HJNO Jul/Aug 2021

48 JUL / AUG 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS COLUMN MEDICAL SOCIETY I’M EXCITED about the progress that The Medical Association of Southeast Louisi- ana (MASELA) has made since its found- ing. In late May, we held a virtual mixer to officially launch the new organization. It was a mix of business and pleasure as we paired an important discussion of MASELA’s mission and vision with a pre- sentation about wine and cheese by James Moises, MD, (Moises Wine) and St. James Cheese Company, and then we mixed cocktails with cocktail historian Philip Greene. We first began with a discussion about how MASELA came to be and celebrated our founding societies — Jefferson Parish (JPMS) and Orleans Parish (OPMS) Med- ical Societies. JPMS and OPMS have collaborated for many years. Throughout that partnership, we came to appreciate our greater strength if we could come together in a more mean- ingful way. That vision was realized with the formation of MASELA. We could not have achieved this milestone if it weren’t for JPMS and OPMS, which will continue to be our voices in state level policymak- ing. OPMS was founded in 1878; JPMS in 1959. Both have rich histories. Both have had notable presidents and members who were giants in medicine, like Rudolph Ma- tas, MD, andAlton and John Ochsner, MDs. We are proud to have had presidents of the American Medical Association and many national specialties who were first active in JPMS and OPMS. Two of these were Daniel Stormy Johnson, MD, from Metairie and Donald Palmisano, MD, from New Orle- ans. We bring these strengths and histories together to benefit physicians and patients throughout Southeast Louisiana. We shared Jefferson Parish Medical So- ciety and Orleans Parish Medical Society’s efforts to get physician feedback, including holding four physician focus groups and sending out a survey to learn more about physicians and their challenges. It’s important that we continue to get the word out about this new and stronger organization and its vision, which is to cre- ate a medical practice environment that supports and encourages physicians’ pro- fessional satisfaction and well-being and The Medical Association of Southeast Louisiana IS ON THE MOVE!