Biographies of the 2003 Laureate Award Honorees

In 2003, the Texas Chapter presented its highest award to three distinguished members -- Carlos R. Hamilton, Jr., MD, FACP; Jack A. Barnett, MD, FACP; and Isabel V. Hoverman, MD, FACP.

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.

Carlos R. Hamilton, Jr., MD, FACP

Carlos Hamilton is one of five generations of physicians practicing in Texas, starting after the Civil war when his great grandfather began his practice in Lufkin. He was the first physician in East Texas to use telephone and x-ray technology in the care of his patients. His grandfather was a prominent Houston surgeon and his father an obstetrician and gynecologist. Carlos' son is a practicing interventional radiologist in Houston. With those genes, it is not surprising that Dr. Hamilton has had an interest in Texas medicine.

Carlos graduated from The University of Texas, Austin (BA) and Baylor College of Medicine graduating with honors. He trained in internal medicine and endocrinology at Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts General Hospital. After serving as a Chief Medical Resident at Hopkins and Assistant Professor at Hopkins, he became Director, Endocrine Research Laboratory at Wilford Hall in San Antonio. Carlos returned to Houston to become a partner in the Medical Clinic of Houston and he rose to the rank of Clinical Professor at Baylor College of Medicine.

His activity in medical organizations has included serving as Director of the Texas Chapter of the ACP 1985-7 and the Texas Society of Internal Medicine 1992-8. In 1996 he was the President of the Texas Society of Internal Medicine. He served on the Board of Directors of TAIM and TAIM Services, 1998-2001 and as President of TAIM Services in 1999-2000. He served as President of the Harris County Medical Society in 1999, as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Houston Academy of Medicine in 1993-6 and as President in 1996. He is a Director of the Texas Medical Center Library and Museum of Health and Medical Science. He served as Trustee of ASIM and on the National Health and Public Policy Committee of ACP. He is currently a member of the Practicing Physicians Advisory Council (PPAC) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He is a Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology and has served as a Director and Officer of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. He is currently President-Elect of AACE.

In 2001, he joined the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he is the Executive Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Professor of Medicine. He is the Chair of the UT–Houston Faculty Practice Plan.

Dr. Hamilton is not only a role model for physicians in our state, but he has served Texas youth as a Boy Scout leader, Scout District Chairman, Council President and a member of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The greatest heights Dr. Hamilton has climbed have been in raising the practice of medicine for his physician colleagues while assuring that Texas patients receive the best possible care. The tallest peak Carlos has climbed, however, is the Matterhorn, which he scaled with his son in 1984 having received mild frostbite and myalgia for his efforts. His medical work and growing family have proved to be much more rewarding.
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Jack A. Barnett, MD, FACP

Jack Alvis Barnett was born February 9, 1928 in Arley, Texas. he received his undergraduate degree from West Texas State College in 1948 and began his career in education in Canyon, Texas where he taught chemistry for the next four years. Following acceptance to Southwestern Medical School, he and his family moved to Dallas in 1952 where he also completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency. From 1958-1960 he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School; he served his final year of fellowship in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Barnett returned to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1961 where he served as Co-Director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program and Chairman of the Division of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and achieved the rank of Professor of Medicine. He held these positions until 1977 and then spent the next six years engaged in the private practice of medicine.

In 1983 Methodist Hospitals of Dallas recruited Dr. Barnett to be Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program and Medical Director of the Infection Control Department. He remained in these roles until 2002 when he served as Associate Residency Program Director at Methodist. He retired from clinical medicine in January 2003.

Dr. Barnett has participated in numerous professional organizations including the American Medical Association, The Texas Medical Association, The Dallas County Medical Society, American College of Physicians (Fellow),

Infectious Diseases Society of America (Fellow), Association of Program Directors of Internal Medicine, Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America, and the Texas Infectious Diseases Society.

Dr. Barnett's influence is still felt by many. He has trained hundreds of residents, many of whom still practice in the state of Texas.

The Texas Chapter of the American College of Physicians is proud to honor Dr. Jack Barnett as a Laureate for 2003.
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Isabel V. Hoverman, MD, FACP

Dr Hoverman was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. She was educated at Swathmore College and Duke University Medical School. She did a straight medical internship and one year of residency at Duke before finishing at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Dr. Hoverman's practice career began in 1976 at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston, but has centered in Austin for the past 21 years, where she is in a four physician practice. She has been active in teaching and private practice during her career, in addition to serving her profession in many leadership positions. She began as a lecturer to the medical students at Baylor before advancing to Assistant Professor of Medicine. Dr. Hoverman was a clinical assistant professor at The University of Texas - Houston Health Science Center from 1987-1992, and is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at The University Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Professional activities include serving on many national committees. She has been a member of four different Institute of Medicine committees devoted to Gulf War Veterans' health problems. She was also appointed a member of the Practicing Physicians Advisory Council for the Health Care Financing Administration, and the Texas' Medicare Carrier Advisory Committee. She has served on numerous hospital committees in Austin and Houston. Currently, Dr. Hoverman serves as treasurer of COLA and as a commissioner for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.

Dr. Hoverman has served as president of the Internal Medicine Center to Advance Research and Education , the Texas Internal Medicine Educational Foundation, and the Austin Internal Medicine Society. She has served as a Travis County Medical Society delegate to the Texas Medical Association since 1996, and is also an American College of Physicians delegate to the American Medical Association. She was named Internist of the Year by the Texas Society of Internal Medicine in 1998.

In our own organization, Dr Hoverman was president of the Texas Society of Internal Medicine in 1990-91, and chaired the General Internal Medicine Statewide Preceptorship Program advisory committee from 1998-2001. She became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1998, served as president of ACP-ASIM Services in 2000-2001, and continues to serve on the ACP Board of Regents since her election in 1998.

Dr Hoverman is married to John R. Hoverman, MD, PHD. They have three children, Daniel, Craig, and Claire.

The Texas Academy of Internal Medicine is pleased to present a Laureate Award to Dr. Isabel Hoverman in 2003.