ACMS Physician of the YearEach year, the ACMS board of directors selects one of its members as its Physician of the Year from nominations by the membership. Honorees exemplify the best ideals and aspirations of our profession by:
2023 ACMS Physician of the Year: Lauren Miller, MDDr. Lauren Miller is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at St. Luke’s Clinic and serves patients experiencing pregnancy complications. Under her leadership, she helped form the Idaho Coalition for Safe Reproductive Health Care (ICSRHC) last year in response to numerous state laws that took effect following the Supreme Court Decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson. The Coalition has worked on revising state laws that criminalize evidence-based care for pregnant patients. They advocated for exceptions for the mother’s life and physical and mental health, life-limiting fetal complications, and for victims of rape/incest. They also fought against the affirmative defense standard (guilty until proven innocent), which was repealed by the Idaho Legislature this year. Over the past several months, Dr. Miller and other members of ICSRHC have appeared on national and international news programs, spoken to a wide variety of audiences, and helped communicate issues within the medical community. They also helped raise awareness to the public and the Idaho Legislature how these laws negatively impact safe and timely medical care and the integrity of Idaho’s physician workforce. Unfortunately, Dr. Miller is among several physicians who announced they will be leaving Idaho because of the untenable ethical dilemma imposed on health care providers who have an obligation to protect the health of their patients. Previous Year’s HonoreesKarl Watts (05), James Blackman (06), Roy Swinehart (07), Jon Wagnild (08), Larry Dewey (09), Ted Epperly (10), David Hindson (11), Jerry Hirschfeld (12), Jeralyn Jones (13), Perry Brown, Jr. (14) Ed Newcombe (15), Joe Callanan (16), Joe Williams (17), Kyle Palmer (18), Kim Stutzman (19), Justin Glass / Christine Hahn (20), Sky Blue (21), James Souza (22) |