Candidate for Vice President
About the Candidate
Life Fellow, 1967
•.
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, 1993-
•.
APA Secretary, 2001-03
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Served on over 35 APA components since 1967
•.
2002 APA George Tarjan Award recipient in recognition of IMGs’ contributions to psychiatry
•.
President, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 2002
•.
President, American College of Psychiatrists, 2000-01
Candidate’s Views
I have been a member of APA for 35 years, and during this period I have worked very hard for APA, the profession, and the psychiatric field at large. I am proud of having served APA on over 35 components since I joined in 1967 when I was still a resident in psychiatry. My whole career as a physician and psychiatrist has been based on three well-rooted principles: (1) personal values, (2) professional dedication to high-quality health/mental health care, and (3) advocacy on behalf of the profession and of psychiatric patients, particularly the most needy, disenfranchised, and underserved patients. I am very fulfilled in what I have done in my career as a psychiatrist but realize that still much needs to be done. I fully welcome those professional challenges.
Rather than dwelling on what I have done, I prefer to focus on what I am intending to do if elected vice president of APA in 2003. My objectives and commitments are as follows:
Strive for fiscal and fiduciary responsibility in APA.
Strive for membership-driven programs in APA.
Strongly fight psychologists’ efforts to prescribe psychopharmacological agents, which would endanger the well-being of psychiatric patients.
Work hard to reduce APA dues, particularly for young, early career psychiatrists.
Fully dedicate myself to secure full access to medical and psychiatric care for our patients, particularly for children, the elderly, and the disadvantaged.
Advocate for full parity of psychiatric care at the federal and state levels, including addiction services.
Strongly fight against current managed care “profiteering” practices, which are putting the lives of our patients in jeopardy constantly and are threatening to destroy the doctor-patient relationship and the patients’ choice to select their own physicians/psychiatrists.
Advocate for legislation that will put a stop to current discriminatory practices that limit the access of psychiatrists to managed care panels, particularly for international medical graduate psychiatrists and early career psychiatrists.
Strongly advocate for legislative measures that will fully protect the confidentiality and the privacy of patients’ medical records in all clinical settings and institutional databases.
Advocate and initiate new measures to achieve full-diversity representation (such as IMGs, women psychiatrists, gay and lesbian psychiatrists, and psychiatrists of different backgrounds and ethnicities) at all levels of the APA organization and throughout the profession at large.
Work hard to improve the image of our profession, not only in organized medicine but also in society at large.
Continue to advocate and initiate new efforts for collaboration and partnership with patient-oriented organizations and groups.
Support strengthening the role of the APA district branches in the total affairs of APA.
Develop new efforts to recruit and retain APA psychiatry residents, early career psychiatrists, women, ethnic minorities, international medical graduates, gays and lesbians, young researchers and educators, as well as all sectors within the profession that have been financially affected by the current discriminatory practices put forward by the managed care industry.
Support initiatives geared to improve funding for psychiatric research and psychiatric educational efforts.
I am aware that I cannot implement these objectives alone. Thus, I welcome your support and guidance. I look forward to working collaboratively with you in achieving these objectives.
Primary Loci of Work and Sources of Income
Work:
100%—University of Texas Medical School at Houston (academic and clinical work)
Income:
100%—University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Information & Authors
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Published online: 6 December 2002
Published in print: December 6, 2002
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