New Orleans, LA -- Today The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) announced the election of Gerald F. Joseph Jr, MD, of Louisiana, as President Elect; Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, MD, of New York, as Vice President; Paul A. Gluck, MD, of Florida, as Assistant Secretary; Dane M. Shipp, MD, of California, as Fellow-at-Large; and Susan C. Del Pesco, JD, of Delaware, as Public Member at ACOG's 56th Annual Clinical Meeting. They will assume their respective offices on May 8, 2008.

Dr. Gerald F. Joseph Jr, is a senior consultant in gynecology at the Ochsner Health Center in Covington, LA, and clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Louisiana State University and Tulane University in New Orleans. He has been an ACOG Fellow since 1978. Dr. Joseph has chaired the Committee on Scientific Program and the task forces on Enhancing Practice Satisfaction and District and Section Contributions. He has been a member of ACOG's Executive Board and has served as the Executive Board liaison to the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Dr. Joseph has served on the committees on Gynecologic Practice, Nominations, Credentials, and Long-Range Planning and on the task forces on Medical Student Recruitment, Nominations Process, and Scope of Practice. He has been a member of the Council of District Chairs, the Grievance Committee's Appeals Panel Committee, and the medical advisory board for pause® magazine.

Dr. Joseph has served in numerous regional leadership positions, including chair of ACOG District VII and the Louisiana Section. He has also served as District VII scientific program chair and as a member of the Missouri Section Advisory Council. Dr. Joseph is past president of the New Orleans Gynecological and Obstetrical Society and the Southeastern Obstetrical and Gynecological Society. He has been active in the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for many years, serving as a member of the board of trustees and as vice president. Dr. Joseph received his medical degree from Tulane University and completed his residency at Louisiana State University in Shreveport.

Dr. Iffath Abbasi Hoskins is senior vice president, chair, and residency director of the department of ob-gyn at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. She has been an active ACOG Fellow since 1987. Dr. Hoskins most recently served as assistant secretary of ACOG and has been a member of the committees on Obstetric Practice and Health Care for Underserved Women. Dr. Hoskins has been a member of the Task Force on Governance, the PROLOG Task Force on Obstetrics-Fourth Edition, and the Clinical Document Review Panel. She served as an ACOG delegate to the American Medical Association and as a liaison to the Society for Perinatal Obstetricians, the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Drugs, and the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Hoskins has been active in ACOG's District II, where she served as secretary; chair of the committees on Professional Liability, Legislative, and Nominations; and chair of the scientific program for the Annual District Meeting. She is past president of the New York State Perinatal Association. Dr. Hoskins has 30 years of service in the US Navy (active duty and reserves), where she has held numerous leadership positions and received a number of awards. Dr. Hoskins completed her medical degree at Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, and her residency at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. She subsequently completed a maternal-fetal medicine fellowship at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, also in Bethesda.

Dr. Paul A. Gluck is in private group practice in Miami and is a clinical associate professor at the University of Miami. An ACOG Fellow since 1980, Dr. Gluck is past chair of the Committee on Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, the Subcommittee on Patient Safety, and the Task Force on Safety in Resident Education. He has served as the director of ACOG's Voluntary Review of Quality of Care program and as a member of the committees on Course Coordination and Nominations. He has been an alternate delegate to the American Medical Association, an ex officio member of the Committee on Professional Liability, and a participant in the ACOG Patient Safety Summit. Dr. Gluck has served as a member of the District IV Advisory Council and Professional Liability Committee and as chair of local arrangements for the Annual District Meeting. He is a past recipient of the ACOG President's Community Service Award and the Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Section Award. Dr. Gluck is also past chair of ACOG's Florida Section and of the Florida Section Professional Liability Committee. Active in a number of professional organizations, he is current chair of the board of the National Patient Safety Foundation and is a past president of the Florida Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, the Dade County Medical Association, and the Miami Obstetrical and Gynecological Society. Dr. Gluck received his medical degree from New York University and completed his residency at University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Dane M. Shipp is in private group practice in Encinitas, CA, and is chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas. He has been an ACOG member since 2003. Dr. Shipp has served as a member on the Committee on Legislation and was a participant in ACOG's Future Leaders in Ob-Gyn Conference. He was a resident reporter at the 1999 Annual Clinical Meeting and served as the ACOG Junior Fellow Liaison to the American College of Surgeons. In District IX, Dr. Shipp has been a member on the committees on Business of Medicine, Nominations, and State Legislation. He has served as Junior Fellow chair for both District IX and District IX Section 3 and is the current editor of the District IX newsletter. Dr. Shipp completed his medical degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his residency at the University of California San Francisco-Fresno.

Susan C. Del Pesco, JD, is a judge on the Superior Court of Delaware (retiring in June) and formerly served as an adjunct professor at Widener University School of Law in Chester, PA. She was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1975 and worked in civil litigation with the firm of Prickett, Jones, Eliott, Kristol and Schnee, becoming partner in 1982. Judge Del Pesco was the first female president of the Delaware State Bar Association. She was also the first woman to be appointed as a judge of the Delaware Superior Court. Judge Del Pesco participated in the project to build Delaware's first drug treatment facility for incarcerated women and in several projects that serve the administration of justice, including implementation of the nation's first litigation electronic filing system. She served as co-chair of the Supreme Court's Gender Fairness Task Force and has sat on Widener Law School's Board of Overseers for 20 years. Judge Del Pesco received her master of law in judicial process from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and her JD from Widener University.

# # #