Cheryl Gibson Fountain, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., a 1987 graduate of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, is the new president of the Michigan State Medical Society.

Dr. Gibson Fountain, a Grosse Pointe Park obstetrician/gynecologist, will serve a one-year term. She is the society's first African-American female president.

"Physicians serve as patients' greatest advocates, and the Michigan State Medical Society exists to equip and empower physicians in that essential mission," she said in a release issued by the society. "MSMS provides training, resources and advocacy that make an incredible difference for physicians across the state, and works day and night to ensure public policy in Washington, D.C., Lansing and our local communities, every time, puts patients first. I am looking forward to carrying on that important work, and ensuring Michigan is the best state in the nation to care for patients and practice medicine."

A past president of the Wayne County Medical Society of Southeast Michigan, she is an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology for Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine and an attending physician at Beaumont Health Grosse Pointe and Royal Oak, and St. John Hospital and Medical Center, Detroit.

Dr. Gibson Fountain serves on the Michigan Maternal Mortality Surveillance Committee, the Detroit Regional Infant Mortality Reduction Task Force and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Physician and Professional Provider Contract Advisory Committee.