Ponca City Medical Center announced today that Chad Ross, D.O., a Ponca City native, is the medical director of the hospital’s new Emergency Department physician’s group.

The hospital’s emergency department is now being staffed by a company named Morningstar, the largest ED physician’s group in Oklahoma. Morningstar already staffs several emergency departments in the state including Oklahoma Heart Hospital, Integris Southwest Medical Center (OKC); Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital (Yukon); OU Medical Center; Saint Anth ony Hospital; Edmond Medical Center; Norman Regional Medical Center; Claremore Regional Hospital; and Comanche County Hospital (Lawton).

“We are looking forward to working with Morningstar and Dr. Ross as we strive to provide quality care in timely manner in our emergency department,” said Andy Wachtel, Ponca City Medical Center CEO.

After graduating from Ponca City High School, Dr. Ross attended Oklahoma State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in both biological science and biochemistry. He completed medical school at the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine – Tulsa in 2004. His internship and residency was completed at Integris Southwest Medical Center.

Dr. Ross, who is employed by Morningstar and is a member of company’s board of directors, recently completed a fellowship in Emergency Medicine Administration and has spent the last year teaching emergency medicine residents in Oklahoma City. He is currently in the process of completing a Physician Executive MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Ross, who is the son of Mike and Joyce Ross of Ponca City, has worked at the Ponca City hospital before. From 1998 to 2000, when the hospital was still named St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, Dr. Ross was employed as an emergency department technician. He also covered some shifts in the hospital’s emergency department during his residency.