Vicksburg physician Randy Easterling has officially taken the reins of the Mississippi State Medical Association. He was inaugurated May 30 in Oxford, at the MSMA’s 141st annual session.

“As president, you’re kind of the spokesperson for the association,” said Easterling, 57, a family physician at the Street Clinic on McAuley Drive for the past 22 years. “We represent about 3,500 physicians, residents and medical students throughout Mississippi. We’re the primary body of physicians in the state.”

Easterling’s term will run for one year.

The election and campaign for president-elect takes place through the MSMA House of Delegates, which is led by Speaker Lee Giffin, who practices at Mission Primary Care Clinic in Vicksburg. Delegates are physicians from across the state who are members of the association.

Easterling, voted president-elect last year, will act as the “go-to man” for health-care matters at the state level.

“Through the year, I’ll be doing a lot of interviews on public radio, TV and the paper,” he said. “I’ll go and speak to each one of the 17 component societies. The state is divided into component societies — like Vicksburg is the West Mississippi Medical Society — and I’ll go and tell them pretty much what’s going on at the state level.”

Easterling, who is a delegate to the American Medical Association, left Friday for the group’s annual meeting this week in Chicago. Physicians from around the country will meet to discuss the future of health care. President Barack Obama is scheduled to address the group.

“The hot topic, of course, will be health-care reform,” Easterling said.

Dr. Daniel Edney, who practices at Medical Associates of Vicksburg and serves on the MSMA board, will serve as an alternate delegate to Chicago.

Easterling, a native of Long Beach, is medical director of River Region’s Marian Hill Chemical Dependency Unit and has served on the board of directors for the United Way of West Central Mississippi and Vicksburg Rotary Club. He is also the physician for the Miss Mississippi Pageant.

Easterling and his wife, Janie, have two children.

The MSMA, based in Ridgeland, was founded in 1856.

*

Contact Matthew Breazeale at mbreazeale@vicksburgpost.com