Psychiatry Major Player at AMA

Within the AMA "House of Medicine," psychiatry flexes a lot of muscle.

One psychiatrist serves as an elected officer of the House of Delegates and several others occupy elected and appointed leadership positions on AMA councils.

Officers of the AMA and members of the Board of Trustees and four councils are elected by the House of Delegates at the AMA's Annual Meeting. The four councils are the Council on Constitution and Bylaws, Council on Medical Education, Council on Medical Service, and Council on Science and Public Health.

Nominations for these offices are widely solicited throughout the AMA's federation of state and specialty medical societies. The elections are held on site by secret ballot under the Committee on Rules and Credentials and the chief teller, who are appointed by the speaker and vice speaker.

The AMA Board of Trustees consists of 21 members—including designated positions for a public member, young physician, resident physician, and a medical student—who serve a four-year term. Seven individuals, one of whom is an incumbent, are running this year for four open seats on the board.

This year three psychiatrists and prominent APA members are candidates for AMA office. Jeremy Lazarus, M.D., currently speaker of the House of Delegates, is running unopposed as a candidate for president-elect of the AMA. If elected, Lazarus will be only the second psychiatrist to be president of the AMA. (The first, Rock Sleyster, M.D., was installed as the 93rd president of the organization in 1939.) In addition to being speaker of the House, Lazarus has served on the AMA Board of Trustees; he is also a past speaker of the APA Assembly.

Also running for office are Patrice Harris, M.D., a candidate for one of the four open seats on the Board of Trustees, and John McIntyre, M.D., a candidate for a second term on the Council on Medical Service. (See Harris Seeks Board of Trustees Seat and McIntyre Would Guide Key Policy Issues.) (Five other candidates are running for election to three open seats on the council.)

Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D., chair of the Section Council on Psychiatry, told Psychiataric News, "We owe our success at the AMA over the past decade to the effective leadership of Drs. Joseph English and Jack McIntyre, who chaired the section council, as well as to the immense contributions of the delegation chairs from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law: Drs. Louis Kraus, David Fassler, Robert Phillips, and Howard Zonana."