Physician Workforce Board Elects Officers

Dr. Joe Sam Robinson, a Macon neurosurgeon, has been elected chairman of the Georgia Board for Physician Workforce, the state agency responsible for advising the governor and General Assembly on physician workforce and medical education issues.

Jim Lowry, president and CEO of Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie, was elected vice chairman and Dr. Gil Klemann, an Albany obstetrician and gynecologist, was elected to succeed Lowry as secretary-treasurer.

The physician workforce board, which is appointed by the governor, monitors and forecasts the supply and distribution of physicians in Georgia in order to assure an adequate supply, specialty mix and geographic distribution of physicians to meet the health care needs of Georgians. It also works to assure that there are adequate medical education programs to meet physician workforce needs.

For the past 20 years, the Georgia Physician Workforce Board has monitored the distribution of physicians throughout Georgia by specialty as well as by demographics and issues fact sheets outlining challenges and possible solutions.