08-12-02 (Little Rock) Arkansas Highway Commissioner John Lipton of
Warren, Ar. will receive the Dale Bumpers Leadership Award on Thursday
[8-15-02] at UAMS. This annual award is presented to a person who has
shown exemplary public service that significantly impacts statewide
health programs.
The award will be presented to him
during a meeting of the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Advisory
Board meeting to be held on the University of Arkansas for Medical
Sciences (UAMS) campus. A former Speaker of the Arkansas House of
Representatives, Lipton served 12 consecutive terms in the Legislature
and played an important role in extending health-care service to rural
areas of the state.
The namesake of the award, U.S. Senator
Dale Bumpers (ret.), helped establish the AHEC network to remedy
health problems in medically underserved areas of the state when he
served as Governor from 1970-74. Later, as a U.S. Senator from
1974-98, he strongly supported federal funding for AHEC programs in
all states of the nation and its expansion throughout Arkansas. Today
there are seven AHEC facilities in the state, located in El Dorado,
Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Helena, Jonesboro, Pine Bluff, and
Texarkana. In 1999-2000, the AHEC Program won the prestigious national
Eugene S. Mayer Program of Excellence Award in recognition of the UAMS
program as the best of its kind in the nation.
Dr. Charles O. Cranford, Vice
Chancellor of Regional Programs at UAMS and Executive Director of the
AHEC Program in Arkansas, will present the award. In recognizing Mr.
Lipton’s role in Arkansas health care, Senator Bumpers commented:
"John Lipton has
continuously demonstrated a commitment to improving health care in
rural Arkansas. He voted for and supported my initiative in
starting the AHEC program when I was Governor and has never wavered
in his support for it. AHEC, under the leadership of Dr. Roger
Bost and then Dr. Charles Cranford, has been a resounding success,
and all of the people in rural Arkansas have been the beneficiaries.
I join with all Arkansans in heartily applauding the selection of
John Lipton to receive this richly deserved award."
During his terms in the House, Lipton
served on the Public Welfare and Health Committee and sponsored bills
to improve health care and manpower distribution in Arkansas. He was
instrumental in leading medical malpractice reform in Arkansas (1979),
establishing the Rural Hospital Program (1988), strengthening the
Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship program
(1989), establishing the Arkansas Medicaid Rebate Program Revolving
Fund (1991), increasing the class size of UAMS medical students
(1991), and consistently supporting legislative appropriations for
UAMS and Regional Programs.
Lipton currently serves on the State
Highway Commission, where he was elected Chairman in 2000, and he is a
member of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation Board. He is
active in the Bradley County Chamber of Commerce, Industrial
Development Corporation and JML Development Corporation. Lipton is
married to the former JeNelle Neal and has three adult children.
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