CHICAGO — Barbara L. McAneny, M.D., an oncologist from Albuquerque, N.M., has been sworn in as the 173rd president of the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation’s premier physician organization. She will focus her tenure on the AMA’s three strategic arcs: attacking the dysfunction in health care by removing obstacles and barriers that interfere with patient care; reimagining medical education, training and lifelong learning to help physicians adapt and grow in the digital age; and improving the health of the nation by confronting the increasing chronic disease burden.

“As healers we have everything we need to fix what ails our health care system. We have the most important ingredients in our hands—we have our patients’ trust,” said Dr. McAneny during her inaugural address. “We have the will, the expertise, and the view of our system at its most crucial point—inside the exam room with patients. And thanks to organizations such as the AMA, as well as state and specialty societies, we have a voice. We have a platform from which we can lead on any issue—and work to re-align our health care system so that patients and physicians are back in the center.”

Dr. McAneny has spent her 35-year career as a practicing physician in New Mexico. She is also a successful businesswoman and co-founder and CEO of a multi-disciplinary oncology practice, New Mexico Oncology Hematology Consultants Ltd. She also built and manages the New Mexico Cancer Center, which provides comprehensive outpatient medical and radiation oncology care and imaging in Albuquerque and at Gallup, an underserved community.

Dr. McAneny has been an AMA board member since 2010, serving as board chair from 2015 to 2016. Prior to her election to the AMA board, Dr. McAneny served on the board for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and was the delegate to the AMA from ASCO. She has held many leadership roles in medicine including president of the New Mexico Medical Society (NMMS), president of the Greater Albuquerque Medical Association, and president of the New Mexico Chapter of the American College of Physicians. She served as chair of the AMA Council of Medical Service from 2009 to 2010.

A greatly respected leader at the state and local level, Dr. McAneny has received the New Mexico Woman on the Move Award in 2005 and Woman of Influence Award in 2009, and has been voted multiple times by her peers as Albuquerque The Magazine’s “Top Doc” in her specialty. At the national level, she has established a reputation as an innovator after being awarded a federal grant in 2012 to develop the Community Oncology Medical Home Model that demonstrates improved outcomes and patient satisfaction with reduced hospitalizations and costs.

In her spare time, Dr. McAneny cultivates her rose garden and travels with her husband, Steve.