(AP) _ A south-central Missouri native and University of Missouri alumnus is the new president of the American Medical Association.The Springfield News-Leader reports that the appointment of Dr. David Barbe of 4,800-resident Mountain Grove to the top role of the nation’s biggest and oldest physicians group marks the first time in 90 years a small-town doctor has led the AMA.
The AMA was founded in 1847 and has 225,000 thousand members.
Barbe still practices at Mercy Clinic Family Medicine in his hometown.
Barbe left Mountain Grove after high school, graduated from the medical school at the University of Missouri in Columbia and completed his residency in family medicine at a University of Kansas-affiliated program in Wichita.
He’d been the AMA’s board of trustees since 2009.
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