About Tom
EXPERIENCE
Representing the 20th District, State Senator Tom George, MD serves the communities of Kalamazoo County and the Townships of Antwerp and Paw Paw in Van Buren County.
Elected to the Michigan Senate and previously to the Michigan House of Representatives, Tom has eight years of legislative experience. Tom currently serves as chair of the Senate Health Policy Committee and is a member of the Appropriations Committee.
Since 1985, Tom has been a practicing physician in the Kalamazoo area. Tom served as the medical director of Hospice of Greater Kalamazoo from 1996 to 2001, and when the legislature is not in session he continues to practice medicine part-time.
RESULTS
Tom has authored forty three public acts including "Kevin's Law" which facilitates outpatient treatment for the mentally ill and laws reducing taxes on businesses providing health insurance benefits, allowing insurance companies to give discounts for healthy behavior, requiring the collection of DNA from convicted felons, and creating incentives for healthy behavior among Medicaid recipients.
Because of his work on the Michigan economy and health care, Tom has been recognized as Legislator of the Year by the Michigan Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the Michigan Association of Health Plans, Scenic Michigan, and the Michigan Manufacturers Association. In 2008 he received the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness Achievement Award for Public Officials.
PERSONAL
A history enthusiast, Tom has served as president of the Historical Society of Michigan and has written and produced television documentaries about Abraham Lincoln and Colonel Joseph Westnedge. He has written articles for Michigan History Magazine, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Michigan Medicine, and Anesthesiology.
Tom was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. As an undergraduate he attended the University of Michigan-Flint and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he was a member of the academic honors society, Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1982 and completed a post-graduate residency in the specialty of anesthesiology in 1985.
Tom and his wife, Sandy, have three children: Lauren, Maria and Matthew. They reside in Texas Township in Kalamazoo County.