National Rural Health Association’s “Practitioner of the Year”
Dr Tom Dean of Wessington Springs, SD is among the National Rural Health Association’s (NRHA) 2009 Rural Health Award recipients.
Dr Dean has been selected as the 2009 Practitioner of the Year and will be honored at a ceremony on May 7 during the 32nd Annual Rural Health Conference in Miami Beach, Fla.
“We’re especially proud of this year’s winners,” said Alan Morgan, NRHA CEO. “They have each already made tremendous strides to advance rural health care, and we’re confident they will continue to help improve the lives of rural Americans.”
Dr Dean has practiced for over 30 years as a family medicine specialist in Horizon Health Care’s community health centers in Wessington Springs, Woonsocket and Plankinton in east-central South Dakota, providing health services to those rural populations.
“I was shocked when I heard I would receive the award,” he said on Monday morning, May 4. “I didn’t know anything about it. Needless to say, I’m thrilled to receive a national award like this.”
He is on the medical staff at Avera Weskota Memorial Medical Center in Wessington Springs and served many years as chief of staff there. He is a clinical professor of Family Medicine with the Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota, and has inspired students to become primary care physicians and practice in rural communities.
As a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), Dr Dean advises Congress on issues affecting the Medicare Program.
He has served on many advisory committees related to rural health research and rural health policy, and his advocacy activities have benefitted rural residents across the nation.
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