PHILADELPHIA, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), the premier medical society representing hospitalists, has appointed Mark V. Williams, M.D., FACP, editor-in-chief of its new peer-reviewed medical journal, the Journal of Hospital Medicine, set to launch in January 2006. The journal is being established to promote the science and practice of hospital medicine and the enhancement of inpatient hospital care.
Dr. Williams is a former president and board member of SHM and has served in numerous leadership roles since the society’s establishment in 1996. A professor of medicine and director of the Hospital Medicine Unit at Emory University School of Medicine, Dr. Williams established the first hospitalist program at a public hospital, Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, in 1998. He also is executive medical director of EHCA, a collaboration between Emory Healthcare and HCA Healthcare, one of the largest hospital companies in the U.S. Dr. Williams currently supervises a growing program of almost 50 hospitalists at two Emory Healthcare hospitals and four HCA medical centers. Hospitalists are physicians whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients.
“Mark has been on the forefront of hospital medicine nationally for many years through his leadership at SHM and his efforts at Emory and HCA,” said SHM Chief Executive Officer Larry Wellikson, M.D. “He is highly respected, well-published, and has the breadth of knowledge required to lead the editorial direction of SHM’s new journal during its important formative years.”
“I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to further serve SHM and the field of hospital medicine through my contributions as editor of the Journal of Hospital Medicine,” said Dr. Williams. “Hospitalists are rapidly changing the way physicians care for hospitalized patients, so it is imperative that the society take a larger education and leadership role by publishing landmark hospital medicine research and promoting education of healthcare providers at hospitals.”
According to Dr. Williams, the chief objective in publishing the new journal is to provide hospitalists with original and ground-breaking peer- reviewed articles on a diverse range of hospital medicine topics while also providing important information on the non-clinical aspects of hospital medicine and public health, including the political, philosophic, ethical, legal, environmental, economic, historical and cultural issues surrounding healthcare delivery in hospitals.
Currently SHM produces a newsletter, The Hospitalist, which contains the latest in hospital medicine research, news and industry issues, along with updates on society-sponsored programs, activities and educational opportunities. Launched in 1997, the newsletter is published six times a year and provided free to approximately 10,000 hospitalists in the U.S.
The Journal of Hospital Medicine will be published by global publisher John Wiley & Sons, which also publishes The Hospitalist.
Hospital medicine is the nation’s fastest-growing medical specialty. Hospitalist activities include inpatient care as well as research, teaching and leadership related to hospital care. There are at present approximately 12,000 hospitalists nationwide. This number is projected to double by 2010.
For more information about the Society of Hospital Medicine, Journal of Hospital Medicine, or joining SHM, please visit http://www.hospitalmedicine.org/ , or call 800-843-3360.
Society of Hospital Medicine
CONTACT: Lisa Freeman, +1-818-597-8453, or lisaf@kevinross.net , forSociety of Hospital Medicine
Web site: http://www.hospitalmedicine.org/