Press Release

Stephen Smart to Chair AHA's Committee on Governance

Penny Brooke Named Chair-Elect

Contact:
Matthew Fenwick - (312) 422-2820
Elizabeth Lietz - (202) 626-2284

Washington D.C.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) today announced that Stephen Smart, DDS will be chair and Penny Brooke, will be chair-elect for the AHA's 2010 Committee on Governance (COG).  Dr. Smart is board chair of the Medical Center of South Arkansas (MCSA) in El Dorado, Ark.

The COG is a specialty committee of the AHA Board of Trustees. The committee is responsible for leading effective involvement of the nation's hospital trustees in grassroots advocacy, providing input into AHA's policy development, enhancing communication with and involvement of trustees in the AHA, and providing advice on AHA's trustee initiatives.

Smart has been a member of the MCSA board since 1994.  Smart is a board member and former chair of the SHARE Foundation, a not-for-profit public charity formed from MCSA and Community Health Systems. He is a former board member of the Arkansas Hospital Association and the past president of its trustee organization.

Smart joined the AHA's Committee on Governance in 2006 as an at-large member. He is past-chairman of the board of the South Arkansas Arts Center and he is the former chair of the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce.

Smart operates a private practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery and is a member of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and Diplomate of his specialty Board.  He earned an undergraduate degree from Arkansas State University, his Doctorate of Dental Surgery from the University of Tennessee school of Dentistry in Memphis, Tenn. and completed residency training in his specialty at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco.

Brooke joined the Committee on Governance of the AHA and the AHA's Regional Policy Board for Region 8 in 2007. She serves on the board of IHC Central Urban Region and has been a member since 1989 where she has chaired the Credential, Human Resources and Quality Committees. She also served as a trustee for Intermountain Healthcare corporate board from 1987 through 2009, chairing its Professional Standards Committee during the last five years of her term. Brooke has served as a board member of the Utah Hospital and Health Systems Association (UHHA), chaired its Trustee Council, co-chaired its Patient Safety Task Force and continues to chair its Quality Council.  She is also a member of the Utah State Bar Association. Brooke is a professor at the University of Utah College of Nursing and licensed as a psychiatric nurse specialist. She received her bachelors, masters and law degrees from the University of Utah.

About AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which includes more than 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, and 38,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends.