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photo of IMS president, John P. McGoff, MD President's Message
photo of John J. Wernert, MD John J. Wernert, MD, MHA, a psychiatrist, was the 132nd President of the Indianapolis Medical Society for 2005-2006, was elected vice speaker of the House of Delegates of the Indiana State Medical Association (ISMA) during the organization's 2008 Annual Convention, September 19-21 in Indianapolis. The 270-member House of Delegates serves as a policy-making body for the statewide physician organization.

Since 1995, Dr. Wernert has been a member of the ISMA House of Delegates and has served as an alternate trustee on the ISMA's Board of Trustees since 2006. A past president of the Indianapolis Medical Society (IMS), he continues to serve on the IMS Board of Directors.

Dr. Wernert is the Chief Medical Officer and vice president of medical affairs for MDwise, Inc., a Medicaid managed care plan for Indiana. A geriatric psychiatrist, he cares for adult and geriatric patients primarily at St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis and is a consultant to numerous nursing facilities and group homes in central Indiana. Dr. Wernert is also a consultant for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and actively teaches residents in the Department of Psychiatry of Indiana University School of Medicine.

Board certified in adult and geriatric psychiatry and a Distinguished Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Wernert earned postgraduate degrees in public management and health administration from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI. He became a Diplomate of the American College of Physician Executives in 1998. A graduate of Bellarmine College in Louisville and the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Dr. Wernert is now a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine.

John enjoys black powder shooting and Civil War reenactments. John and his family are members of the 4th Indiana Light Artillery Group, a Union outfit that participates in Civil War events throughout the Midwest.

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Members Spotlight

photo of J. Mark Michael, MD

J. Mark Michael, MD

J. Mark Michael, MD, Former Chief of Staff of the St. Vincent Department of Ophthalmology and a founding partner of 20/20 Eye Physicians of Indiana, was the 129th President of the Indianapolis Medical Society, serving the Society during 2003-2004.

Dr. Michael received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973. He completed a laboratory medicine residency, an internal medicine internship, and a second residency in ophthalmology, after which he served as a clinical instructor of ophthalmology at Washington University. In 1984, his wife, Dr. Helen B. Michael, obtained an appointment as a surgical pathologist at Indiana University Hospital, which prompted their move to Indianapolis. Soon after arriving, Dr. Michael joined the Indianapolis Medical Society and opened a solo ophthalmology practice. In 1990 he co-founded the ophthalmology group practice, 20/20 Eye Physicians of Indiana.

Dr. Michael received his board certification from the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1984. He has served on the IMS Board of Directors since 1995 and has been an ISMA Delegate since 1999. He is on staff at St. Vincent and Clarian North Hospitals and at the Naab Road and Eagle Highlands Surgery Centers. He's a member of the Indiana Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the American Medical Association. Drs. Mark and Helen live in Indianapolis and have two sons, Justin and Kevin.