Theodore Hostetler, MD
VCMA member since 1964
Theodore Hostetler, MD, director of pulmonary medicine at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, was one of two recipients of the 2006 Catherine McAuley Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by St. John's Healthcare Foundation.

As president of the foundation in the early 1980s, Dr. Hostetler was honored for helping to implement a deferred giving program to erect St. John's new facility on Rose Ave. and Gonzales Road. Dr. Hostetler received the award at a special ceremony earlier this year at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Air Force One Pavilion in Simi Valley.

Named after Catherine McAuley, one of the founders of the hospital, the award is given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to furthering the mission of St. John's hospitals.

"My father was a minister for the national Church of the Brethren and his job was to raise money for churches," Dr. Hostetler says. "As I grew up, I become very comfortable with the practice of asking people for money. In my opinion, St. John's is such a worthy cause. I have spent half my life at this hospital. And I want St. John's to have the right equipment and operations to be successful."

Dr. Hostetler has been the director of the hospital's pulmonary medicine department since 1976. He also served as president of the medical staff and participated on many hospital committees, including Education and Research, Medical Library, and Department of Medicine. An active humanitarian, Dr. Hostetler has held board positions for the American Lung Association of California and the American Lung Association of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. Dr. Hostetler is currently part of a pulmonary medicine group practice in Oxnard.

M. Nicole Jamali, MD
OCMA member since 1999
Jamali, an Aliso Viejo internist, was appointed to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations Board of Commissioners. Dr. Jamali, a delegate for the California Medical Association Organized Medical Staff Section, was chosen for the position by the American Medical Association, one of JCAHO's organizational members.

"Dr. Jamali is a physician committed to serving her patients with the best care possible; a physician willing to speak up and fight when she sees the potential for compromised care; a physician willing to get involved and participate in organized medicine," wrote John Hill, MD, CMA-OMSS chair, in a nomination letter. "I believe that, although young and perhaps without the lengthy resume of other candidates for this position, Dr. Jamali is a future physician leader and one who would well serve our AMA on the JCAHO board."

In her new role, Dr. Jamali will help JCAHO accredit hospitals and healthcare organizations by evaluating compliance with quality and safety standards and other accreditation requirements. She will serve for three years on JCAHO's Board of Commissioners, which includes a group of 29 physicians, nurses, consumers, medical directors, administrators, providers, quality experts and educators.

Arnold Gilberg, MD, PhD
LACMA member since 1965
Gilberg, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, was appointed to serve a three-year term on the Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors. Made up of 16 members, the commission is designed to assist the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services in providing medical care to the mentally disabled community.

"In my new role, I will be interfacing with LADHS to better understand and meet the needs of LA County's mentally challenged," Dr. Gilberg says. "My goal is to help improve the delivery of healthcare services to this community, by providing better medication, housing and vocational opportunities."

From 1982-91, Dr. Gilberg was a member of the Medical Board of California's Medical Quality Review Committee (11th District) under Governors Edmund G. Brown Jr., George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson. Dr. Gilberg has also served as a past president of the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute in Beverly Hills. Since 1978, he has been an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Dr. Gilberg was trained in psychoanalysis by Franz Alexander, MD, the first medical psychoanalyst in the world and a friend of Sigmund Freud. He was recently asked to lecture about "The Legacy of Franz Alexander, MD" at Psychoanalytic Institutes in Berlin and Santiago, Chile.

Lawrence D. Piro, MD
LACMA member since 2006
Piro, CEO of The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute in Santa Monica, recently conducted a study of a new anticancer agent that battles advanced metastatic melanoma. The study reveals the agent doubles the survival rate of cancer patients compared with conventional treatment. The new molecule, or STA-4783, induces tumor cells to produce a heat shock protein on the cell surface, which flags them for destruction by the patient's own immune system.

"The Angeles Clinic was established as a center where cancer patients could get the best, most advanced care, including access to clinical trials of novel treatments such as STA-4783," says Dr. Piro, an internist with an emphasis in melanoma and lymphoma. "Principal investigator Steven O'Day, MD, has built an outstanding team at the clinic, and his role in leading this trial is an example of the robustness of our melanoma research program. Patients come from all over the country to the clinic for access to clinical trials such as this, and it's exciting that we are helping to make progress in establishing the efficacy of new molecules to treat melanoma."

The clinical trial of STA-4783 involved 81 Stage IV melanoma patients at 21 medical centers across the United States. With melanoma, Stage IV cases are highly resistant to therapy; median survival time is only six to nine months, Dr. Piro says.

Houshang Hakhamimi, MD
LACMA member since 1970
Hakhamimi, a Los Angeles general surgeon, was named the medical director for The Center for Colorectal Health in Beverly Hills, which opened in September. The Center for Colorectal Health provides medical care and treatment for hemorrhoids and anal fissures, and early detection of colorectal cancer.

In his role, Dr. Hakhamimi will spearhead the use of the new CRH-O'Regan Disposable Hemorrhoid Banding System, an alternative to hemorrhoid surgery that uses a safe and painless procedure performed in less than a minute.

"This method is faster, more accurate and has virtually no downtime for patients," Dr. Hakhamimi says. "I am delighted to have the opportunity to perform a procedure that provides the patient with the finest pain-free care."

During the brief procedure, the physician places a small rubber band around the tissue just above the hemorrhoid where there are few pain-sensitive nerve endings. Unlike traditional banding techniques that use a metal-toothed clamp to grasp the tissue, the new technique uses a gentle suction device, reducing the risk of pain and bleeding. The band cuts off the blood supply to the hemorrhoid, which causes the hemorrhoid to shrink and fall off, typically within a day or so.

The Center for Colorectal Health is the only facility providing the CRH-O'Regan Disposable Hemorrhoid Banding System. Other centers are located in Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas and San Francisco.