Baptist-South Miami Hospitals Medical Staff elects

BY JO BAXTER

Board-certified surgeon J. Arturo Fridman, MD, has been elected president-elect of the 1,700-member medical staff serving Baptist Hospital and South Miami Hospital. Endocrinologist Guillermo Pons, MD, has been elected vice president.

Both begin their two-year terms in January.

Dr. Fridman previously was chairman of the Department of Surgery at both hospitals and served on the medical staff's Medical Executive Committee.

In private practice since 1980, Dr. Fridman received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Chile. He completed a residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach and a fellowship in colon and rectal surgery at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Fridman is a Fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal

Surgeons and a Fellow of the Florida Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. He is a member of the Florida Surgical Society and a Fellow of the International College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. Fridman and his wife live in Coral Gables.

Board-certified in internal medicine and endocrinology, Dr. Pons also is a Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology. He received his undergraduate degree from Loyola University in Chicago and his medical degree from Chicago Medical School. He completed a residency at University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital, and fellowships at University of Chicago and University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital.
In addition to his efforts to expand the diabetes programs at Baptist Health Systems hospitals, Dr. Pons volunteers at the Good News Care Center through the health system's Physician Community Service Committee. The Good News Care Center provides medical care to uninsured South Dade residents.

Baptist Hospital and South Miami Hospital are affiliates of Baptist Health Systems of South Florida. The system also includes Baptist Children's Hospital, Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute, Homestead Hospital and Mariners Hospital in Tavernier, as well as a broad spectrum of healthcare services and outpatient diagnostic and treatment centers.