DUBLIN, Ohio – Akron family medicine practitioner Brian Bachelder, MD, is now president of the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA), the state’s largest physician-led organization. Dr. Bachelder’s one-year term began Sunday after he was sworn in during the OSMA’s Annual Meeting held in Columbus. After serving the past year as president-elect, Dr. Bachelder now takes over for Robert Kose, MD, JD, a Toledo pulmonary care specialist.

Dr. Bachelder said he plans to lead the association through a strategic planning process to assure that the OSMA’s mission and vision is properly aligned with the needs of Ohio physicians. His goal is to engage physicians and increase membership in the OSMA.

Dr. Bachelder is currently employed at Akron General Medical Center for Family Medicine as a family medicine physician. Before joining Akron General in 2009, he worked as a self-employed solo practitioner for 25 years in his native rural Morrow County, Ohio.

Over the past three decades, he has served in several roles for the OSMA, most recently as a district councilor and previously as a reference committee chairman. Dr. Bachelder is also active with the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians, Summit County Medical Society, and is a past board member for the Ohio Health Information Partnership.

He has also held teaching assignments for medical institutions at The Ohio State University, Northeast Ohio Medical University, and the University of Toledo. Dr. Bachelder graduated from the University of Cincinnati and completed his residency and post graduate work in family medicine at the University of Minnesota.

Also during the OSMA’s Annual Meeting, Robyn Chatman, MD, was voted president-elect. Dr. Chatman, who specializes in family medicine and clinical informatics, lives in Cincinnati and is employed by Accenture/Sagacious Consultants, a healthcare technology firm.