The Southern Medical Association (SMA) is pleased to announce the election of David Netscher, MD, as President-Elect Designate, 2023-2024. Dr. Netscher will be installed during SMA’s Annual Scientific Assembly in Greensboro, North Carolina, on October 28, 2023, and will serve as SMA President for the year 2025-2026. 

Dr. Netscher, an academician with a life-long career at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, has served as Professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and the Division of Plastic Surgery since 2006 and as the Program Director for the Hand Surgery Fellowship for more than 20 years. His speciality involves congenital anomalies, trauma, arthritis, contractures, oncology, vascular and peripheral nerve problems. Additionally, Dr. Netscher has served as a Director of both the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery as well as on the Conjoint Hand Surgery Board.

Dr. Netscher received his medical degree from the University of Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg, South Africa, and clinical fellowship training in hand surgery at The Christine M. Kleinert Institute for Hand and Micro Surgery. Additionally, he completed a general surgery and internal medicine internship at Johannesburg General Hospital, and a  general surgery residency at the University of Louisville, followed by a plastic surgery residency at Baylor College of Medicine.

During his 2025-2026 term as SMA President, Dr. Netscher intends for his vision to maintain and build upon SMA’s proud history and tradition. “SMA’s mission is to improve quality of patient care through multispecialty, interprofessional education,” he said. “Indeed, strength is achieved through collaboration between specialties and investment in the future careers of young healthcare providers.”

An active member of SMA for more than 35 years, Dr. Netscher has served on SMA’s Education Committee and recently developed and presented a series of SMA continuing medical education webinars focusing on “The Hand and Upper Extremity: Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Treatment in Disease”. In addition to a primer on hand examination, topics included common hand emergencies, and diagnosis and management of common osteoarthritic conditions of the hand.