The Georgia Board for Physician Workforce voted in late July during its quarterly meeting to elect Dr. Antonio Rios as its new chairman through July 2018. Rios will succeed Dr. Mark Hanly, who has led the Board over the past four years.

The board also selected Dr. Thomas L. Hatchett Jr. to serve as its vice chairman.

Rios is the chief physician executive for the Northeast Georgia Physicians Group and also practices internal medicine within NGPG at Medical Park 1. He is a past chief of medicine at Northeast Georgia Medical Center and a co-chairman of the Continuing Medical Education Committee at NGMC.

Rios also sits on the board of directors for the Good News Clinics, as well as the District 2 Public Health Board. He earned a medical degree from the Universidad La Salle in Mexico City. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. 

Hatchett is an OB/GYN practicing at Habersham OB/GYN Associates. He is past president of the Georgia OB/GYN Society. Hatchett received a bachelor’s degree from Presbyterian College and a medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. He and his family reside in Demorest.

All newly elected officers will assume their roles effective Aug. 1.

The board “is a state agency whose mission is striving to identify the physician workforce needs of Georgia communities and to meet those needs through the support and development of medical education programs,” according to a press release.