Former APA Board Member Chosen Chair-Elect of AMA Board

Psychiatrist Patrice Harris, M.D., received back-to-back honors of the highest kind at the meeting of the AMA House of Delegates last month, when she was elected by the 500-plus member House of Delegates to a second term as a member of the Board of Trustees, then the next day was elected by her fellow trustees to be chair-elect of the Board.

The selection by fellow Trustees to have Harris serve as chair-elect is a significant recognition by the leaders of American medicine of her effectiveness as a spokesperson for physicians. APA leaders say it testifies to the trust her fellow board members place in her and to the high regard in which she is held throughout the House of Delegates.

The AMA Board of Trustees is an elected body of 21 physicians who guide the AMA as it sets standards and policy for the medical profession.

“I am thrilled that Dr. Harris was elected chair-elect on the AMA Board,” said APA President Renȳe Binder, M.D. “The APA Board of Trustees is looking forward to working with her as both groups strive to improve and advance the practice of medicine.”

Harris, who is the director of Fulton County (Ga.) Health Services and the head of the Fulton County Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, is a past member of the APA Board of Trustees. APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., noted: “It’s an honor to have one of our former Board of Trustees members re-elected to the AMA Board of Trustees and become chair-elect of the board. Dr. Harris will continue to carry the integration of psychiatry and mental health within the house of medicine.”

Harris has taken on several leadership roles at the AMA, including a term as chair of the AMA Council on Legislation.

“It’s a great honor to be elected chair-elect to our AMA Board of Trustees,” Harris said. “I am proud to be in this role and to have a strong voice for the patients we serve. My success in the AMA is in no small part due to the hard work of the members of the Section Council on Psychiatry.”

Harris also thanked Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D., chair of the Section Council on Psychiatry; Ken Certa, M.D., of Thomas Jefferson University; APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A.; the delegation; and the Medical Association of Georgia for all of the support they have given her over the years.

As director of health services for Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, Harris directs all county health services, including health partnerships that deliver a wide range of treatment and prevention services. She is a past president of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association and served as a member of the AMA Women Physicians Congress. Harris also maintains a private psychiatric practice.

In an address to the House of Delegates prior to the election, Harris recalled the words of Kent Brantly, M.D., the American physician who contracted Ebola while treating patients in Liberia: “When the going gets tough, the tough return to their calling.”

“What an apt description of those of us who are called to medicine!” Harris said. “Our challenges are many—electronic health records, maintenance of certification, alternative payment models. But when we remember our mission and our calling, the challenges are not insurmountable.

“The AMA must continue to protect the practice of medicine and support physicians in choosing their own path,” Harris told the House of Delegates. “The challenges are real, the issues are complex, there is work to be done, and it will take all of us to do it. While I cannot promise an outcome, I can promise you the fight.” ■