Mega Doctor News
The Texas Medical Association (TMA) installed Beaumont anesthesiologist G. Ray Callas, MD, as president during TexMed, the association’s annual conference, held in Dallas this year.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to take care of patients and help lead physicians in the state of Texas,” said Dr. Callas. “The Texas Medical Association is the greatest medical association of physicians in the United States.”
Dr. Callas says in his year as TMA’s 159th president he wants to promote policies that can improve Texans’ lives.
“Texas is my home. I was born here, raised a family, and at my practice I treat my friends and neighbors,” he said. “I want to ensure that Texas continues to be the home of the best medical centers, attracts the best physicians, and provides the best care and protection for our citizens.”
Dr. Callas is proud to be paving the way as a pioneer of sorts in TMA leadership: He is just the second anesthesiologist to become TMA president, he is thought to be the first anesthesiologist and Beaumont physician to have chaired its Board of Trustees, and he is the first graduate of the TMA Leadership College to eventually rise to the association’s presidency.
His passion for organized medicine began early in his career when he joined TMA as a medical student in 1996. Dr. Callas’ first victory as an advocate for medicine came twenty years ago, when TMA led the efforts to pass medical liability reform in Texas. (The Texas Legislature enacted a 2003 law backed by TMA and physicians statewide to set caps on noneconomic damages awarded in medical liability lawsuits. Texas voters later solidified the measure by passing a constitutional amendment.)
“Back in 2002, 2003, when I was a brand-new physician, still in residency getting ready to go into private practice, I remember getting involved in medical liability reform,” he said. “That’s really when I cut my teeth,” [and learned what it meant to be a physician advocate].
As TMA president, Dr. Callas wants to make sure Texas’ medical liability reforms are protected. Another top priority of his is to reconfirm medical diagnosing, treatment, and prescribing remain responsibilities in the hands of physicians – not nonphysicians who want physicians’ rights and responsibilities “without going to medical school.”
Dr. Callas has held several other leadership roles at TMA, including serving as chair of the association’s Council on Legislation and Council on Constitution and Bylaws.
He also serves on the TEXPAC Board of Directors, and TMA’s political action committee’s Candidate Evaluation Committee. Dr. Callas also has served as a delegate to the TMA House of Delegates policymaking body since 2004, and he is a member of the Texas delegation to American Medical Association.
Dr. Callas is a long-time member of the Jefferson County Medical Society. He served as the society’s president in 2010 and is a member of its board of directors. Dr. Callas also chaired the Texas Medical Liability Trust Board of Directors and is a past president of the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists.
The board-certified anesthesiologist has practiced medicine with Anesthesia Associates (which Dr. Callas says is the oldest medical practice in the state) since 2004. He is president of the practice’s board of directors. He serves in leadership roles at multiple hospitals and surgical center facilities in Jefferson County and Beaumont.
Dr. Callas earned his medical degree at the UTMB John Sealy School of Medicine at Galveston (formerly The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston School of Medicine).
He is proud to have served in the U.S. Navy and was a submariner in Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War before being honorably discharged. He says the experience was formative and continues to influence him today.
Dr. Callas also is influenced by his family life with his wife of 21 years, Lisa Callas; daughters Emerie (19 years of age), MacKenna (aged 17), and Raygan (aged 13); and his mother, Ms. Carolyn Callas.
TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 57,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 110 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.
