FOR RELEASE January 31, 2005
Contact: Heather McClurg
Director of Communications
314.345.5500 office

Foundation Board of Directors Change Posts; Install New Officers for 2005

St. Louis, January 31 - The Board of Directors of the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) have elected officers to serve one-year terms.

Martha A. Gragg, RN, MSN, a founding board member from Milan, will serve as its chair in 2005. Gragg is CEO of Sullivan County Memorial Hospital and also serves on the board of the Northeast Missouri Rural Health Network.

Gertrude “Trudi” Scott, RN, MSN, CPNP is vice chair of the board. Scott has been a member of the Foundation’s board since 2003 and is coordinator of the Children's Clinical Outreach Services for Cox Health Systems in Springfield.

Will R. Ross, MD, a physician with Barnes-Jewish Hospital, is secretary of the board. Ross is also Director of Diversity Programs and Associate Dean, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Nephrology for Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Steven M. Pu, DO, a Foundation board member since 2003, will serve as treasurer. Pu is medical director of Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett and a private practice surgeon in rural southeast Missouri.

Karl E. Wilson, PhD served as board chair in 2004 and will serve as member-at-large. Wilson, a MFH founding board member, is president and chief executive officer of Crider Center for Mental Health in Wentzville.

Established in January of 2000 through the for-profit conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri, MFH is the largest health care foundation in the state and the second largest health conversion foundation in the country. Its vision is to improve the health of the people in the communities it serves. Current assets are approximately $1.1 billion.

For additional information regarding MFH, contact the Foundation at (314) 345-5500, (800) 655-5560 or visit the Web site at www.mffh.org.

# # #

View other releases.