CHICAGO — The American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest physician organization, today announced the election of Drayton C. Harvey as the next student member of the AMA Board of Trustees. He will assume office at the conclusion of the AMA’s Annual Meeting in June 2021.

Harvey is a fourth-year M.D. Ph.D. student at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, from which he will graduate in 2025.

“I am deeply honored to be elected by my peers to serve on the AMA Board of Trustees,” said Harvey. “Particularly during this time of pandemic, new physicians face a challenging, daunting work environment. As the youngest member of the Board, I look forward to advocating for my peers, for science, and for policies that empower the next generation of physicians to unlock their full potential to improve the health of the nation.”

Long active in organized medicine, Harvey is currently a medical student member of the AMA Council on Legislation and has been an AMA member for three years. He served as a delegate to the Medical Students Section (MSS) from his university and twice as a regional MSS delegate.

He also collaborated with various AMA stakeholders to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Those efforts consisted of producing an advocacy guide for medical students, connecting medical student from across the country to answer advocacy and public health questions and hosting multiple Facebook Live sessions with medical and policy experts to discuss the response to the pandemic.

Harvey is also a member of the California Medical Association and the Los Angeles County Medical Association.

A Colorado native, Harvey is a first-generation college graduate with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Dartmouth College.