HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced the appointment of four health care professionals to serve on the Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME).  The council advises and makes policy recommendations to the Secretary and Congress on trends in the nation=s physician workforce and on the training of physicians and financing of graduate medical education.
 
As non-government representatives, the four new members are mandated by statute to represent medical and other organizations with an interest in policies affecting the physician workforce.  Contingent upon reauthorization of COGME in the FY 2004 budget, the following individuals will serve until September 2006:
 
$                   Russell G. Robertson, M.D., director, Graduate Medical Education, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis. (representing a national physician organization);
 
$                   Rebecca M. Minter, M.D., surgical resident, University of Florida and Chair of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Resident Council, Gainesville, Fla.  (representing medical students and house staff organizations);
 
$                   Earl J. Reisdorff, M.D., F.A.C.E.P., director, Medical Education, Ingham Regional Medical Center, Lansing, Mich (representing public teaching hospitals); and
 
$                   Angela Dee Nossett, M.D., executive vice-president, Committee of Interns and Residents, Wilmington Family Health Center, Wilmington, Calif. (representing labor organizations).
 
The 17-member council also advises and makes policy recommendations to the Senate Committee on Education, Labor, and Pensions and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.  Carl J. Getto, M.D., of the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison serves as council chair.
 
Visit http://www.cogme.gov/mbrs.htm for more information on COGME.