Our History...A Timeline

1892: Founding of Arizona Medical Association (ArMA). Founding president - J.A. Miller. There are 9 members.
1898: Ancil Martin brought the first x-ray apparatus to the state of Arizona.
1902: Founding President Dr. J.A. Miller dies. Membership over 100 for first time. 85 percent of Arizona physicians are members.
1904: ArMA member, Clarence E. Yount Sr., MD, in his Prescott laboratory-office in 1904. This was a typical doctors office in the early 1900's. A former chemistry teacher, Dr. Yount did extensive research on rabies and screwworm and reported his observations in professional journals and before meetings of the Arizona Medical Association. In 1907, with Dr. H.D. Thomason of Fort Whipple, Dr. Yount gave the first spinal anesthesia to a patient in Arizona. After serving in World War I, Dr. Yount was elected president of ArMA in 1919.
1905: The Arizona Medical Association recommended, based on a request from the American Medical Association, supervision and examination of school children's eyes, ears, nose and throat annually and to include children above the first grade.
1912: Arizona Medical Journal published. This was the first journal produced exclusively for the state of Arizona. Previously, ArMA was associated with journal collaborations involving several state medical associations. This was a subscription journal carrying advertisements.
1916: Arizona Medical Journal was discontinued and the Southwestern Medicine was launched. ArMA members were not thrilled with paying for the Arizona Medical Journal at the present cost and format. New Mexico and the Southwestern Medical and Surgical Association joined ArMA to combine journals into a common publication with individual departments. This provided for a cheaper, better quality journal.
1917: The Medical Defense Committee of ArMA was created to help physicians being sued.
1923: Construction was completed of the Arizona Deaconess Hospital. The cost was $350,000, which included the building, grounds and equipment. The Methodist Episcopal Church was the sponsor. The hospital was a very modern institution for the time period, equipped throughout with the best surgical and medical equipment. There was room for 105 patients. The hospital was renamed the Good Samaritan Medical Center.
1927: The Tucson Citizen was the first daily newspaper in the U.S. to record the ultraviolet ray intensity of the preceding day in its weather report. The readings were from the Desert Sanatorium, near Tucson, which was one of only three places in the U.S. equipped with a radiometer.
1933: A resolution was proposed for all medical societies to petition the American Medical Association to decrease the number of medical graduates.  (Depression years - there were too many doctors and not enough money).  Constitutional initiative giving chiropractors a legal right to practice medicine and surgery as a constitutional provision was defeated.  The first report of the Women's Auxiliary of ArMA printed in Southwestern Medicine, which was the official publication of ArMA.
1936: Jesse D. Hamer was one of the youngest presidents of ArMA.
1941: The Pinal County Medical Society was formally organized.
1942: There were 105 ArMA physicians serving in the Army and Navy during World War II. This was almost 10 percent of the 1233 total physicians in the state.
1944: Arizona Medicine debuted. Frank J. Milloy was the first editor-in-chief.
1945: "Medical Quarter Hour" - a series of radio programs entitled "American Medicine Serves the World at War" - ran January through February in Phoenix on KTAR
1946: ArMA House of Delegates authorized and set up the Arizona Blue Shield Medical Service Plan. ArMA provided the funds to assure a sound administration and the prompt payment of fees to participating physicians.
1952: "The MD's Notebook" was the first radio presentation of its kind in U.S.; it was a joint venture with ArMA and the Maricopa County Medical Society in which interviews with physicians and surgeons were broadcast.
1958: The artificial kidney made its first appearance in Arizona.
1963: Arizona Board of Regents appointed the first dean to the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
1964: After two and a half years of research, a team of heart surgeons in Tucson developed a pump that allowed short term replacement of the heart during surgery. This discovery was significant as it took science one step closer to replacing faulty hearts with artificial ones.
1970: The new central state headquarters was completed, which is the current site.
1975: "Physician for a Day" was started - physicians volunteer to spend a day at the state legislature to see how everything runs and to meet their own senators and representatives.
1980: ArMA member Dan Cloud, MD was elected American Medical Association president.
1985: Arizona Medicine ceased publication in the current form at and merged with the Western Journal of Medicine to create a special Arizona edition. A specific socioeconomic type of journal named Arizona Medicine was to be developed. The problem with association publications had been a lack of monetary support.
1986: ArMA Financial Services, Inc. was created to provide a variety of cost effective financial services to members.
1990: Arizona Medicine separated from the Western Journal of Medicine to be published on its own. This is the current association publication, except that it is currently named AZ Med.
1992: ArMA vice president Jacqueline A. Chadwick became the first woman president of the Arizona Medical Association.
1995: Marilyn K. Laughead, MD became the second woman president of ArMA.
1997: Web site was created in June. ArMA joined the growing internet, allowing members and non-members alike to access information about the association.
2000:

HB2600, Managed Care Reform Act, passed in April. This was a big step in patient advocacy. Click here to download a PDF copy of ArMA's legislative special report on HB 2600.

2004:

ArMA launched "Will Care Be There," a campaign seeking aggressive tort reform. A rally in Phoenix was co-sponsored by the Maricopa County Medical Society, and another in Tucson was co-sponsored by the Pima County Medical Society.

2006:

ArMA's tort reform efforts were rewarded with the passage of an expert witness bill, the affidavit of merit statute, "I'm Sorry" legislation, and changes to the state's vulnerable adults statutes which protected more than 90 percent of physicians from litigation under this statute with its draconian penalties.

2009:

In 2008 and 2009, ArMA served on an AMICUS process in a case that challenged the constitutionality of the expert witness statute, ARS 12-2604. The Arizona Supreme Court held that ARS 12-2604 was substantive and did not violate the separation of powers doctrine, effectively reinstating the expert witness qualifications statute.