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CMA Media Relations: Karen Nikos, 916/551-2069, Peter Warren, 310/809-4381, Ron Lopp, 916/551-2042

SACRAMENTO-Richard S. Frankenstein, M.D., has been elected president-elect of the California Medical Association, the nation’s most influential state medical association. He took office at the conclusion of CMA’s Annual House of Delegates, which concluded this week in Sacramento.

Dr. Frankenstein, 57, is a specialist in pulmonary medicine who has practiced in Garden Grove since 1980. The president-elect is a member of the seven-doctor executive committee of the CMA Board of Trustees.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Frankenstein is on the staff of Garden Grove Hospital, where he was chief of staff from 1989-92. He is a member of the board of commissioners of the Joint Committee on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

He received his medical degree in 1973 from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and his Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College. He completed his residency at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City and is boarded in Pulmonary Disease and Internal Medicine.

Dr. Frankenstein has held numerous local, state and national positions in organized medicine. He is a member of the board of the CMA-Foundation, the charitable arm of CMA. He is past president of the Orange County Medical Assn., the California Society of Internal Medicine, a current and founding board member of CalOptima (the Medi-Cal managed care provider in Orange County), and is vice chair of CMA’s delegation to the American Medical Assn. He has served since 1999 on the CMA Board of Trustees.

Dr. Frankenstein lives in Santa Ana.