Candidate for ECP Trustee-at-Large

You have the awesome responsibility of choosing the next officers and members of the APA Board of Trustees. Our organization is at a crossroads. We must now do what we have asked our patients to do for years—look internally, examine our identity, utilize our strengths, and change or alter that which is not consistent with our needs or does not support our desired identity. We must focus on what unites us in order to strengthen and revitalize not only our organization, but more importantly our profession.

In recent years ECPs have been a catalyst for change within APA. We have spoken out on issues of importance to everyone when others have remained silent. During this time of introspection and change, this voice on the Board of Trustees is vital. I have been active in APA activities on the district branch (both in New York during my residency and currently in Illinois), Assembly, and national component levels. I served a one-year term on the Board of Trustees as an APA/CMHS Fellow resident representative. I have represented psychiatry’s needs and interests on the national level at the AMA as a delegate from the child and adolescent psychiatry organization.

On a daily basis, I work as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at a state university. As medical director of an inpatient unit, I provide direct care to my patients using both my psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacologic skills. I manage and supervise a multidisciplinary team. I navigate multiple systems in order to get my patients the care they deserve. And I teach medical students, residents, and fellows in order to prepare the next generation of physicians for carrying on our vital role in the care of psychiatric patients. In my work I must understand various perspectives, then set goals that the entire multidisciplinary team can have confidence in pursuing. The leadership and clinical skills that I use regularly in this capacity will facilitate my representing you as the Board of Trustees deliberates on our future.

At this point our future is uncertain. In order to thrive we must do the following:

In order to accomplish these things, the Board of Trustees must reflect you, the physicians who practice psychiatry every day. Your needs, your problems, and your dilemmas can be addressed only if they are expressed at the decision-making table. We are in this together. I struggle with similar issues and face the same challenges in delivering quality patient care. I can represent your concerns. A vote for me for ECP trustee-at-large will ensure that your voice will be heard. I ask for your support in becoming a member of the Board of Trustees.