September 27, 2021
Hoodsport Surgeon Named President of WSMA
SEATTLE (Sept. 27, 2021) - Hoodsport physician Mika Sinanan, MD, PhD, was named president of the Washington State Medical Association at its annual House of Delegates meeting on Sunday, Sept. 26. The WSMA represents physicians, physician assistants, resident physicians, and medical students throughout Washington state.
Dr. Sinanan is a general surgeon at University of Washington Medical Center - Montlake in Seattle, the medical director for contracting and value-based specialty care at UW Medical Center, and a professor of surgery at the UW School of Medicine.
He received his undergraduate degree (1977) and his medical doctorate (1980) from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by a doctorate in gastrointestinal physiology from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. Dr. Sinanan completed an initial residency in surgery (1983) at the University of Washington in Seattle followed by more post-graduate studies in the department of physiology at the University of British Columbia. After completing a chief residency at the University of Washington in 1988, Dr. Sinanan was appointed attending surgeon at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.
Dr. Sinanan continued teaching within the University of Washington with a series of faculty appointments, beginning in 1988 as acting assistant professor in the department of surgery. Today, he is a graduate faculty member at the UW, as well as an adjunct professor in the university's department of electrical engineering.
He has received numerous awards and recognition for his academic achievements, his clinical expertise, and his executive management. Recent honors include Seattle Business Magazine's Leaders in Health Care Awards, silver award, outstanding medical group executive (2015), Newsweek Health's top cancer doctors (2015), and top doctor, Seattle Met Magazine, (2013-2019).
Dr. Sinanan's involvement in organized medicine is extensive, including with the American Medical Association, American College of Surgeons, American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, National Cancer Committee Network, North Pacific Surgical Association, Pacific Northwest Gastroenterology Society, Seattle Surgical Society, and Society of American Gastroenterologists and Endoscopic Surgeons, among others.
The following physicians were also elected as officers at the meeting: Katina Rue, DO, Yakima family physician, president-elect; Nariman Heshmati, MD, Mukilteo OB-GYN, vice president; and John Bramhall, MD, PhD, Seattle anesthesiologist, for a second term as secretary-treasurer. The fifth officer of WSMA's executive committee is past-president Nathan Schlicher, MD, JD, MBA, Tacoma emergency physician, who will serve as committee chair.
WSMA members newly elected to the association's board of trustees include Alan Urbina-Alvarez, MD, Lakewood gastroenterologist; and Reilly Bealer, Spokane medical student. WSMA members elected to new board positions include Alexander Hamling, MD, MBA, Seattle pediatrician, trustee-at-large and Amish Dave, MD, MPH, Seattle rheumatologist, young physician trustee.
Download a hi-resolution portrait of WSMA President Mika Sinanan, MD, PhD
For more information, contact:
Graham Short
WSMA Communications
206.329.6851 (cell/text)
gfs@wsma.org
About the WSMA
The Washington State Medical Association represents nearly 12,000 physicians, physician assistants, resident physicians, and medical students across all specialties and practice types in Washington state. The WSMA has advocated on behalf of the house of medicine for more than 125 years. Our vision is to make Washington state the best place to practice medicine and receive care.