Biographies of the 2006 Laureate Award Honorees
The Texas Chapter presented its highest award to four distinguished members Nov. 3 at the 2006 Annual Scientific Meeting held at Horseshoe Bay on Lake LBJ. Jack B. Alperin, MD, FACP; Andrew K. Diehl, MD, FACP; Ned Snyder III, MD, FACP; and F. David Winter, Jr., MD, FACP, were named Laureates of the Texas Chapter of the ACP.
The Laureate Award honors Fellows and Masters of the ACP who have demonstrated by their example and conduct an abiding commitment to excellence in medical care, education, or research, and in service to their community, the Chapter, and the ACP.
Jack B. Alperin, MD, FACP
Jack Alperin grew up in Marianna, Ark. He attended college and medical school at “the other UT (the University of Tennessee),” in Knoxville and Memphis, respectively. His passion for teaching surfaced early. After completing a rotating internship, an internal medicine residency, and a research fellowship in hematology at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago, he taught at the Chicago Medical School. His decision to pursue a career in academic medicine led him to the UT Medical Branch in 1963, where he worked as a senior research fellow in the Hematology Research Laboratory for two years before joining the Department of Internal Medicine faculty.
In 1968, Dr. Alperin received a joint appointment as one of the first faculty members in the Department of Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics. In 1993, he was also named a professor in the Department of Pathology. He has served as acting director of the UTMB Blood Bank, acting chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology, and associate director of the Division of Hemopathology. Since 1998, he has been associate director of the UTMB Blood Bank.
His UTMB, regional, and national committee responsibilities have been broad, including decades of service for the Working Group on Hemoglobin Variants, Subcommittee on Hemoglobinopathies; National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards; and as an executive committee member of the Hemophilia Care Providers Group, U.S. Public Health Region VI. He has been elected to membership in Alpha Omega Alpha and the American Osler Society, as well as many professional societies. He also has served as president of the Galveston County Medical Society.
Dr. Alperin -- a diplomate of the International Board of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis, Hemostasis, and Vascular Medicine -- has published extensively on his interests in coagulapathies and serves as a peer reviewer for medical journals. He was honored by the Lone Star Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation for his service.
Dr. Alperin has taught generations of physicians for more than 40 years. His skills have brought him many teaching awards, including the Golden Apple Award presented by the Junior Class; teaching awards from the Department of Internal Medicine Alumni Association; the Alumni Appreciation Award for Excellence in Teaching from the UTMB School of Medicine Alumni Association; Recognition for Commitment to Continuing Education from the School for Specialists in Blood Banking and the Blood Bank Staff; and the Best Clinical Pathology Faculty Award 2005-2006 from residents in the Department of Pathology.
UTMB named Dr. Alperin the inaugural Osler Scholar in the John P. McGovern Academy of Oslerian Medicine in 2001, recognizing his contributions as a physician role model who provides conscientious, scientific-based patient care. His consultations are models of completeness and clarity, and he devotes time and effort to mentoring students in the art and science of medicine. He continues to pursue a distinguished career as a regional resource in coagulation and transfusion medicine.
The Texas Chapter is pleased to honor Jack B. Alperin, MD, FACP, as a Laureate for 2006.
Andrew K. Diehl, MD, FACP
Andrew Diehl, a San Antonio native, graduated from Yale University and Harvard Medical School. He completed his internship at the University of California, Los Angeles, then served two years with the Indian Health Service. During his residency at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, he became interested in ambulatory care and general internal medicine, and began his academic career as an instructor in UTHSC-San Antonio’s Department of Medicine, within a developing Division of Ambulatory Care.
Dr. Diehl gained certification in internal medicine in 1977. He later was awarded a Milbank Fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology. He and his family spent a year in London, where he earned a master’s degree in epidemiology. Upon returning to San Antonio, he was named chief of UTHSC-San Antonio’s nascent Division of General Medicine.
During the past 25 years, Dr. Diehl has been an exemplary member of the Health Science Center faculty and has taken a leading role in the flourishing general internal medicine movement. He has developed a distinguished division of 27 faculty members overseeing clinical care and teaching at Bexar County’s University Health System and Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital. Dr. Diehl has served on committees of the Society of General Internal Medicine and its National Council, as well as the Association of Chiefs of General Internal Medicine. He repeatedly has been named among the Best Doctors in America. He has served on the National Board of Medical Examiners since 2001.
Dr. Diehl has continued his epidemiological research with ongoing publications and presentations, particularly dealing with back pain, compliance, and his particular interest of gall bladder disease. His contributions to the understanding of ethnic factors in gall bladder stones and carcinoma have gained international recognition. His editorial board service includes The American Journal of the Medical Sciences and the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Dr. Diehl joined the ACP in 1978 and has been a Fellow since 1982. His faculty has played a major role in organizing the ACP Annual Internal Medicine Board Review course in San Antonio. He served as co-chair of the TAIM annual scientific meting in 2003.
In 1997, Dr. Diehl was named the O. Roger Hollan Professor of Medicine. He is regularly selected among the outstanding faculty, and has nurtured the careers of many general internists now located throughout the country.
Dr. Diehl has been married to Nancy Salling Diehl, a freelance editor, for 36 years. They have two daughters: Marley, a graphic designer in San Antonio, and Audrey, a production and develop manager for the Nickelodeon Network in Los Angeles.
Medical education takes pride in its occasional “triple threats,” academic physicians who excel at the bedside, in the laboratory, and the classroom. Dr. Diehl has accomplished that and added a fourth -- directing a large, complex, multi-tasked division.
The Texas Chapter is proud to recognize Andrew K. Diehl, MD, FACP, as a Texas Laureate.
Ned Snyder III, MD, FACP
Ned Snyder grew up in Brownwood, as a seventh generation Texan. His path in medicine was well-paved by his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, who were respected physicians in their day. Dr. Snyder has a stellar medical educational background.
He earned his undergraduate degree at Yale University and went on to receive his medical degree at UTMB. He completed his internship at the University of Michigan and his residency at UTMB. He completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at UTMB and then a post-doctoral fellowship in internal medicine, studying liver disease, at Yale University School of Medicine.
In 1975, Dr. Snyder joined the gastroenterology faculty at UTMB and founded the liver service there, and completed studies related to infections and the immune system in cirrhosis. He was recognized there as a thorough, compassionate physician, and one who dearly enjoyed teaching. Nonetheless, he chose to enter into private practice in Waco in 1977. In private practice, he flourished as a specialist, while maintaining his scholarly activities and service to internal medicine. He founded Waco Gastroenterology Associates, and the Gastroenterology Laboratory at Providence Health Center, where he was Chief of Gastroenterology from 1978-2001.
In spite of a busy practice, he assumed numerous leadership positions in his community and at the state level. Some of these include serving as chief of staff at Providence Hospital in Waco, president of the McLennan County Medical Society, and chair of the Texas Medical Association Board of Councilors.
For the better part of a decade, he served TAIM in a variety of roles, including president from 2002 to 2003 and a board member from 1998 to 2001. He also is a Fellow of the ACP. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the Texas Club of Internists, the American College of Gastroenterology, and the American Gastroenterology Association. He has been named among the Best Doctors in America, and currently serves on the Ethics Committee for the American Gastroenterology Association.
Throughout his professional career, Dr. Snyder has remained passionately involved in advocacy as it pertains to patient care and medical practice. His personal relationships at the state and national levels have provided a forum for him to represent medicine. In 2005, Dr. Snyder received the Advocate of the Year Award from TAIM Services.
After 25 years in private practice, Dr. Snyder returned to academic medicine in 2002 as professor of internal medicine at UTMB. Without missing a beat, he resumed his academic scholarly activities and assumed leadership roles as director of clinical gastroenterology and hepatology, and as president of the UTMB Alumni Association. His current research interests include hepatic fibrosis and biomarkers for hepatic fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Dr. Snyder exemplifies the scholarly physician who, through his actions, has demonstrated a lifelong dedication to his profession. Dr. Snyder excels in any endeavor because of his intellect, humility, and dedication.
His professionalism, service, and leadership qualify him as a worthy Laureate Award recipient. The Texas Chapter is pleased to bestow this honor on Ned Snyder III, MD, FACP.
F. David Winter, Jr., MD, MSc, FACP
David Winter was born in Tulsa, Okla., but soon moved to Texas and graduated from high school in Beaumont. He is a graduate of Lamar University and The University of Texas (UT) Medical Branch. Following medical school, Dr. Winter completed his internship and residency at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. Winter has completed certification for internal medicine and geriatrics.
After his residency, Dr. Winter established a solo practice of internal medicine at Baylor and was later joined by Paul Muncy, MD. While in full-time practice and amid his administrative duties, Dr. Winter furthered his education, receiving a master of science in medical management at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in 2000.
Seeing the change in the landscape of private practice, Dr. Winter had the foresight to establish MedProvider in 1993 with a group of six internists at Baylor. Under Dr. Winter’s leadership, this group has grown to 40 internists who do outpatient and inpatient general internal medicine. An inpatient hospitalist group was added to the practice in 1999. Dr. Winter continues to guide the group as its president.
In 1995 MedProvider became a founding member of Health Texas, which is part of the Baylor Health Care System. Dr. Winter has served on the board of Health Texas as its vice chairman since its inception and has been named chairman-elect. In his activities at Health Texas, Dr. Winter has primarily focused on quality, chairing the quality improvement committee. Through his efforts, several protocols have been developed to help physicians deliver better patient care. Dr. Winter has emphasized the importance of preventive care and a teamwork approach to health care.
In addition, Dr. Winter was team physician for the Dallas Sidekicks professional soccer team from 1983 to 1998. This led him to research the application of supplemental oxygen during athletic events, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1989. He has been involved in media as the host of “Health Source,” a weekday syndicated medical television news show that has won several national awards.
Dr. Winter has been active in the American College of Physicians (ACP) since his residency. He served on the boards of TAIM and TAIM Services from 1996 to 1999. He was governor for the Texas Northern Region from 2001 to 2005. As governor, he represented the positive aspects of private practice and was a leader in the ACP’s efforts to revitalize internal medicine. He currently advocates for internists as a member of the board of the ACP Services Political Action Committee.
The Texas Chapter of the ACP is pleased to bestow the Laureate Award on F. David Winter, Jr., MD, MSc, FACP.