Candidate for Member-in-Training Trustee-Elect

Member-in-Training, 1997

I seek election to the member-in-training trustee-elect position with the goal of being an effective, bold representative for the MIT constituency on the APA Board of Trustees. I know how to represent individual and group interests. I listen well, and I am very approachable. I know when and when not to compromise, and I can skillfully pursue an agenda when necessary. I can readily put myself into the shoes of another individual or group. Ultimately, I seek balance and effectiveness in my endeavors.

I had been an economist at the World Bank prior to attending medical school. Yet, while I loved working on international health policy, the intensity of this work left almost no time for direct service with the underserved. The absence of community volunteerism in my life was new for me and led to a re-evaluation of my circumstances and priorities. I made changes. After working in community health centers in Chile for one year on a Fulbright Scholarship, I headed off to medical school.

Hence, it is natural that my primary motivation in psychiatry comes from working with patients. Whether I am helping a vascular service patient to mourn the loss of her leg or working with a paranoid, hallucinating college student to feel safe enough to accept antipsychotic medication, I strive to relate with the internal world of my patients in order to facilitate their psychiatric and medical care. I work to help my patients achieve balance and growth through this process, bringing to bear an integration of all that modern psychiatry can provide in the service of regaining health and dignity.

In seeking the position of MIT trustee-elect, I hope to be the bridge between the individual and group experiences of MITs and the broader organizational network of the American Psychiatric Association. Specific areas I would address include:

Together, we can define our concerns and agenda as MITs and as nascent early career psychiatrists. How should our curriculum be designed to ensure our competence as well-rounded psychiatry practitioners? What special considerations must be addressed for our career development? How can we most effectively advocate for our patients? What trade-offs will have to be made to ensure the financial viability of APA?

As your MIT representative, I will work very hard to articulate our diverse viewpoints and to present innovative proposals that coherently integrate these viewpoints. I will advocate for training resource requirements so we can develop skills that match career interests, whether as hospitalist, psychoanalyst, or neuroscience researcher. I will insist that we analyze the design and financing of services for underserved groups, such as minorities and children, and that we develop programs and policies that confront the gross inequities that have been documented in mental health service provisions and outcomes. I timed my candidacy for the trustee position to be my fourth year of residency, when I will have significant time to connect with other MITs, listen to your concerns, develop proposals, and present our agenda to the Board. Please call or e-mail me if I can clarify anything for you before voting.

As members-in-training, we have a tremendous potential to influence the mission of APA. In recognizing and fulfilling this potential, we can significantly shape the profession into which we are entering. I would be honored to participate in this process as your MIT representative to the APA Board of Trustees.