Portland, Ore.

O. John Ma, M.D., will become chairman of the Oregon Health & Science University Department of Emergency Medicine and chief of Emergency Services for OHSU/Doernbecher Children's Hospitals and Clinics effective Jan. 1, 2007.

Ma comes to OHSU from the University of Missouri/Truman Medical Center in Kansas City (UMKC/Truman Medical Center), Mo., where he served as professor and chairman of emergency medicine, as well as research director for the Department of Emergency Medicine.

"I am honored to be the next chairman of the OHSU Department of Emergency Medicine. Moving forward, we will continue to build upon the core missions that have made this department and OHSU national leaders: delivering high-quality and compassionate patient care; providing innovative education and training for residents and medical students; and performing clinical and health care systems research that helps to improve the practice of emergency medicine," said Ma.

Ma earned his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1990. After completing his residency in emergency medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, he joined the emergency medicine faculty of the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. While at UNC, he served as the medical director for Carolina Air Care as well as the emergency department's EMS and clinical research director. After moving to Kansas City in 1997, Dr. Ma worked in private practice at St. Luke's Hospital before joining the UMKC/Truman Medical Center faculty in 1998.

Ma's research interests include emergency ultrasonography and trauma. He has edited several textbooks, including Emergency Ultrasound, Geriatric Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine Manual (sixth, fifth and fourth editions.), and Just the Facts in Emergency Medicine (second and first editions). Ma will serve as a co-editor for the seventh edition of Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide.

While at UMKC/Truman Medical Center, Ma was named the emergency department's Teacher of the Year four times and was presented the 2005 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Excellence in Ultrasound Education Award.

Terri Schmidt, M.D., M.S., R.N., has been serving as interim chairwoman of OHSU's Emergency Medicine department since April 2005 when then chairman Jerris Hedges, M.D., M.S., became vice dean in the OHSU School of Medicine. Schmidt will continue in the interim chairwoman role until Ma assumes his responsibilities in January.