Candidate Offers Thanks

I would like to use this opportunity to express my appreciation for the support that I received from APA members in the campaign for president-elect. I urge all of my supporters to continue to work with the APA leadership to implement the changes that our Association must undertake. When we started our campaign last September, we argued for an assessment of all aspects of APA’s functioning. I am delighted this need has been implemented and that a process is under way to implement reform. We must monitor these steps to ensure that there is input and considered decision making.

The fact that the governor of New Mexico signed a psychologist prescriptive authority act reshapes the agenda that APA must confront in the coming months. We must all work together to develop a meaningful and effective response to this challenge, recognizing that this will be an issue in many states. In our response we must work to ensure that we provide to ourselves and to the public a definition of what a psychiatrist is in terms of knowledge and practice that is clear and operational.

Finally, we must continue to confront the reality of APA and district branch membership loss. To have political power, APA must represent a majority of psychiatrists. We have these numbers today but must act to ensure that we have these numbers tomorrow.