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Ron J. Anderson, M.D., is president and chief executive officer of Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas, Texas. Parkland is considered the premier public hospital in the United States. It has served the Dallas County community since 1894.
Dr. Anderson was named Parkland’s chief executive officer in 1982 at the age of 35, after serving as medical director for Ambulatory Care and Emergency Services at Parkland and head of the Department of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. His belief in the equality of mankind, rich, poor, male, female, black, white, yellow, brown, is central in his personal and professional lives. From the beginning, he worked to destroy the glass ceiling for women. Today, over half of Parkland’s management positions are held by women. Dr. Anderson is one of the nation’s leading advocates of health care for the poor. As chairman of the Center for Community Responsive Care (Boston) and as a member of the National Health Policy Initiative (advisor to the White House on health care issues), he is concerned that the health care industry’s pursuit of corporatization may abandon the disenfranchised.
In 1985, he played a major role in the passage of landmark legislation concerning indigent health care in Texas. The legislation banned patient dumping the practice of transferring medically unstable patients from private to public hospitals because of inability to pay. Anderson became a national spokesperson on this issue, which led to passage of federal legislation signed into law April 7, 1986, by President Reagan.
He has served the citizens of Texas as Chairman of the Texas Department of Health; a member of the Institute of Medicine Governing Panel Access to Health Services Panel; a member of the Texas Advisory Board for the Children’s Defense Fund; a member of the Texas Hospital Association’s Special Advisory Committee on the Uninsured and Indigent Health Care: member of the Institute of Medicine’s Health Disparities Committee; co-chairman of the American Foundation for Trauma; a member of the Medical Care Advisory Committee of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission; a member of the Kaiser Commission; among others.
His vision of health care for all, regardless of ability to pay, paved the way for Parkland’s Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) program a network of neighborhood-based health centers that act as the family doctor to primarily low-income communities. Today, the network includes 10 local health centers, 11 school-based clinics and provides medical services in 22 homeless shelters. The program has won numerous national awards for its ability to involve the community in clinic activities. Dr. Anderson has been honored locally and nationally for his contributions to health care. Among the honors he has received: American Hospital Association’s Award of Honor, 2004; Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare, 2003; J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award from the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility at Southern Methodist University, 2003; American Public Health Association Award for Excellence, 2001; Champions of Health Award from the Texas Medical Association Foundation, 2000; Children’s Defense Fund Award for Child Advocacy, 1999; Who’s Who Among Top Executives, 1996; Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, 1996; the John P. McGovern Award for Humanitarian Medicine and Lectureship from the Association of Academic Health Centers, 1994; International Who’s Who, 1994; and countless others.
Under Dr. Anderson’s leadership, Parkland Health & Hospital System has been honored with the Foster G. McGaw Award for Community Service from the American Hospital Association; The National Association of Public Hospitals Safety Net Award for Community Service (multiple winner); His commitment to education is profound. Along with his leadership role as president and chief executive officer, Dr. Anderson continues to teach the doctors of tomorrow as an active attending physician and Professor of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in Health Policy, Management and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas School of Public Health; Affiliated Faculty, Department of Health Care Administration, Trinity University; Adjunct Faculty, Advanced Studies in Health Law, Parkland Hospital Internship, Baylor University School of Law; and the University of Maryland at Baltimore, External Advisory Board for the Center for Minority Health Research. The community is very important to Dr. Anderson and as such, he actively participates in numerous civic and volunteer activities. He is a member of the Salesmanship Club of Dallas; Life member of the Texas Health Foundation; member of the Medical Advisory Board for the Children’s Oncology Services of Texas, Inc. (Ronald McDonald House); charter member of the Greater Dallas Crime Commission’s Strategies for a Safer Dallas Committee; member of the Leaders Society Advisory Council for the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas; member, Board of Directors of the March of Dimes, Dallas; and member of the Medical Advisory Board of the North Texas Poison Center; among others. | 