2017 Outstanding Alumnus Award Winner
At the end of 2015, Dr. Ron Kirkland retired from The Jackson Clinic, a multispecialty group practice comprising 135 physicians, where he practiced Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery for 31 years and served on the Board of Directors and as Board Chairman. In the community he has been President of the Jackson Rotary Club and President of The University of Tennessee National Alumni Association.
Twice he has served as chairman of the deacons at his church. He is on the boards of Aspell Recovery Center and A Step Ahead Foundation of West Tennessee, and serves as the Legislative Chairman of the Tennessee Medical Association. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 2010.
Ron is a member of the American Medical Association, the Tennessee Medical Association, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Kirkland served as a U.S. Army counterintelligence agent in Vietnam from 1970 until 1971, and later received his medical degree in 1977 from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he received the Distinguished Service Award. In 1982 he completed his residency in Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He is certified by The American Board of Otolaryngology. Dr. Kirkland subsequently earned an MBA from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 2010.
Dr. Kirkland has been honored by The University of Tennessee at Martin with its Chancellor’s Award for University Service, and by Tennessee AAU Girl’s Basketball with its Bill and Ann Tipps “Volunteer of the Year” Award. He has served as Chairman of the UTM Development Committee and has served on the UT Athletic Board, the UT Development Council, and the UTHSC Medical Alumni Council. Currently he serves on the UTM Chancellor’s Round Table, the UT President’s Council, and is on the board of the Tennessee Higher Education PAC.
Dr. Kirkland was Chair of the Board of the American Medical Group Association and subsequently was Chair of the Board of the AMGA Foundation. He served as the AMGA delegate to the American Medical Association where he served on the Governing Council of the Integrated Physician Practice Section. Last year he was honored with a Legacy Award from AMGA. Ron was on the founding board of the Council of Accountable Physician Practices for ten years and served as board Treasurer for four years.
Ron and his wife, Carol, have four children and seven grandchildren. Among them there are 10 University of Tennessee degrees!
View Past Medicine Award Winners