UCMS Officers 2024

• President: Ty Webb, MD
• Secretary: Chris Sewell, MD
• Executive Director: James Gray, MD

What are the benefits of UCMS-TMA Membership?

• Continuing Medical Education Programs: UCMS-TMA Virtual CME Programs offer physicians in the Upper Cumberland Region an opportunity to lead clinical updates relevant to health care delivery on the Cumberland Plateau. Programs are provided as a public service to the health care community. Expenses related to CME documentation and processing are covered by dues-paying physician members of the UCMS-TMA. Invitations to register for a CME meeting are sent to our subscribers by email from the secretary at ucms-tma.org.
• Advocacy: Seven state representatives and 4 state senators represent the 14 counties of Upper Cumberland. Each of them encourage UCMS-TMA members to guide them on government and regulatory issues which affect health care delivery in rural counties of Tennessee.
• Leadership: The UCMS has committed the $50 dues we collect to support physician leadership development in our region. We encourage our members to seek nomination to attend the Ingram Institute’s Leadership Lab or Immersion Weekend.
• All the Benefits of TMA Membership are available to UCMS-TMA members. Physicians are welcome and encouraged to visit our website and follow the link to join UCMS-TMA online at www.UCMS-TMA.org.

History of UCMS

• Although this was the first TMA Charter presented to the UCMS, its first Constitution and Bylaws were adopted in 1895. By the 1800’s the TMA had organized Medical Societies in several Upper Cumberland counties. The annual TMA meeting was in Nashville which was 190 miles downriver from the most upstream navigable port on the Cumberland River which was in Celina. This distance and the week-long journey made it difficult for physicians in Upper Cumberland to attend the annual educational meeting.
• Dr. Wilson Tallyrand McColgan near Celina solicited the help of Dr. W. B. Young, Secretary of the then very successful White County Medical Society to send invitations to physicians from Upper Cumberland to Nashville to attend the 1895 meeting in Cookeville where Dr. McColgan presided and the the first Constitution and Bylaws were adopted. 50 physicians were in attendance. The Journal of the Tennessee State Medical Association published Dr. Young’s review of the early history of the UCMS in 1933
• By the early 1900’s the UCMS was highly successful in organizing an annual summer retreat and educational convention for physicians. In 1912, 196 physicians attended the UCMS meeting held in the small town of Algood with Dr. J.T. Moore, Sr. presiding. Dr. Moore was awarded the Tennessee G.P. Doctor of the year by the TMA in 1951. The largest UCMS meeting of record was in 1931 when 271 physicians attended.
• The 111th Annual Meeting of the UCMS met on August 13, 2005. Only 11 members were present and no plans were made for future meetings. Without further meetings of the UCMS, the interest in the county medical societies in Upper Cumberland (UC) rapidly declined. By 2013 the Putnam County Medical Society (PCMS) was the only TMA Component Society in UC still meeting or electing delegates to the TMA House of Delegates (HOD).
• In April 2014, the PCMS reorganized, providing CME to incentivize attendance for busy physicians. In January 2016, the PCMS changed its name to the UCMS and adopted an updated Constitution and Bylaws. It petitioned the TMA to accept its new name and to expand its potential members to any of the 14 counties in UC. The TMA HOD approved the name change and the new charter on May 1, 2016.

UCMS History Article from 1933    UCMS History Article from 1972