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Scott Ferguson is a diagnostic radiologist by profession, but often the complex systems he studies and diagnoses are political rather than biological. The former Democratic state representative and ongoing healthcare advocate has been practicing medicine in West Memphis for more than 22 years and stays active in the medical profession in his hometown, as well as at the state and national levels.

Ferguson, who got a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Mississippi, tried his hand running a farm for a year, then quickly realized it wasn’t for him. His father was a physician and thought Ferguson might have a talent for medicine. By the time Ferguson took his pre-med coursework and was accepted to American University far from home in the Caribbean tropics, he was several years older than the traditional medical student. Older students were much less common than today, but he was determined to become an obstetrician like his father.

“Everybody who does rotations in OB just loves delivering babies. It’s a fun time and a happy time, a more minor surgery than some, just overall an attractive profession,” he said. “But my father said to me, ‘Son, do you remember how many times I wasn’t there for dinner? Or for your football games? Do you want that for your family?’ Back then, whenever anyone went into labor, he had to be at the hospital, away from us. He was right. I didn’t want that.”
Rather than spend a career delivering babies, the first-year resident took his father’s advice and decided on a career in radiology that would allow him to spend time with his wife Deborah (a West Memphis dentist) and a family of their own. More than 22 years later, as he jets around the country to visit his older daughter in her first year of medical school in Virginia; his son, a senior at Old Miss and his 16-year-old younger daughter who is pursuing a career in Hollywood under the watchful eye of her mother, Ferguson says he doesn’t regret that decision for a moment.

“When I did my radiology rotation, I didn’t love it the first day. I wasn’t real enthusiastic about it starting out, but I thought it would do. It turned out to be the best decision I could have made.” Slowly, the study of radiology began to fascinate Ferguson, and the ever-changing field has held his interest. His attraction to radiology is two-fold. First, he enjoys not being “stuck” focusing on a particular system or part of the body. “In the course of a workday, I will cover the whole gamut of human illnesses and ages. It’s quite rewarding.”

The second attraction is the toys. Ferguson says physicians in other fields experience professional burnout much more commonly than radiologists, a fact he attributes in part to the rapid technological changes that are almost routine in his field. “We get all the shiny new computers and equipment and tools that are all better and more powerful than the last one,” he said. “The entire profession changes radically every three or four years as we have technological breakthroughs and need to learn new skills. I think that’s what makes radiology dynamic for me, the continual newness and challenges and innovations. The way I work now is completely different than I did when I started, and I have no doubt that in 10 years time I’ll probably be sitting by the lake diagnosing patients with some new device.”

Nationally, Ferguson is helping radiology keep up with itself. For the past four years, he’s been a member of the National Mammography Quality Review Committee, which makes standard of care recommendations about mammograms to the Federal Drug Administration. This month, he formally takes over as chair. The committee was created 10 years ago by the federal Mammography Quality Standards Act, which is up for renewal. “Part of our charge is making sure we get that renewal so we can continue our work,” Ferguson explained. “No matter what facility a woman walks into, we want her to get a quality mammogram and interpretation.”

Ferguson is plenty active back home, as well. From 1995 to 1999, he was a state
representative to the Arkansas legislature, and in 1998 challenged U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary. Although he lost that particular bid, many of Ferguson’s other political efforts have been huge successes. He co-sponsored the legislation that established ARKids First and most recently has been a fierce advocate of expanding the federal SCHIP legislation that supports the popular program. For years, he’s also worked tirelessly with other physicians and the Arkansas Medical Society to promote tort reform and maintain the legal advances that have been made in that area.

Ferguson had been interested in politics from afar and active locally for most of his life — his mother was a former mayor of West Memphis and the first female mayor of a Southern city larger than 10,000 — but had not become personally motivated to run for office until the “Any Willing Provider” issue came along in the mid-1990s. Living in West Memphis, 40 percent of the city’s residents worked — and thus, had health benefits — across the border in Memphis, Tenn. The law dictated that they seek medical care from Tennessee providers only, and Ferguson decided that was unfair to patients and physicians. He won his state representative race, then helped successfully pass the Any Willing Provider legislation in 1995. It was subsequently overturned, but Ferguson felt vindicated when a 2004 Supreme Court decision made it the law of the land.

Likewise, he had not been very active in the Arkansas Medical Society until he worked with the society as a legislator. Once his second term ended, Ferguson chaired the Society’s Government Affairs committee and continued promoting healthcare causes. He served as president of the society in 2004-2005, and now remains on the executive committee as the society’s secretary. He is a past president of the Arkansas Arts Council and is a staunch supporter of the local community college, but it’s the medical society that has captured his eternal loyalty.

“I started out as an average dues-paying member, but once I started witnessing the society’s work on a daily basis, I had to be more involved,” he explained. “I stay involved with the society because of the great work they do on behalf of patients and physicians every day. A lot of organizations say that’s their mission, but I’ve been around long enough to see that is truly the mission and emphasis of the medical society. It’s one of two or three organizations I know that work towards their mission statement every single day in everything they do, making healthcare here better.”

Ferguson urges physicians young and old to get involved in championing the causes they believe in. “Physicians and politicians, at their best, are doing the same thing: taking care of people. We need to make sure we’re talking with legislators regularly and keeping them educated about the issues that affect our patients,” Ferguson said. “I tell people all the time, ‘If you’re not at the table, you’re on the table.’ I’d rather be at it.”



November 2007

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