HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson recently appointed Laurinda
L. Merritt as the newest member of the Council on Graduate Medical
Education.
Merritt, director of behavioral medicine at Baton Rouge General
Medical Center in Louisiana, is a licensed clinical social worker
and board-approved clinical supervisor. She is a member of the
American Hospital Association's Social Work Administrators in
Health Care and past president of the Louisiana Hospital Association's
Social Work Managers in Health Care. Merritt's four-year term
expires September 30, 2005.
Merritt fills the vacancy of outgoing member Jo Ivey Boufford,
M.D., dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public
Service at New York University. Boufford served as vice chair
of COGME and chair of the physician workforce workgroup.
COGME advises the HHS Secretary and House and Senate committees
on physician workforce trends and related issues in health professions
education. COGME also makes recommendations regarding the supply
and distribution of physicians and the appropriate efforts of
hospitals, medical schools and accrediting bodies to deliver
health care to the nation. HRSA's Bureau of Health Professions
provides executive and staffing support for the council, including
coordinating meetings and publishing reports and papers.
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