Drexel Hill, Pa. – Salvatore A. “Sal” Lofaro, M.D., a board-certified nephrologist at Delaware County Memorial Hospital (DCMH) and past president of the hospital’s Medical Staff, has been named president of the Delaware County Medical Society, a professional organization for medical and osteopathic doctors. It is affiliated with the Pennsylvania Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Lofaro succeeds Charles Hummer III, M.D., whose term expired on December 31, 2006. Dr. Hummer is an orthopedic surgeon at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, which, like DCMH, is a member of Crozer-Keystone Health System. He has now assumed presidency of the Pennsylvania Orthopedic Society.
“I am very honored to be serving you in this position, and will try my best to advance our various goals, such as maintaining professionalism, maximizing input into the health care system, achieving significant medical liability reform, and securing fair market reimbursement. We strive for these goals to achieve our mission of optimal care for our patients,” Dr. Lofaro says. “I will, however, need the help of every doctor in Delaware County to achieve these goals.”
Dr. Lofaro’s first step is to improve membership in the Delaware County Medical Society (and hence, the PMS), the former of which is made up of physicians who live or practice in Delaware County and which encompass all medical and surgical specialties. DCMS members range from private practice physicians to employed physicians (by hospital systems) to those in academic, research and administrative positions.
Dr. Lofaro will also strive to make members more aware of the services offered to them through the Medical Societies (DCMS and/or PMS), including (amongst others) special workshops and programs on developments within the medical field. Another of the organizations’ services provides assistance to office managers to maximize the efficiency of the respective private practices.
“In order for us to achieve the above goals, we need to amass a full army,” he says. “It is not within the nature and/or training of most physicians to work as a group, but we need to retrain ourselves to do just this. There is an urgency to this last message: if we are united (whether as actively participating or simply dues-paying members), we place ourselves in a far better position to succeed in achieving our goals.”
Born in Rome, Italy, Dr. Lofaro was raised in the New York City area. His father, Anthony, was a general surgeon in the Bronx. Dr. Lofaro attended Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., where he lived for eight years. Upon graduation, he taught high school chemistry, biology, science and algebra at Marian High School for four years before enrolling in medical school at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico. He completed a sub-internship at Misericordia Hospital in the Bronx, and then residency training in internal medicine at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut. After a nephrology fellowship at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Dr. Lofaro joined the staff of DCMH, where he has practiced for nearly 27 years with John J. Firpo, M.D., and more recently with Maria Victoria Largoza, M.D. and Hye-Ran Park, M.D.
Dr. Lofaro will serve a one- or two-year term as president of the Medical Society. If there are any questions or assistance needed, he urges you to contact him or David McKeighan at DCMS at (610) 892-7750.