Davis Announces Appointments to Medical Board of California

Gov. Gray Davis yesterday announced three appointments to the Medical Board of California, which is charged with assuring the "competence" of health professionals through licensure. The board is also responsible for investigating complaints against its licensees and handling any disciplinary actions required. The appointees and their background appear below:

• Dr. Bernard Alpert: Selected to serve on the board's Division of Licensing, Alpert, who previously served on the board and was vice president of the licensing division, is a practicing plastic surgeon in San Francisco. He also is a professor of surgery at UCSF in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and was a member of the Managed Health Care Task Force.
  
• Dr. Hazem Chehabi: Nominated to the board's Division of Medical Quality, Chehabi is an assistant clinical professor at UC-Irvine's Department of Radiological Sciences. From 1988 to 1992, he worked as the commissioner of the Board of Medical Quality Assurance. Before his position at UC, he was a staff physician at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
  
• Dr. Ronald Wender: Also selected for the Division of Medical Quality, Wender teaches anesthesiology as co-chair of the Department of Anesthesiology for the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. In addition, Wender is a founding member of the Society of Office Based Anesthesia.