Saying Goodbye After 11 Years: I’m Leaving as CEO But Never Leaving APA

Eleven years after I began working the most rewarding job I could imagine, it is time for me to say goodbye as CEO and medical director of APA. It has been a remarkable journey, made memorable by challenges, opportunities, surprises, and a few setbacks, but also by many achievements; at every point I have been sustained by the support and expertise of the extraordinary APA leadership—Board and Assembly members; presidents, past and present; component members; and the best administration a CEO could ask for. I will always be grateful that I had the opportunity to serve you, and I want to use this space in Psychiatric News to recount a few of the landmarks that together we have crossed on this journey.

A new brand: Every organization has a “brand,” a public-facing image that captures the mission of an organization. With a consensus-driven approach in which we sought input from members and from the public, in 2015 we derived a new logo for the Association: the ancient serpent-entwined Rod of Asclepius, wielded in Greek mythology by the god Asclepius and associated with medicine and healing, superimposed over the image of two hemispheres of a human brain. The trademarked logo appears next to the words “American Psychiatric Association,” with the tagline “Medical leadership for mind, brain and body.” The logo and tagline tell the world who we are in the 21st century: the premier psychiatric organization that advances mental health as part of general health and well-being.

The logo graphically updates the image of psychiatry to express its expertise in biopsychosocial and integrated care in treating mind, brain, and body and provides a unifying “brand” to the Association by appearing on all of APA’s products.

A new home: Three years later, APA needed a new home: Our lease for the offices in a building across the Potomac River in Rosslyn, Va., was coming to an end. I shared the opinion of many of our members, and of the Board, that we needed to return to the District of Columbia and be within sight of the Capitol; we envisioned a location that would be powerfully symbolic of the central place of advocacy in our mission and the day-to-day business of the Association.

After considering several locations, we landed at 800 Maine Avenue S.W. on the banks of the Potomac with a clear view of the Capitol in a revitalized neighborhood now known as the Wharf, the most exciting redevelopment project in the city. More than that, our name and logo appear on the front of the building, three floors of which we own. On busy days, thousands of people visit the Wharf for concerts, festivals, celebrations, and everyday strolling and dining. I will always remember the night I was walking out of the building and a group of three people was standing in front of our headquarters remarking on our name and logo; without knowing who I was, they asked me to take a picture of them in front of the logo. I knew then we had made the right move.

That same year, in 2018, we opened the Melvin Sabshin, M.D. Library & Archives in our new home. Named in honor of the APA medical director who served from 1974 to 1997, the state-of-the-art library is home to hundreds of rare books on the history of psychiatry and treatment of mental illness and other artifacts.

I came to admire Mel Sabshin when I first became involved in APA as a resident. Years later I endeavored to emulate him when I had difficult decisions to make as medical director and CEO. He was a giant of modern psychiatry and a great scholar and historian of our profession; the Library & Archives are a fitting tribute to his memory. Members are always welcome to drop by, and scholars come to peruse our valuable resources for their research.

Rising membership and increasing diversity: During my tenure, our membership has grown—in raw numbers and in diversity. We now have nearly 39,000 members, our highest in 25 years, and our members increasingly reflect the diversity of this country’s population. I am proud of the work of our Division of Diversity and Health Equity and the investment that APA has made in diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and anti-racism initiatives. We also took a hard look at the racism in APA’s past that included issuing an apology for racist practices in the psychiatric treatment of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color and took steps to increase the diversity of APA’s leadership and staff. Coming to this country as I did from apartheid South Africa, I know that diversity is the strength of our nation and of our Association.

PsychPRO: The power of “big data” is transforming health care, and there is no question that one of the most important initiatives begun during my tenure is PsychPRO, APA’s mental health registry. The promise of this investment cannot be overestimated—the registry will be able to draw on its aggregation of data to help clinicians improve patient outcomes. PsychPRO, like DSM, will be a signature product of APA, a mark of our leadership in the field.

The “Group of Six”—Advocacy With Our Colleagues: Partnering with medical colleagues in primary care specialties to advocate for common goals was an essential part of a larger effort during my tenure to fully integrate psychiatry into the “house of medicine.” I am grateful to have worked with the CEOs and elected leaders of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Osteopathic Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American College of Physicians. As the “Group of Six,” representing more than half a million physicians, we presented a united front to Congress on many occasions. In June last year we met with House and Senate members to discuss the importance of legislation to improve patient access to health care and to bolster the health care workforce amid a shortage.

Weathering the pandemic: Finally, I could not end this recollection of my tenure at APA without acknowledging the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. From the beginning of the “lockdown,” and the many months that followed, APA members rose to the occasion and shone. The transition to telepsychiatry was not an easy one for some, but ultimately it has increased access to mental health care. Many psychiatrists now have some form of hybrid practice, seeing some patients in person and others remotely. I am very glad that as an Association we have returned to an in-person Annual Meeting, but virtual communication and education have created new possibilities and efficiencies for APA. The world is a different place today from what it was in March 2020, but APA’s commitment to serving our patients is as strong as ever.

The future is bright for APA and psychiatry, but there are challenges ahead—especially artificial intelligence and its likely impact on psychiatry and health care in general—that require a fresh mindset and a future-oriented perspective.

As this chapter of my life closes, what comes next? I look forward to spending more time with my family, too many of whose milestones I have missed over the years, but I will always be grateful for the opportunity I have had to work with all of you. I am leaving the position of CEO and medical director, but I can never leave APA—it is part of who I am. ■