SDSMA Leadership

Clark Jaye Pahlas, a graduate student at The University of South Dakota at that time, wrote an early history of the South Dakota State Medical Association (SDSMA) in 1956.

Mr. Pahlas writes:

In the scattered communities where two or three like-minded physicians happened to locate, they would meet to discuss their common problems. These men...formed the early beginnings of the Dakota Medical Society. As the communities began to grow in size and number, the physicians became more numerous and united into societies for their common benefit.

The medical profession in Dakota Territory formed its first official governing body in 1882. The name given this infant society was the Dakota Medical Society. The purpose of the association was to be twofold, professional advancement and public service.

According to Mr. Pahlas, the purpose of the Dakota Medical Society, as the Association was named, was to advance the medical profession and serve the public.

From those early beginnings, the SDSMA and its component medical societies have grown to represent more than 1,600 physicians and the patients they serve.

SDSMA members are dedicated to protecting the health care interests of doctors and patients and enhancing the effectiveness of physicians throughout South Dakota, regardless of specialty.