Incoming president of SMA.

The Southern Medical Association will install Dr. Jean Edwards Holt as President during the 95th Annual Scientific Assembly in November in Nashville, Tennessee.

A native of Lamar, Missouri, Dr. Holt earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Missouri--Columbia in 1968. She also received her MD degree and did her ophthalmology residency at the University of Missouri--Columbia. Dr. Holt is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. She served two years on active duty as a Major in the United States Army, and then joined the faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center Department of Ophthalmology. There, she taught cataract and eyelid surgery for seven years, serving as director of the Residency Training Program.

Dr. Holt has been in private practice in ophthalmology since 1985 and continues to serve as a clinical professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Texas Health Science Center. She served as chief of ophthalmology at North Central Baptist Hospital for two years and was chief of staff in 1994. Dr. Holt subsequently served two terms as president of the Medical Executive Board for the Baptist Health System and was a member of the Associate Board of Trustees. She served two years as the medical director and a board member for the Baptist Health Network, a physician/hospital MSO. She was a founding member of the San Antonio Women Physicians Network and has been president of the American Women's Medical Association San Antonio chapter.

Locally, she has served as a member of the Bexar County Medical Society Board of Directors, Texas Medical Association, and Texas Ophthalmology Association. Nationally, she is an associate examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology, a member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and a member of the American College of Physician Executives. After joining the Southern Medical Association in 1979, Dr. Holt served the organization as a Section Officer for the Section on Ophthalmology, Associate Councilor and Councilor from Texas, Chairman of the Coordinating Committee on Membership, Chairman of the Coordinating Committee on Education, a Member of the Executive Committee of the Council, and President-Elect. She has completed a Master in Healthcare Administration at Trinity University in Texas and currently is an adjunct professor for the department. Dr. Holt has written numerous articles, book chapters, and manuals covering topics from ocular trauma to cataract surgical techniques, healt h care management, and professional ethics, and currently lectures in the areas of physician leadership, career management, and mentoring.

Dr. Holt is married to G. Richard Holt, MD, MPH, executive director of the American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery. The Holts have two daughters, Allyson and Andrea, and one son, Adam.