Larry Dixon to Retire as Executive Director of the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners

MONTGOMERY – After serving as executive director of the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners for more than 35 years, Larry Dixon has announced his retirement at the end of the year.

“We are like family here,” Dixon said. “It has been my privilege to serve Alabama’s physicians and our staff because we are so much like family. We’ve been a part of each other’s lives for so many years, and I’m going to miss that. We’ve done great things together, but I know there are still great things to come.”

Dixon brought his experience with continuing education to the Medical Association of the State of Alabama in 1972 and established the Association’s education department, which has continued to flourish by producing original continuing medical education programs for Alabama’s physicians, as well as nurse practitioners and certified registered nurse practitioners.

“The Medical Association has one of the strongest education departments in the country due largely to the foundation on which it was given when Larry Dixon created it,” said Medical Association Executive Director Mark Jackson. “Since then, he has been the driving force behind the ALBME and making the organization one of the best in the nation year after year. He put his stamp of excellence on both organizations, and we are equally better for it.”

Dixon served four terms on the U.S. Federation of State Medical Boards and was the first president of the Administrators in Medicine, an organization he helped charter. He has also served on committees of both AIM and FSMB. In 2009 he received the Meritorious Service Award from FSMB, and in 2014 FSMB awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame in 2016, and also earlier this year, the Medical Association honored him by renaming the building that houses the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners to the Dixon-Parker Building.

During the years, Dixon has watched as downtown Montgomery has grown up outside his office window, both figuratively and literally. After serving a term on the Montgomery City Council in 1975 to 1978, he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives. In 2010 Dixon retired after serving seven terms in the Alabama Legislature – four years in the Alabama House of Representatives before being elected to the Alabama Senate.

His many accomplishments include being a member of the board of directors of the Montgomery Airport Authority; board member of the finance committee and past member of the administrative board of First United Methodist Church; charter member of the Certified Medical Board Executives; member of the advisory committee of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program; and member of the board of directors of the FSMB Research and Education Foundation.