Dr. Shade leads Wayne County Medical Society of Southeast Michigan
George H. Shade Jr., M.D.
Dr. Shade, who also serves as specialist-in-chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology for the Detroit Medical Center, was inaugurated as president of the society May 15. He will serve for one year.
A member of the society since 1978, Dr. Shade said his goal is to have the organization focus on access to health care in the Detroit metropolitan area and disparities in health care in the region. “By addressing these two issues alone, we will be required to look at several very important issues that create the problems we have in these two areas,” he said.
“I feel extremely honored to have been selected to step into this role,” Dr. Shade said. “I am a native Detroiter and have always felt a strong commitment to the city of Detroit. The women in the Detroit metropolitan area have myriad significant health care issues unique in many respects to this region. I believe that as a collective force of dedicated and talented physicians we can make a tremendous difference in the quality of life in southeastern Michigan."
Dr. Shade, who is chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology for Sinai-Grace Hospital, was appointed specialist-in-chief for Obstetrics and Gynecology for the Detroit Medical Center in March. The system-wide position includes overview of services at Hutzel Women's Hospital, Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital and Sinai-Grace Hospital. The chief of each hospital’s department of obstetrics and gynecology reports to Dr. Shade. He said he views his primary role as overseeing quality, physician credentialing and patient safety as it pertains to women's health care.
The position, Dr. Shade explained, includes adherence to best practices to ensure “that every woman coming to the DMC gets the very best health care available in the United States of America.
“Over the past three decades, health care in this nation has become more and more regionalized,” Dr. Shade said. “I see it as incumbent upon me to work closely with the physicians in comparable roles as mine in other health care systems to make sure that we put an end to lack of access to health care as well as the problems of disparities in health care encountered on a daily basis across southeastern Michigan. I believe I can best influence my colleagues by demonstrating that the DMC is truly a campus of breakthroughs and innovation strengthened by its long-term relationship with the Wayne State University School of Medicine and its time-tested commitment to the city of Detroit.”
In addition, Dr. Shade is serving his second term as vice chairman of the Michigan State Board of Medicine. Re-elected in January, he will hold the position through January 2010.
Selection to the board is by gubernatorial appointment. The governor receives recommendations from the Michigan State Medical Society, elected officials, industry, and civic and community organizations.
The board is charged with protecting the public safety as it pertains to the practice of medicine. Members oversee physician licensing, investigate complaints against physicians and are responsible for enacting disciplinary measures up to and including license revocation for infractions and unprofessional conduct.
