|
Dr. Baker received her medical degree cum laude from Ohio State
University College of Medicine in 1971. She took her residency training in
Dermatology at the University of Wisconsin Hospital (1972-74), Oregon Health
Sciences University (1974-75), and was a Research Fellow (1975-76) at Oregon
Health Sciences University.
Dr. Baker's activities with the Academy include: Vice President (1990),
Vice President-Elect (1989), Board of Directors (1985-90); Chairman (1986-88)
and Chairman-Elect (1985), Advisory Council; Member (1991-94) and Chair
(1994-98), Bylaws Committee; Chair, Committee on Organizational Structure
(1990); Chair, Committee on Membership Communications (1994-96); Priorities
Committee (1986-90); Council on Long-Range Planning (1983-88) and participated
in development of AAD's Strategic Long Range Plan adopted October 1986
(1985-86); Ad Hoc Chair, Membership Committee (1990); Committee on Health Care
and Quality Assurance (1981-83); Committee on Regulatory Affairs (1985-88); Ad
Hoc Committee on Election of President and Vice President (1985); Council on
Communications (1994-97).
Other dermatologic activities include: Director, American Board of
Dermatology (1995-present); Board of Trustees (1988-94), Leaders Society State
Chairman (1990-97), Awards Committee Member (1988-92) and Chairman (1992),
Dermatology Foundation; Society for Investigative Dermatology (1980-present);
Chairman, Committee on Public Information (1990-92), American Society for
Dermatologic Surgery; Nominating Committee (1993-98) and Member (1990-present),
American Dermatological Association; Member (1990-present), American Contact
Dermatitis Society; Member (1985-present), Pacific Dermatological Association;
President (1981-82), Pacific Northwest Dermatological Society; President
(1993-94), Secretary-Treasurer (1981-82), Advisory Council Representative
(1979-84), Chairman Skin Cancer Screening Program (1985), Public Relations
Committee (1986-88), Oregon Dermatology Society; Walter C. Lobitz, Jr., M.D.
Lectureship Committee Chairman, Oregon Health Sciences University (1985-88);
Board of Directors (1991-94), Long Range Planning Committee (1992-95),
Nominating Committee Member (1995-98) and Chairman (1997-98), Women's
Dermatological Society.
Dr. Baker has served as AMA Representative to Residency Review Committee
for Dermatology (1991-96), American Academy of Dermatology Alternate Delegate
(1995-97) and Delegate (1997-present), and as a member of the AMA Reference
Committee B (1995). She has been a member of the Oregon Medical Association
since 1976 and serves on the Board of Trustees (1995-97); Delegate, American
Board of Dermatology (1996-present), American Board of Medical Specialties;
American Academy of Dermatology Alternate Delegate (1989-91, Council of Medical
Specialty Societies; Clinical Professor of Dermatology (1987-present), Oregon
Health Sciences University. Dr. Baker received the Meritorious Achievement Award
for Clinical Faculty from Oregon Health Sciences University in 1996, and was
elected to membership in Alpha Omega Alpha in 1970. Dr. Baker has been listed in
Best Doctors in America, Pacific Region (1996-present); Who's Who in America
(1996-present); Who's Who in American Women (1996-present); Who's Who in
Medicine & Health Care (1996-present); and The World Who's Who of Women (1997).
 Candidates Statement
It is a great honor and privilege to be nominated for the office of
President-Elect of the American Academy of Dermatology. I accept this honor not
because I have all the answers to the problems that confront our specialty but
because I know I can and will work diligently on your behalf to seek the best
solutions to those problems. I come to this point in my career from the
"grassroots" and I believe that my twenty years in private practice and my
experience in the Academy have prepared me well to lead you and make decisions
in the best interests of our specialty.
Our Academy is made up of pediatric dermatologists, dermatologic
surgeons, dermatopathologists, academicians and clinicians; those who practice
in private, group, or managed care settings; researchers, teachers and
residents. Our diversity is our strength and we cannot neglect any aspect of our
specialty without damaging the whole.
Research provides the scientific basis for the clinical practice of
medicine. The Academy must continue its alliance with the Society for
Investigative Dermatology and the Dermatology Foundation in support of research.
As a founding member of the Leader's Society and as state chairman for the
Dermatology Foundation Leader's Society campaign in Oregon, I have encouraged my
colleagues to personally support research funding.
Excellence in postgraduate medical education must remain the pre-eminent
goal of our Academy. Innovative educational sessions characterize our annual
meeting and must be continued. The Academy must nurture its relationships with
academic teaching programs and must support an "all payor" system for the
funding of graduate medical education. I have gained an appreciation for the
stresses teaching programs experience as a member of the Residency Review
Committee for Dermatology and as a Director of the American Board of
Dermatology. I serve on the clinical faculty advisory committee at the Oregon
Health Sciences University and am a clinical professor of dermatology in the
Department there.
Now more than ever, we must strengthen our alliances with other
specialties to present a unified voice in Washington. As a consultant to the
Oregon Health Services Commission on behalf of dermatology in the development of
the Oregon Health Plan and as a delegate to the AMA from our Academy, I learned
that many of our concerns have ramifications beyond dermatology and that the
voice of a coalition of physicians is more powerful than one voice alone. When
the Medicare carrier in Florida recently attempted to tell dermatologists how to
treat actinic keratoses, your dermatology delegation to the AMA in coalition
with other specialists persuaded the House of Delegates to denounce that attempt
as an interference with the practice of medicine.
The most compelling reason that I seek the office of President, however,
is that as a private practitioner for over twenty years, I strongly identify
with your concerns. I practice in a three dermatologist group in Portland,
Oregon, a city with greater than 80% managed care penetration and in a state
with a unique experimental approach for the provision of health care to the
Medicaid population. I have struggled with the invasion of managed care into my
professional life. I have seen the compensation for my skills go down as my
practice expenses go up. I have seen the frustration of my patients when they
cannot freely seek my care.
I have also listened to you, my colleagues in the Academy, and learned
from you. I served as representative to the Advisory Board from the Oregon
Dermatology Society and later as Chairman of the Advisory Board and on the Board
of Directors. Then in 1990 I served as your Vice President.
My forte is that of a facilitator. I believe in the effectiveness of the
current Academy structure: a strong Advisory Board that forwards thoughtful
resolutions to the Board of Directors for action. I believe the power of the
Academy is in this process and in its councils and committees. However, a
strong, effective President is necessary to translate that power into action. I
believe that when leaders of different backgrounds and points of view are
brought together to solve problems that they will act in the best interests of
the whole of dermatology, setting aside individual self-interests. If you elect
me President, it will be my duty and honor to see that this is done.
Responses to Nominating
Committee
The major force affecting Dermatology and medicine today is the
intrusion by government and by managed care into the practice of medicine.
Doctor-patient relationships are being undermined by health care payors who seek
to dictate the practice of medicine. We are being asked to accept less
compensation and to repeatedly prove our competence and cost-effectiveness.
These forces in health care delivery have strained our relationships with our
primary care colleagues. They have necessitated the diversion of our Academy's
resources away from education and towards solutions to problems attendant to
these changes. For our patients' sake and for the future of Dermatology, we
cannot let these forces go unchallenged.
How should our Academy respond? The pendulum of public opinion is
swinging in our favor. Managed care decisions no longer go unquestioned. Denial
of care rather than cost-effective care results when only the bottom line is
considered. The battle to preserve quality care and dermatologic practice must
be fought in the trenches and on the opponent's home court. The Academy must
work in Washington to fight for relief from CLIA and other misguided government
regulations. We must work for a Medicare fee schedule that accurately reflects
our costs. The Academy must work locally - as it has in Florida when the
Medicare carrier sought to dictate treatment of actinic keratoses. The Academy
must help members negotiate with managed care for appropriate compensation and
to preserve quality care. We need to join our colleagues in the Federation of
Medicine in efforts to preserve Medicare and to dissuade government and managed
care from practicing medicine without a license. Finally, we must continue the
excellence in education and research support that the Academy is known for and
that is the foundation of our specialty.
|
