Candidates for Secretary-Treasurer: Burton V. Reifler, M.D.

Even after three decades of psychiatric practice, the courage of my patients and their families continues to be an inspiration. Every day you and I treat patients who deal with serious illnesses, and their resolve is remarkable.

APA must match the courage our patients have. We must fight to improve access to care, to achieve parity, and to safe-guard patients by allowing prescribing only by medically trained professionals. We have made progress, sometimes great, but many of you have told me APA needs to do more, particularly by providing hands-on help in states where the battles are being fought. Access, parity, and prescribing privileges are fundamentally about our patients, and I will work to put the full resources of APA behind these efforts.

We will be in the strongest position to win these battles by working together. And working together requires APA to be responsive to all its members. As secretary-treasurer, my first priority will be listening to you. I am eager to listen to all constituencies and look forward to reaching out to constituencies that sometimes get less attention, such as international graduates, minorities, and young psychiatrists. And to maintain the support of the membership, I will make sure decisions are made openly and explained fully.

Since members of APA belong by choice, a particular responsibility of the treasurer is to make sure you get value for your dues. Our budget must be lean and focused, and as treasurer I will insist on accountability.

My experience will allow me to serve you effectively. I have held many positions requiring leadership and budgetary skills, including 14 years as chair of psychiatry at Wake Forest University, director of two large national programs funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and principal investigator on many research and training grants. And having served on numerous boards both national and international (including the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, where I am president for 2008), I understand the different but complementary roles of elected officers and paid staff.

My APA service is extensive, including having chaired the Council on Aging, having served on the Scientific Program Committee, and serving currently on the Ethics Committee. I was honored to receive APA's Jack Weinberg Award for excellence in geriatric psychiatry in 2002.

Yet my most meaningful APA service has been as a volunteer psychiatrist, first at a free clinic in Winston-Salem, where I responded to a call from my county psychiatric society and have served since January 2005, and also as an APA volunteer in Louisiana following Katrina. While the devastation of Katrina was heartbreaking, the courage of the patients I saw was life-affirming. Many members have told me they would also like to serve as volunteers but lack information on opportunities. Providing information on volunteering is an underdeveloped activity of APA, and if elected I will work to expand it.

As secretary-treasurer I will begin by listening to you. To do our best work, we need the collective wisdom of the entire membership.