Outgoing AMA President and Psychiatrist Vows to Work for Equity and Justice

“Our country—indeed our world—is being challenged as never before,” said outgoing AMA President Patrice Harris, M.D., M.A., in her farewell address during AMA’s virtual House of Delegates meeting last month. Physicians and the public are being “[c]hallenged by a novel virus for which there is not yet a specific treatment or vaccine, challenged by a lack of resources and personal protective equipment [PPE], challenged by a political climate that is highly polarized, challenged by the rampant spread of misinformation and disinformation.”

While nationwide protests were raging against police brutality in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, Harris—who was the first African American woman president of the AMA—vowed to continue to work for “equity and justice within the walls of our exam rooms, the health delivery system, the halls of Congress, and our justice system.”

Harris, who is still chair of the AMA Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse, also vowed to work “to ensure that mental health is integrated into overall health and that there is action to address the physical and psychological consequences of early traumatic experiences.”

Early in her remarks, Harris asked for a moment of silence to remember those who died from COVID-19. “Three months ago, all of our lives, indeed our way of life, changed dramatically. In the United States, more than 1.7 million people have become infected with COVID-19, and more than 100,000 have died. I want us to pause on that just a moment because these are people … with families and loved ones who are grieving them, and they deserve a moment of pause.”

Resuming her talk, Harris referenced remarks in her November 2019 address at the AMA Interim Meeting in Orlando, Fla.—before the pandemic hit the United States—in which she said physicians would always “match the moment,” rising to every occasion and continuing to earn public confidence in an era of mistrust.

“Little did any of us realize at the time how dramatically we would be put to the test,” she said. “But ‘match the moment’ we have. Physicians are working long hours in offices and hospitals, sleeping in their basements or hotels so they do not infect family members, working overtime to develop vaccines and treatments, countering the endless false narratives circulating across media channels, and reopening medical practices so we can meet the postponed health needs of our patients.”

APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., said Harris was the right leader for this time.

“We applaud Patrice for the completion of a successful year as the leader of the AMA,” Levin said. “She served during a trying time in medicine as the COVID-19 pandemic began to arrive on our shores. She led the AMA as it pushed for resources for doctors on the front lines and for regulatory changes in Washington to help deliver care to those in need. She was an advocate for promoting evidence-based approaches to the pandemic. We are proud that a psychiatrist was able to lead the AMA during this time of great anxiety.”

Ken Certa, M.D., APA’s Area 3 Trustee and the senior APA delegate to the AMA, added, “Patrice was the perfect spokesperson for the AMA, especially during this time of COVID-19. The AMA was a voice of reason when conflicting messages were coming out of Washington.”

During her virtual address, Harris recalled bringing her family to her inaugural celebration at the AMA House of Delegates Annual Meeting in June last year and showed a photograph of the family members she introduced then.

“Our AMA gave them a warm welcome, … so much so that at the end of the evening, my cousin exclaimed ‘I love the AMA,’ ” Harris recalled. “But unfortunately, as we have seen, outside of the walls of the Hyatt Regency [where the inaugural was held in Chicago], these same family members are not safe to jog, or bird watch, or drive, or even breathe.

“I do have hope, however, … but that hope is up to us. It is up to us, America’s physicians and the AMA, to demonstrate how to understand more, and to fear less … to be the voices our country can trust in this time of trial and to lead on action to move us forward in this difficult, perilous time.”

Harris outlined several key organizational activities and achievements that AMA pursued during her presidential year. These include the following:

At a time of enormous national unrest, Harris vowed to be a hopeful supporter and leader of positive change. “My promise to you is that I will be guided by the direction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his final Sunday sermon—‘to remain awake through a great revolution.’ And so, as I speak to you for the last time as president of the American Medical Association, … please know that this ‘psychiatrist is in.’ ” ■

A video of Harris’s address is posted here.