Portland, Ore.

One of the many dividends of OHSU's steady growth and recognized potential is its ability to lure top-notch faculty from the most prestigious universities in the nation. The School of Medicine has appointed three new chairmen for the departments of orthopaedics and rehabilitation, otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, and surgery, and one division head for general internal medicine and geriatrics.

Dirschl appointed chairman of orthopaedics and rehabilitation
Doug Dirschl, M.D., an OHSU School of Medicine alumnus, has been appointed chairman of orthopaedics and rehabilitation in the OHSU School of Medicine. Dirschl previously served as associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and as senior vice president of WakeMed, the hospital system that owns and operates the trauma center in Raleigh, N.C. Dirschl also served as executive medical director for CARElina Medical Associates, a large multi-specialty practice located at the WakeMed trauma center.

Dirschl has taken an active role in community health education, as executive director of both the Wake Area Health Education Center and the Wake AHEC's Office of Regional Primary Care Education. His research has focused on a variety of topics dealing with orthopaedic trauma and the variables that may affect healing and long-term outcomes.

Richardson appointed chairman of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery
Mark Richardson, M.D., is the new chairman of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery in the OHSU School of Medicine. He comes to OHSU from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., where he was Bordley Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He is widely published on a variety of pediatric otolaryngology topics.

Richardson took an active role in the business of medicine at Johns Hopkins. As chairman of the university's Capitation Steering Group, he developed a distribution methodology and implemented it for the faculty practice plan there. Richardson is familiar to the Pacific Northwest. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins in 1995 he spent 15 years on the faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has received faculty teaching awards at both institutions and is a welcome addition to the faculty at OHSU.

Hunter appointed chairman of surgery
The new chairman of surgery in the OHSU School of Medicine is John Hunter, M.D., F.A.C.S. Hunter comes to OHSU from Emory University in Atlanta, where he was professor of surgery, vice chairman of the Department of Surgery, director of the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery and director of the university's Endosurgical Center.

Hunter's clinical interests revolve around the management of diseases of the esophagus and stomach, and laparoscopic biliary surgery. In the Rocky Mountain region in the early 1990s he pioneered the development of laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgery and trained several hundred surgeons to perform laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Hunter's research activities are concentrated on Barrett's esophagus and on improvements in the techniques of minimally invasive surgery.

Bowen appointed head of general internal medicine and geriatrics
Judith Bowen, M.D., F.A.C.P, is the new head of general internal medicine and geriatrics in the OHSU School of Medicine. As division head, Bowen sees research as the area with the greatest opportunity for growth and hopes to recruit additional faculty to further strengthen the program. She is equally passionate about teaching -- students, residents and faculty -- and would like to develop a program in which her fellow scholars have the opportunity to stretch themselves as educators.

Bowen came to OHSU in 2000 from Providence Health System, where she served as medical director of the Ambulatory Care and Education Center, and director of ambulatory education. She is associate professor and section chief of general internal medicine and geriatrics, associate residency program director for primary care, and former medical director of the Internal Medicine Clinic. Bowen earned her medical degree at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., and holds several postgraduate certificates.

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