as a hospitalist consultant for Berkshire Hathaway’s Medical Protective medical malpractice insurance company. A long time public servant, he served on Missouri Governor Matt Blunt’s Health Care Stabilization Fund Feasibility Board from 2007-2010. He served on the Clay County Judicial Selection Committee from 2008-2013. Since 2021 he has served as an elected member of the Clay County Public Health Department Board of Trustees. Dr. Gates is a champion of organized medicine. Shortly after arriving back in Missouri in 2001, he became active in the Kansas City Medical Society. He was awarded the KCMS Doctor of Distinction 2007, and served as the KCMS President in 2014. He has been an active member of MSMA, serving as Councilor, Vice-Speaker, and Speaker of the House. He sits on the MSMA Legislative Affairs Committee and also is chair of the MSMA Insurance Agency Board of Directors. Sitting on the on the Editorial Board of MSMA’s journal Missouri Medicine, he represents hospitalist medicine. He is active in the Kansas City Regional Osteopathic Medical Association, serving as President in 2018-2019 and an active member of the Missouri Association of Physicians and Surgeons (MAOPS). He was awarded the MAOPS Physician of the Year in 2008. He has been married for 25 years to Stacey, a Cornell Law School graduate and the business manager of Gates Hospitalists. They are the parents of three daughters (Ava, Ella, and Scarlett) and three sons (Ethan, Carson, and Mason). In his free time he enjoys ballroom dancing with his wife, and playing tennis with his daughters and sons. In 2022, he self-published The Parent’s Guide to Youth Tennis, Volumes I & II. His goal for his year as President of the MSMA is to grow and engage its membership, while preserving the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship. |
2023-2024 MSMA Leadership |
OFFICERS
President Lancer Gates, DO Kansas City Internal Medicine President Elect David Pohl, MD St. Louis Diagnostic Radiology Secretary Ellen Nichols, MD Joplin Neurological Surgery Treasurer Elie Azrak, MD St. Louis Cardiovascular Disease Immediate Past President George Hubbell, MD Lake Ozark Obstetrics & Gynecology 1st Vice President James DiRenna, Jr., DO Kansas City Family Practice Honorary Vice President Jeffrey Copeland, MD St. Peters Plastic Surgery Honorary Vice President Alexander Hover, MD Ozark Gastroenterology Speaker Tim Swearengin, DO Springfield Anesthesiology Vice Speaker M. Laurin Council, MD St. Louis Dermatology | COUNCILORS Council Chair (8th District) Brian Biggers, MD Springfield General Surgery Council Vice Chair (4th District) Kevin Weikart, MD Lake St. Louis Internal Medicine 1st District Chakshu Gupta, MD St. Joseph Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine 2nd District Hossein Behniaye, MD Hannibal Family Medicine 3rd District Erin Gardner, MD St. Louis Dermatology Inderjit Singh, MD St. Louis Nephrology Christopher Swingle, DO St. Louis Nuclear Medicine Jenny Page, MD St. Louis Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 5th District Lisa Thomas, MD Columbia Psychiatry Amy Zguta, MD Columbia Ophthalmology 6th District Lirong Zhu, MD Clayton Sleep Medicine Dorothy Munch, DO Poplar Bluff Family Practice 7th District Betty Drees, MD Kansas City Endocrinology Fariha Shafi, MD Overland Park, KS Internal Medicine Joanne Loethen, MD Kansas City Internal Medicine/Pediatrics 8th District David Kuhlmann, MD Sedalia Sleep Medicine Organized Medical Staff Section Amy Patel, MD Kansas City Radiology International Medical Graduate Section Louis DelCampo, MD Springfield Anesthesiology Young Physician Section Rachel Kyllo, MD Arnold Dermatology Women Physicians Section Kelly Schmidt Columbia Otolaryngology Resident & Fellow Section Rachana Raghupathy, MD St. Louis Internal Medicine Medical Student Section Jay Devineni University of Missouri-Columbia | VICE COUNCILORS 2nd District Barbara White, DO Hannibal Pediatrics 3rd District Ramona Behshad, MD St. Louis Dermatology 4th District Keith Ratcliff, MD Washington Family Medicine 5th District Jennifer Powell, MD Osage Beach Family Practice 6th District Nathaniel Barbe, DO Mountain Grove Family Practice 7th District Sarah Florio, MD Lee’s Summit Internal Medicine 8th District Tim Swearengin, DO Springfield Anesthesiology Organized Medical Staff Section Albert Hsu, MD Columbia Reproductive Endocrinology International Medical Graduate Section Raghuveer Kura, MD Poplar Bluff Nephrology Young Physician Section Sara Hawatmeh, MD St. Louis Internal Medicine Resident & Fellow Section Julia Dmowska, MD Columbia Otolaryngology Women Physicians Section Adriana Canas-Polesel, MD St. Louis Obstetrics & Gynecology Medical Student Section Lacey Raper University of Missouri-Columbia AMA DELEGATES Elie Azrak, MD St. Louis Cardiovascular Disease Peggy Barjenbruch, MD Mexico Internal Medicine Edmond Cabbabe, MD St. Louis Plastic Surgery Joseph Corrado, MD Mexico General Surgery Betty Drees, MD Kansas City Endocrinology Charles Van Way, III, MD Kansas City Thoracic Surgery AMA ALTERNATE DELEGATES George Hruza, MD Chesterfield Dermatology Ravi Johar, MD Chesterfield Obstetrics & Gynecology Joanne Loethen, MD Kansas City Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Kayce Morton, DO Springfield Pediatrics Charlie Adams Kansas City University AMA Past President David Barbe, MD Mountain Grove Family Medicine ADDITIONAL MSMA LEADERSHIP Alliance President Sana Saleh Kansas City Alliance President Elect Donna Corrado Mexico Missouri Medicine Editor John C. Hagan, III, MD Ophthalmology |
Contact Cheri Martin at cmartin@msma.org or call 573-691-4502.