Distinguished Life Fellow
I am honored to be nominated and, if elected, look forward to further serving as Area 1 Trustee. My commitment is to our patients, to the science, and to our profession.
Strong and successful advocacy is essential, and I have sought to provide leadership for our district branch, APA, and our profession. I have advocated for children and families, for parity, for disaster psychiatry, and for partnerships between our district branch and APA, and between them both and other allied and advocacy organizations. The historic passage of the federal parity law is a major tribute to the success of APA advocacy. For this to be fully implemented, I will work for on going monitoring and advocacy, especially in this economic recession. The health care system requires comprehensive change if it is to provide universal access and improve quality. I would continue to work for improved care for the disadvantaged especially women and children, for our veterans, for the severely and persistently mentally ill and the disabled, and lasting solutions to the emergency room crisis. I will continue to encourage and mentor residents and early career psychiatrists in becoming active in APA. Within APA, I am an Assembly representative, vice chair of the Council on Healthcare Systems and Financing, a member of the Committee on Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters, have served on many other components, and as president of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society.
I have a limited private practice and am an administrator, researcher, teacher, and mentor. My commitment to Area 1 is deep, and I am familiar with the issues in each New England state and in the provinces of Eastern Canada. Most of my career has been in consultation psychiatry, and I am chief of psychiatry at the Shriners Burns Hospital, the pediatric division of the MGH Burn Center, as a member of the Department of Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. I received APA's Bruno Lima Award in Disaster Psychiatry in 1999.
APA is the organizational leader in our field. It is a uniquely effective advocate for our patients and our profession. It has successfully attracted you and many other highly competent and dedicated psychiatrists to be members, who benefit our patients and our field. I would like to serve on the APA Board in order to contribute to this effort.
My goals, in representing Area 1 for APA, are:
To meet the needs of you, our members.
To further coordinate with and support each of our district branches.
To sustain its federal advocacy role with the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in a time of economic stress.
To further improve APA's preparation for disasters.
To assure ongoing monitoring of the implementation of the federal parity law, whose historic passage is a tribute to APA advocacy.
To advocate for universal health care coverage.
Primary Professional Activities and Sources of Income
Professional Activities
75%—Massachusetts General Hospital
15%—Private practice of child and adult psychiatry and forensic consultation
10%—Volunteer activities for professional associations and advocacy organizations
Income
70%—Massachusetts General Hospital
30%—Private practice and forensic consultation