The Joint Commission has named five new members to its Board of Commissioners: David Bronson, M.D., F.A.C.P.; Benjamin Chu, M.D., M.P.H., M.A.C.P.; T. Anthony Denton, J.D., M.H.A.; Mary Anne McCaffree, M.D.; and Mary H. McGrath, M.D., M.P.H.

The 29-member board serves as The Joint Commission’s governing body. Its composition includes representatives from each of The Joint Commission’s Corporate Members from the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American College of Physicians, six public members, one at-large representative of the nursing profession, and Joint Commission president, Mark Chassin, M.D., M.P.P., M.P.H.

David Whiston, D.D.S.,who is a practicing oral and maxillofacial surgeon from Falls Church, Va., will serve as chair of the The Joint Commission Board of Commissioners beginning in January 2009. Whiston is a former president of the American Dental Association. Isabel Hoverman, M.D., M.A.C.P., an internal medicine physician in private practice from Austin, Texas, will serve as vice chair.

Some details on the recently joined members:

Bronson is a general internist and serves as the chair of the Medicine Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. The institute includes 220 Cleveland Clinic faculty physicians and also includes residencies and fellowships in numerous specialties, as well as the 200-bed inpatient service.

Bronson was instrumental in developing the Cleveland Clinic regional health system, which includes 14 family health centers and nine community hospitals in the Cleveland area. Dr. Bronson is immediate past chair of the Board of Governors of the American College of Physicians and a member of the Board of Regents. He is chair-elect of the American Medical Group Association Board of Directors and serves on the executive leadership committee and chairs the Clinical Advisory Committee of Better Health, Greater Cleveland, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded community-wide collaborative to improve chronic disease management.
 
Chu is regional president of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, directing health plan and hospital operations for 11 hospitals and 130 medical offices. Chu previously served as president of New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) and was Acting Commissioner of Health for the New York City Department of Health.

A primary care internist by training, Chu possesses extensive health care experience as a clinician, administrator, policy advocate, and academic leader at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York University School of Medicine and Medical Center. Chu, a former member of the board of the American Hospital Association, serves on the board of the Commonwealth Fund in New York and is chairman of the board of American Legacy Foundation.
 
Denton is the senior associate director and chief operating officer of the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers and a member of the University of Michigan Health System’s executive group. Denton was previously associate director for clinical services and administrator of University Hospital.

Denton served as chairman of the board for Michigan Visiting Nurse Corporation, a Michigan Health Corporation subsidiary, and serves on the board of directors for Huron Valley Ambulance, Washtenaw County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Ronald McDonald House and Ann Arbor’s new Skyline High School.
 
McCaffree is a pediatrician from Oklahoma City and a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) Board of Trustees. She has served as chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Federal Government Affairs.

As president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association (OSMA), McCaffree helped preserve the protected status of peer-reviewed patient information. She also partnered with the Litigation Center of the AMA, state medical societies and AAP leaders in the fight against low Medicaid reimbursement, leading to a landmark case increasing Medicaid reimbursement in Oklahoma.
 
McGrath is professor of surgery in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of California San Francisco and actively practices plastic surgery. Certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery, she is chair of the board of trustees of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and is a member of the Plastic Surgery Residency Review Committee.

McGrath has held leadership positions with the American College of Surgeons, American Board of Plastic Surgery, National Endowment for Plastic Surgery, Educational Foundation of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and Plastic Surgery Research Council. McGrath has been a panel member and consultant for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for more than 20 years.