REPORT OF BOARD OF COUNCILORS
BOC Report 1-A-07
Subject: Distinguished Service Award - D. Clifford Burross, MD
Presented by: Ned Snyder, MD, Chair
Acting upon a nomination by the Wichita County Medical Society, the Board of Councilors has selected D. Clifford Burross, MD, Wichita Falls, to receive the association's Distinguished Service Award. The award will be presented on Friday, April 27, at the House of Delegates.
Dr. Burross, a family physician, has dedicated his career to serving his patients, training the next generation of physicians, and furthering the work of organized medicine. He maintained a family practice in Wichita Falls from 1957 until 1990 when he retired to dedicate himself to educating future physicians as program director for the Wichita Falls Family Practice Residency Program. Dr. Burross' work has taken him to the highest levels of organized medicine, including the presidency of the Texas Medical Association in 1985-1986, and Wichita County Medical Society in 1980; speaker and vice speaker of the TMA House of Delegates; co-chair of the TMA Patient-Physician Advocacy Committee; and, delegate and alternate delegate to the American Medical Association House of Delegates. Dr. Burross also worked to maintain and improve the quality of medicine on a state and national basis. Three different Texas governors appointed him to terms on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, and he served a three-year term on the National Board of Medical Examiners.
Among other roles, Dr. Burross also has served as:
- Vice chair, Family Practice Residency Advisory Committee to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 1988-1944;
- Member of the Texas Medical Foundation Board of Directors, Executive Board, and Executive Committee, 1989-present;
- Speaker, House of Delegates, American Peer Review Association;
- Alderman, City of Wichita Falls, 1961-1967; and,
- President, Texas Municipal League, 1966-67.
Dr. Burross also has been honored with the Dr. John H. Clark Leadership Award in 1996 from the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, the Free Market Foundation Leader of Excellence Award in 1996, the Distinguished Service Award from the Wichita County Medical Society in 1996, the Phillip R. Overton Award from the Texas Medical Foundation in 1998, and the Young at Heart Award from the TMA Young Physician Section in 2001.
In nominating Dr. Burross for the Distinguished Service award, Wichita County Medical Society President Rodrigo X. Menchaca, MD, said the society and community have been blessed by his presence.
A native Wichitan, Dr. Burross received his undergraduate degree from Midwestern State University and his medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed a rotating internship at Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio, and received post-graduate training in surgery at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1953 until 1956. He was the commanding officer of the U.S. Army Dispensary at Fort Amador in the Canal Zone, Panama, from 1954 until 1956.
TMA House of Delegates: TexMed 2007