Governor Scott names local physician to state Board of Medicine

April 13, 2011 - PRLog -- FORT MYERS, FL - (April 8, 2011) - Governor Rick Scott has appointed Dr. James Orr, a Fort Myers-based physician, to the Florida Board of Medicine. Dr. Orr is the medical director of Florida Gynecologic Oncology and also serves as medical director of Lee Memorial Health Systems’ Regional Cancer Center. He is the only physician from Southwest Florida who serves on the Board.
Dr. Orr is a nationally recognized expert in the management of reproductive tract cancer. In addition to an active medical practice, he currently serves or has served  as the President of the Florida Obstetric and Gynecologic Society, the President of the Florida Society of Gynecologic Oncologists, The President of The Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (national), The Executive Committee of The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (national), as a board member of the American Cancer Society and vice chairman of the Lee Memorial Health System Foundation.
The Florida Board of Medicine protects and enhances the public's health, safety and welfare by establishing and maintaining standards of excellence in regulating the practice of medicine. Orr is one of 15 board members who will oversee committees that focus on, among other things, physician credentialing, legislative review, surgical care and quality assurance, medical fraud, probable cause panels, and the pharmacist prescribing committee.
“Appointment to this board is humbling and is a great honor,” Orr said.  “It will help make me not only a better physician for my patients, a better advocate for public health consumers, but also a better colleague for my peers as well.”
Orr has had an active career in medicine as a practicing physician, and a champion for quality health care. He has had several faculty appointments in academic departments of obstetrics and gynecology, has authored four books, published hundreds of scientific papers and book chapters, participated as editor and editorial advisor for nearly all of scientific journals related to women’s care, and has held leadership positions in nearly all of the societies associated with gynecologic cancer.
“I’m looking forward to being a part of taking health care in Florida to the next level,” says Orr.  “There has been a lot of focus and discussion about health care at a national level, but I believe that where real change can be made is at the local, regional and state level. This appointment puts me in a position to be a dedicated advocate for quality health care for the citizens of Florida.”
Orr has been recognized numerous times for his service to women’s reproductive health. He has been selected by his peers to be included in the publication Best Doctors in American each year since 1998, and was named by Good Housekeeping magazine as one of the top 401 doctors for women in America in August 1997, the last year that the magazine published this list. He also was recognized with the 2000 Humanitarian Award by Saks Fifth Ave, an honor he shared with Daniel Dosoretz, M.D.
Dr. Orr is board certified in gynecologic cancer. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, completed an internship and residency in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

About Florida Gynecologic Oncology
The physicians at Florida Gynecologic Oncology, James Orr, M.D., Edward Grendys, M.D. and Fadi Abu Shahin, M.D., are the only board-certified/eligible gynecologic oncologists with offices located between Sarasota and Miami. The medical practice performs more than a thousand surgical procedures each year combining clinical expertise, experienced staff and state-of-the-art care in a warm and caring environment. Florida Gynecologic Oncology is a division of 21st Century Oncology.