Biographies of the 2008 Laureate Award Honorees

The Texas Chapter presented its highest award to three distinguished members Nov. 3 at the 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting held at Moody Gardens Hotel in Galveston. Spencer Berthelsen, MD, FACP; Dorothy Sherwood, MD, FACP and Herbert DuPont, MD, MACP.

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.

Spencer Berthelsen, MD, FACP

Spencer Berthelsen began his practice 28 years ago with the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic after completing his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California at San Diego. He currently is the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in Houston. Kelsey-Seybold is a multi-specialty group practice comprised of 330 physicians in 18 locations throughout the greater Houston area. Dr. Berthelsen has served in various leadership capacities within Kelsey-Seybold including Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, Medical Director for Primary Care, and Medical Director for Managed Care. His responsibilities include managing hospital and health plan relationships for the medical group as well as public advocacy and optimizing the performance of the Kelsey-Seybold practice. Dr. Berthelsen continues to maintain a general internal medicine practice at the Kelsey-Seybold Fort Bend location.

Dr. Berthelsen is a graduate of Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology. He received his medical degree from Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society in his senior year. He has served on the Board and as Secretary/Treasurer of the Texas Society of Internal Medicine. He is a past president of Texas Academy of Internal Medicine Services, the advocacy arm of the Academy. Dr. Berthelsen has served as the Secretary-Treasurer and President for the Texas Club of Internists.

Dr. Berthelsen has also served 2 years as the chairman of the Texas Medical Association’s Council on Legislation. During this time, effective Medical Liability Tort Reform was passed by the Texas Legislature and a constitutional amendment supporting reform was ratified by Texas voters. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Dr. Berthelsen’s mentor was Dr. Stanton Fischer, also a Texas Laureate, who consistently emphasized that if we take good care of our patients – we will be able to manage any challenge to the practice of medicine. Dr. Fischer taught that the best medical care happens when the right doctor gives the right treatment to the patient at the right time in the right setting.

For the last eight years Dr. Berthelsen has served as Associate Chief, Department of Internal Medicine St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital in Houston. During this time, the Department of Internal Medicine has been led by Dr. Herbert DuPont who has been a role model for all who have known him.

Dr. Berthelsen’s family includes his wife of 35 years, Linda, his parents, Don and Alice May, and his two daughters, Kathryn and Alice May. Spencer and Linda spend their available time with family and at their second residence on Lake Travis. The Texas Chapter is proud to recognize Spencer Berthelsen, MD, FACP, as a Texas Laureate.

 

Dorothy Sherwood, MD, FACP

Dorothy Sherwood started her medical career at a young age, often accompanying her father, a general surgeon in Geneva, Ohio (pop. 5000) “on rounds” and later working as his operating room assistant in the 25-bed Geneva Memorial Hospital.

Still, Dr. Sherwood never quite believed she could be a doctor until a biology professor at Denison University instilled in her the confidence that not only could she be a physician, but she must. She received her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati, and after a residency at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, spent a brief time in private practice there.

When she moved to Dallas in 1989, she joined the hospital staff of Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, serving as Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program and Medical Director of the Internal Medicine Clinic for 18 years. The highlights of this opportunity included working alongside outstanding physicians and teachers and Internal Medicine Department Chairmen Dr. James Knochel and Dr. Mark Feldman to create an extraordinary educational environment.

This career also provided the opportunity to serve the uninsured in Presbyterian Hospital’s fully-funded clinic for the Internal Medicine Residency. During her tenure she did much to enhance the delivery of care to this population. She initiated the electronic medical record, required residents to develop and implement “best practices,” and taught, constantly, how to coordinate cost containment consciousness with quality and compassionate care.

Dr. Sherwood also had the privilege and honor of serving on Board of Directors of the Texas Academy of Internal Medicine, and later, on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine where she worked with her respected colleagues across the country to improve professionalism and quality of care in the practice of Internal Medicine.

Board certified in Geriatric Medicine she is currently Chief of the Geriatric Division at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas and is a practicing physician with the Healthcore Physician Group.

Dr. Sherwood is married to Sudeep Burman, a neuroradiologist, and she has one grown son, Peter. She plays tennis and chess, loves dancing and fly fishing, and is looking forward to soon being a grandmother.

The Texas Chapter is proud to recognize Dorothy Sherwood, MD, FACP, as a Texas Laureate.

 

Herbert DuPont, MD, MACP

Dr. DuPont is Chief of Internal Medicine at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas – Houston School of Public Health and Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

He supported the ACP, on MKSAP committee and as President of the Texas Academy Chapter of the ACP in 1989-1990 and Governor, Texas Southern Region of the ACP in 2002-2007. He is a reviewer for the Annals of Internal Medicine and has published ten papers in the Annals.

Dr. DuPont served as President of the Houston Society of Internal Medicine, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, the International Society of Travel Medicine and the American Clinical and Climatological Association.

He has obtained financial support from the U.S. government (NIH, CDC, EPA, Army) for research. He helped to identify the Norwalk agent as a cause of acute gastroenteritis with his 1971 paper later republished in the Journal of Infectious Diseases as a “Centennial Classic Article”. His paper on the pathogenesis of Escherichia coli diarrhea was designated a “Science Citation Classic” as one of the 100 most cited articles published in The New England Journal of Medicine. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2004 from the University of Zurich for his work in defining E. coli as a human diarrhea pathogen.

He currently conducts research on three continents having built research programs in Mexico, Egypt, Zambia, India, Jamaica and Thailand. Dr. DuPont has mentored 20 physicians during their formal infectious diseases fellowship and 17 PhD students. With his wife, Peggy, he has supervised an international elective in Mexico, on which an estimated 180 students have participated. Dr. DuPont has published more than 580 scientific publications and 19 books. He is included in The Best Doctors in America various editions 1992-2008 (in the areas of infectious diseases, tropical and travel medicine, diarrhea), America’s Top Doctors, The Nation’s Leading Medical Specialists, Castle Connolly Medical Ltd, 1st –7th editions: 2001-2008 (Infectious Diseases). From the University of Texas – Houston Medical School he received the John P. McGovern Most Distinguished Teacher, June 1991 and the Benjy F. Brooks, MD Award as The Outstanding Clinical Faculty Member, Alumni Association in 1997.

Dr. DuPont received the Bronze Medal of Honor in 1993 from the French government for leadership in creation of the discipline of travel medicine. In June 2005 he received a formal citation from TAIM for advancement of clinical knowledge, improved patients’ health, outstanding leadership and initiative. He received the Distinguished Achievement Citation from Ohio Wesleyan University, the university’s highest honor for alumni in May 2006 and the Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement for outstanding contributions to understanding infectious diseases and public health from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases in Washington, DC, March 2007.

He was elected to Mastership in the American College of Physicians, May 15, 2008, in Washington, DC.

The Texas Chapter is proud to recognize Herbert DuPont, MD, MACP, as a Texas Laureate.