TMA Elects Board, House Leaders and New AMA Representation
By Brent Annear

As the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates celebrated the historic installation of the association’s first Indian American president in Jayesh “Jay” Shah, MD, members also elected a slate of leaders to serve alongside him. 

At TexMed in San Antonio May 9-11, those physician leaders were elected by their peers to serve as Board of Trustee members and American Medical Association delegates. New names also stepped into parliamentary positions. 

Delegates voted their outgoing speaker of the house, Bradford W. Holland, MD, to president-elect. The Waco otolaryngologist says he is humbled and honored to be chosen to lead TMA.  

“I vow to live up to the great task I have been assigned as president-elect to defend our victories and conquer our challenges,” Dr. Holland told the house, who has followed his parliamentary leadership since 2019. He will serve as president-elect for one year before ascending to the presidency. 

Board trustees chose Kimberly E. Monday, MD, to chair the board. The Houston neurologist has served on TMA’s governing body since 2020 after previously serving on several other TMA councils and committees.  

“We are in a transformational time in health care, and I look forward to serving the needs of all members,” Dr. Monday said. 

TMA also renewed terms for two members of the Board of Trustees, and voted for one new board member:  

• Bradford S. Patt, MD, was chosen to rejoin the board, with trustees subsequently naming him vice chair. The otolaryngologist and plastic surgeon in Houston joined the board in 2022, after serving the Council on Legislation and other TMA committees.  

• John T. Carlo, MD, was also selected to continue his board service. Dr. Carlo, a Dallas public health and general preventive medicine specialist, similarly joined the board in 2022, after chairing three TMA councils and while serving on the Texas AMA Delegation. 

• Tilden L. Childs III, MD, newly joins the board. The former Council on Legislation chair adds the position to a long career in organized medicine leadership. The Fort Worth radiologist has served numerous local, state, and national medical societies.  

Dr. Holland’s departure from the house speaker position opened a vacancy filled by Little Elm internist John G. Flores, MD, as members picked the vice speaker for the top gavel position – which also is a board seat. He previously chaired TMA councils and was accepted at TexMed to continue serving on the Texas Delegation to the AMA. 

Dallas palliative care physician Mark A. Casanova, MD, was voted into the vice speaker vacancy, also a board position. A nearly 30-year TMA member, Dr. Casanova has held many leadership roles, having chaired two TMA councils and served on another. He also was instrumental in TMA’s COVID-19 Task Force during the height of the pandemic. 

TMA also elected two section representatives to the Board of Trustees: 

• Dallas internist Tazeen Rizvi, DO, was voted to a one-year term as the TMA Resident and Fellow Section board representative.  

• TMA chose Galveston medical student Grayson R. Jackson for a one-year term as the board’s Medical Student Section representative. He is a student at the UTMB John Sealy School of Medicine working toward his medical degree and is also pursuing a doctoral degree. 

As a result of the TexMed house and board action, the 2025-26 TMA Board of Trustees Executive Committee includes:  

• Jayesh “Jay” Shah, MD, president;  

• Bradford W. Holland, MD, president-elect;  

• G. Ray Callas, MD, immediate past president;  

• Kimberly E. Monday, MD, chair;  

• Bradford S. Patt, MD, vice chair;  

• Tony A. Aventa, MD, secretary;  

• Gregory Fuller, MD, secretary treasurer; and 

• John G. Flores, MD speaker of the house.  

New Texas representation to AMA  

The house also chose members to represent Texas in the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates. Members of the Texas Delegation to the AMA take Texas policy proposals to the national body for vetting. The house renewed terms of service for 10 delegates and five alternate delegates, and chose five new alternates:   

• Delegates: John T. Carlo, MD; Robert Emmick Jr., MD; Diana L. Fite, MD; John G. Flores, MD; Gary W. Floyd, MD; Steven R. Hays, MD; Jayesh B. Shah, MD; Jennifer R. Rushton, MD; Elizabeth T. Torres, MD; and Sherif Z. Zaafran, MD.  

• Renewed alternate delegates: Mark A. Casanova, MD; Bryan G. Johnson, MD; Vivek U. Rao, MD; Angela D. Self, MD; and Ezequiel “Zeke” Silva III, MD. 

• New alternate delegates: Jonathan MacClements, MD; Myphuong Theresa Phan, MD; and Mammen A. Sam, MD.  Brittany O. Ikwuagwu, MD, will serve as alternate delegate on behalf of the Resident and Fellow Section, and the new Medical Student Section alternate delegate to the AMA house is Yushra Rashid.  

 Visit the Texas Delegation page for more information.