Meeting Highlights
Advisory Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Issues
An educational program hosted by the AMA-GLBT, titled "Families: The missing link in prevention and promoting well-being for GLBT children, youth and young adults," was well-attended by participants of the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates and members of Chicago-area GLBT medical student groups.
The program featured Caitlin Ryan, a clinical social worker whose research includes the National Lesbian Health Care Survey, the first major study to identify lesbian health and mental health needs and concerns; the development of an initiative to study the impact of Gay Straight Alliances on school climate and youth development; care of GLBT youth in faith-based agencies; and the Family Acceptance Project,™ which she developed to improve care and health outcomes for GLBT youth.
The advisory committee elected Jennifer Chaffin, MD, a psychiatrist from Missouri, as chair, and Gal Mayer, MD, an internist from New York, as vice chair. And it thanked its outgoing members—including Rebecca Allison, MD, Don Chaplin, MD, and Graham McMahon, MD—for their tireless dedication.
Group Practice Physicians
The AMA's Advisory Committee on Group Practice Physicians, chaired by Michael Kitchell, MD, convened Friday and discussed such topics as the U.S. Senate Finance Committee's proposals on health system reform, the trend in hospital acquisition of physician practices and the need for establishing quality measures for teams and systems versus individual physicians. On Saturday, the committee co-sponsored "Keeping Senior Physicians in Practice: Issues of competency recertification and the value of experience," an education program that featured John A. Fromson, MD, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a nationally recognized expert on physician health.
International Medical Graduates (IMG) Section
The AMA-IMG Section discussed several issues of importance—including graduate medical education, work force issues, leadership and diversity—during its meeting and events.
James Hallock, MD, president and chief executive officer of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), updated attendees on the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research's leadership institute and ECFMG applicant data. Dr. Hallock also offered his insights about attaining personal and professional leadership goals during the section's Busharat Ahmad, MD, Leadership Program.
The AMA-IMG candidates' forum exposed AMA Board of Trustees and Council on Medical Education candidates to AMA-IMG members and their top issues of importance, such as licensure parity and an unbiasedresidency program selection process.
The fourth annual Desserts From Around the World benefittedthe AMA Foundation's IMG Honor Fund. Sponsored by 20 state, specialty and ethnic societies, this tasty affair with international flair attracted more than 400 attendees and was chaired by Mouhanad Hammami, MD, of the National Arab American Medial Association. Donations for the IMG Honor Fund are still being accepted online or by calling J. Mori Johnson at (312) 464-5678.
The AMA-IMG Section's newly elected 2009-10 governing council officers are Hugo Alvarez, MD, immediate past chair; Jayesh Shah, MD, chair; Raouf Seifeldin, MD, vice chair; Rajendra Seth, MD, delegate; Padmini Ranasinghe, MD, alternate delegate; Sarala Rao, MD, at-large member; and Nyapati Rao, MD, at-large member.
Section on Medical Schools (AMA-SMS)
Now in its 33rd year, the AMA-SMS hosted an educational session on interprofessional collaboration in health care and co-sponsored a session with the AMA Council on Medical Education on resident duty hours. The AMA-SMS also co-sponsored an educational session with the AMA Medical Student Section on mentoring medical students.
The section also held elections for its governing council. Betty Drees, MD, dean at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, was elected chair; Kenneth Simons, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, was elected chair-elect; and M. Dewayne Andrews, MD, executive dean and vice president for health affairs at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, was elected immediate past chair.
At-large members include Arthur Ross, MD, dean and vice president for medical affairs at Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science; Maria Savoia, MD, vice dean of medical education at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine; and Robert Sokol, MD, distinguished professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Louis Ling, MD, associate dean for graduate medical education at the University of Minnesota Medical School, was elected the section liaison to the AMA Council on Medical Education. Michael Reichgott, MD, associate dean for clinical affairs and graduate medical education at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, was elected delegate; and Donald Eckhoff, MD, professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, was elected alternate delegate.
Medical Student Section (MSS)
More than 600 medical students attended the AMA-MSS Annual Assembly Meeting. The assembly considered 26 items of business, and more than 25 educational programs were held on a range of topics including health system reform, residency, student run-clinics, MD/MBA degrees and mentoring student chapters.
Keynote speaker Geoff Tabin, MD, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Utah and the John A. Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City and co-director of the Himalayan Cataract Project, spoke Saturday about climbing Mount Everest and eradicating world blindness.
The AMA-MSS held its sixth annual Medical Specialty Showcase, during which more than 40 specialties represented in the AMA House of Delegates provided an introduction to their specialty and offered materials to assist medical students in their career decision-making.
This meeting marked the last national service project event using the theme "Covering the uninsured and protecting access to care." More than 40 medical students traveled to Navy Pier to inform and educate visitors and to distribute information about the importance of access to care, health system reform and the availability of safety net health coverage and services in the Chicago area and the rest of the nation. The team of students successfully engaged in conversations about health care access and reform with more than 300 people. In addition, the AMA-MSS announced its national service project for 2009-11: the AMA's Healthier Life Steps™ Program.
The assembly also elected members for its 2009-10 governing council: Kristina Maletz, of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, vice chair; Kevin Blaine, of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, delegate; Keili Meyer, of Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, alternate delegate; Hayley Fischer, of Brody School of Medicine–East Carolina University, at-large officer; Jennifer Paisley, of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, speaker; and Matthew Okazaki, of John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, vice speaker. Hans Arora, Northwestern University, will commence his term as chair and Justin Mahida, Ohio State University, as trustee.
Minority Affairs Consortium (MAC)
The AMA-MAC business meeting Friday included a number of discussions about resolutions and reports before the AMA House of Delegates. The AMA-MAC has several items being submitted this year on topics ranging from increased collaboration with the National Medical Association (NMA) following the AMA's apology to African-American physicians to other topics such as working with the Federation of Medicine on the creation and implementation of policies focused on the elimination of racial and ethnic health care disparities.
The AMA-MAC also introduced the winners of its 2009 AMA Foundation Minority Scholars Award program, supported by the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative, at its caucus and reception. Congratulations to Rashad Belin, Natalie Casagrande, Kofi Essel, Suzanne Garber, Carl Lambert, Marlene Martin, Lisa Ochoa-Frongia, Elizabeth Phillips, Kasandra Scales, Catalina Soto, Manuel Tapia and Lucille Torres.
Attendees also enjoyed an informative presentation by Hector Castro, MD, the medical director of the Latino Health Institute in New York. Dr. Castro shared the successes he and his team have experienced at the institute and best practices to consider when treating Hispanic patients. In addition, attendees had an opportunity to review and discuss resolutions and reports before the House of Delegates focused on issues of concern to minority physicians, medical students and patients.
The AMA-MAC Governing Council elected new officers for 2009-10; the new chair is Shanda Lohse, MD and the new vice chair is Sandra Gadson, MD.
Organized Medical Staff Section (OMSS)
The AMA-OMSS held its 53rd assembly meeting and considered 35 items of business, including those on the need for principles for developing sustainable and successful hospitalist programs and standardization of health information technology user interfaces.
The section hosted eight AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ educational programs during the meeting that covered several topics surrounding physician employment and employment contracts. These programs include "Organizational leadership: The Joint Commission 2009 leadership standards," presented by Paul Schyve, MD, senior vice president of the Joint Commission; "Parliamentary procedure 101," presented by Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD, speaker of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD), and Andrew W. Gurman, MD, vice speaker of the AMA HOD; "Generational change and future healthcare leadership," co-sponsored by the AMA-OMSS and the AMA Young Physicians Section, which featured Richard Corlin, MD, past president of the AMA; and "Health system reform: A candid discussion," which featured a panel discussion including Rich Deem, the AMA's senior vice president of advocacy, Rep. Tom Price, MD, R-Ga., and J. James Rohack, MD, AMA president-elect.
For the first time, the AMA-OMSS distributed results of an AMA survey that was conducted in collaboration with the Society of Hospital Medicine on the growing hospitalist trend. The section also recognized Stephen House, MD, past chair, for his tenure on the AMA-OMSS Governing Council.
Resident and Fellow Section (RFS)
The AMA-RFS held its 33rd Annual Assembly Meeting to discuss and shape policy on a variety of issues. Of the 18 items of business considered, seven were immediately forwarded to the AMA House of Delegates. These items covered resident duty hours, transfer of care, direct-to-consumer advertising, loan repayment, health insurance coverage of pre-existing conditions and the impact of specialty board-mandated residency completion dates on parental leave during residency training.
The assembly also elected several new members of the AMA-RFS Governing Council: Rana Yehia, MD, vice chair; Alisa Lee Sherick, MD, speaker; Claudia Reardon, MD, vice speaker; Seth Flagg, MD, delegate; Heather Smith, MD, alternate delegate; and Stephen Darrow, MD, membership and outreach officer. The AMA-RFS thanked its speaker, Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, vice speaker Diana Shiba, MD, and chair Manish Sethi, MD, for leading a successful meeting.
Senior Physicians Group (SPG)
The AMA-SPG sponsored its second meeting of state liaisons on Friday—led by the group's chair, William Jacott, MD—that included a special presentation by Joanne Schwartzberg, the AMA's director of aging and community service. On Saturday, the group co-sponsored an educational program entitled "Keeping Senior Physicians in Practice: Issues of Competency, Recertification and the Value of Experience," spotlighting the value that senior physicians bring to a practice and common age-related issues to be aware of. More than 300 physicians attended the event, which also was co-sponsored by the AMA Advisory Committee on Group Practice Physicians and the AMA Organized Medical Staff Section.
The AMA-SPG Governing Council recognized Dr. Jacott and John Nettles, MD, who are leaving the council, and welcomed its two newest members, Bohn Allen, MD, from Texas, and Richert Quinn Jr., MD, from Colorado. The governing council also discussed reports and resolutions to the AMA House of Delegates and ways to expand its outreach to senior physicians age 65 years and older through involvement and communications.
Women Physicians Congress (WPC)
More than 150 guests helped the AMA-WPC celebrate 30 years of its Women in Medicine program during its caucus and reception Saturday. The caucus featured a presentation from the AMA Foundation about the new Fund for the Advancement of Women in Medicine; presentations by the 2008 Joan F. Giambalvo Scholarship winners, Sue Yom, MD, and Maurice Clifton, MD; and a review of AMA House of Delegates items of interest to the AMA-WPC.
On Monday the Governing Council will host its annual breakfast for state and specialty society AMA-WPC liaisons. This event, highly regarded by past attendees, will feature updates from around the country about what state and specialty medical societies are doing to address issues of importance to women physicians, medical students and patients. In addition, the AMA-WPC Governing Council will share messages about strides recently made by the AMA for liaisons to take back to their constituencies at home.
The AMA-WPC Governing Council elected new officers for the 2009-10 term. The new chair is Jennifer Wiler, MD, and the new vice chair is Nancy Church, MD.
Young Physicians Section (YPS)
At the 2009 AMA-YPS Annual Assembly Meeting, young physicians from across the country met with colleagues to discuss priority issues and help shape AMA policy.
After adopting a series of reports and resolutions, the AMA-YPS Assembly forwarded three resolutions for consideration at the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates. One resolution asks the AMA to ensure that all resident and fellow physicians-in-training, and all physicians who accept Medicare, Medicaid or Tricare, fall within the definition of public service jobs for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Another resolution asks the AMA to study the impact the new Higher Education Opportunity Act will have on the length of time it will take young physicians to pay off their medical student loans and the effect of early loan repayment on specialty selection. A third resolution asks the AMA to draft legislation allowing 100 percent tax deductibility of student loan interest.
Assembly participants also participated in a town hall meeting focused on the definition of the young physician trustee position on the AMA Board of Trustees. And Richard Corlin, MD, who served as AMA president from 2001–02, presented an educational session on generational change and future health care.
The section also held elections for its governing council. Ravi Goel, MD, was elected chair-elect; Patricia Turner, MD, was elected speaker; Steven Chen, MD, was elected alternate delegate; and Shilpen Patel, MD, was elected member-at-large.
