Schwartz Chosen APA’s Next President-Elect

APA’s voting members have elected Bruce J. Schwartz, M.D., of Bronx, N.Y., to become APA’s next president-elect. He ran against Glenn A. Martin, M.D., of Forest Hills, N.Y., and Stephen M. Strakowski, M.D., of Austin, Texas.

Complete results of the election, including vote tallies, appear on page 37.

Schwartz, APA’s current treasurer, has long been active in APA. He served in the Assembly and is a past chair of the Council on Healthcare Systems and Financing and the Committee on Reimbursement. He is also the deputy chair, clinical director, and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. As the program director of the “Tarrytown” Chief Residents Leadership Conference, he has helped shape it into a premier leadership training experience for incoming chief residents.

“I am honored to have been elected by my colleagues and friends in APA to help guide our organization and membership into the future,” Schwartz told Psychiatric News. “My entire professional life has been devoted to the care of underserved populations and to the development of physician-centric solutions to solving the need for high-quality mental health care.”

The paradox, he said, is that mental illness is among the leading causes of disability and early death, yet psychiatric care—which can improve the quality of life as well as outcomes for chronic medical conditions—is inaccessible to too many people living in this country. “APA can lead the fight against discriminatory underfunding of mental health care and the stigma that prevents people from accessing care,” he said.

Asked what he expects to be his major priorities as APA’s president, Schwartz responded, “I plan to build on the initiatives begun by my predecessors—there is so much we need to continue to work on. Among the top advocacy issues I will address is the continuation of mental health and substance use treatment as an essential health benefit in any alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, enforcement of the mental health parity law and related regulations, enhanced and fair reimbursement for psychiatric treatment, practical and affordable solutions to the current Maintenance of Certification requirements, and pressuring Congress to fund new residency and fellowship training positions to address the shortage of psychiatrists.”

In the race for treasurer, Gregory V. Dalack, M.D., of Ann Arbor, Mich., emerged the winner. His opponent was Brian Crowley, M.D., of Washington, D.C.

In the race for trustee-at large, Richard F. Summers, M.D., of Philadelphia defeated Robert E. Feder, M.D., of Manchester, N.H. Summers is APA’s current trustee-at-large.

In the race for early career psychiatrist trustee-at-large, Ayana Jordan, M.D., Ph.D., of New Haven, Conn., outpolled Hector Colon-Rivera, M.D., of Philadelphia and Mark A. Haygood, D.O., of Mobile, Ala.

Three of APA’s seven geographic Areas voted for a trustee in this cycle. Only members within an Area may vote for their respective Area trustee.

Winning the Area 1 trustee race was Eric M. Plakun, M.D., of Stockbridge, Mass. His opponent was John M. de Figueiredo, M.D., of Cheshire, Conn. For Area 4 trustee, Cheryl D. Wills, M.D., of Cleveland, Ohio, won over Ronald M. Burd, M.D., of Fargo, N.D. For Area 7 trustee, Annette M. Matthews, M.D., of Portland, Ore., outpolled James A. Polo, M.D., M.B.A., of Gig Harbor, Wash., and Joshua Sonkiss, M.D., of Anchorage, Alaska.

In the race for resident-fellow member trustee-elect, the winner was Rana Elmaghraby, M.D., a PGY-2 resident at the University of Minnesota. Her opponents were Anne Clark-Raymond, M.D., a PGY-3 resident at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell, and Helena Winston, M.D., a PGY-3 resident at the University of Colorado.

Election results were approved by the Tellers Committee in February, but the results will not be official until after the Board of Trustees reviews them at its meeting this month. All of the winning candidates will assume their positions on the Board at the close of the Annual Meeting in May. ■