APA Member Patrice Harris Chosen AMA’s President-Elect

APA member Patrice Harris, M.D., M.A., a former APA trustee and AMA board member, was elected president-elect of the AMA at the AMA’s House of Delegates meeting in Chicago last month.

“I believe our American Medical Association has well-crafted policy concerning the changing health care environment in this country,” Harris said in an address to the House following her election. “It will be my honor to represent our AMA in the venues where important issues will be debated. I am committed to preserving the central role of the physician-patient relationship in our healing art.”

At the June 2019 House of Delegates meeting, Harris will become AMA president, succeeding Barbara McAneny, M.D.

During her campaign, Harris was endorsed by—in addition to the Section Council on Psychiatry—the Medical Association of Georgia, the Southeastern Delegation to the AMA, the Neuroscience Caucus, the Section Council on Preventive Medicine, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the Specialty and Service Society Caucus, and the Young Physicians Section.

She will be the first African-American woman to hold the office of AMA president.

Harris’s election was the highlight of a successful meeting for psychiatry; addiction psychiatrist Michael Miller, M.D., was re-elected to the Council on Science and Public Health, and Jeremy Lazarus, M.D., a past president of the AMA and past APA Assembly speaker, was appointed to serve on the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (see story above). In the last decade-and-a-half, APA delegates have been remarkably successful at filling leadership positions throughout AMA governance, the result of long-range strategic planning.

Harris served on the AMA Board of Trustees beginning in 2011 and served as secretary for the 2014-2015 term and as chair of the board for the 2016-2017 term. As a practicing psychiatrist trained in child/adolescent and forensic psychiatry, she consults with both public and private organizations on health service delivery. She is also chair of the AMA Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse and is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University. 

As chair of the AMA’s Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse, Harris helped steer AMA policy on an issue of national importance, strongly emphasizing the need to reduce opioid prescribing by physicians but also advocating for treatment for substance use disorders and pain management.

Harris previously served as the director of health services in Fulton County, Ga., and the head of the Fulton County Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. As chief health officer for Fulton County, she spearheaded efforts to integrate public health, behavioral health, and primary care. She is a past president of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association.

In her remarks to the House after the election results were announced, Harris thanked APA and the Section Council on Psychiatry for its support of her candidacy and especially the help of section chair Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D.; campaign manager Ken Certa, M.D., an Assembly member from Pennsylvania; and APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A.

APA leaders said her election is a victory for psychiatrists and their patients.

“I’m elated that Dr. Harris has been elected president of the AMA,” said APA President Altha Stewart, M.D. “This is a great day for APA and for psychiatry. The APA Board of Trustees looks forward to continuing to work with her as both organizations collaborate to increase patient access to care and improve the practice of medicine.”

“We are delighted to have a psychiatrist and a former APA Board of Trustees member leading the house of medicine as president-elect of the AMA,” Levin said. “Her election demonstrates how psychiatrists can be leaders in medicine. We look forward to working with Dr. Harris on continued advocacy for improving the quality of care and integrating psychiatry and mental health within medicine.” ■