New AMA President is a Psychiatrist! Dr. Jeremy Lazarus.

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Just thought this was cool. As a future psychiatrist, I hope that this is a sign of a greater acceptance of Psychiatry in the medical ethos as a whole, and that it garners more attention toward mental illness.

Here's a link with information about the man:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news...president.page

Originally Posted by MrJiggles

Just thought this was cool. As a future psychiatrist, I hope that this is a sign of a greater acceptance of Psychiatry in the medical ethos as a whole, and that it garners more attention toward mental illness.

Here's a link with information about the man:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news...president.page

Ha. Dr. Lazarus says it's time to "rise up." Awesome.

I really do think this is great, great news for our profession though. Psych Power!

Woohoo!

Hip hip hooray!

In 2003, 34 million American adults (17% of the adult population) had a comorbid mental and medical condition. By now the number is higher.

Psychiatry should be part of the bread and butter of medicine and health care.


source: http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/0...lth.report.pdf.

the AMA is irrelevant. they do not represent the majority of physicians and they most certainly do not represent the majority of psychiatrists.

Originally Posted by splik

the AMA is irrelevant. they do not represent the majority of physicians and they most certainly do not represent the majority of psychiatrists.

This is like saying one of the 2 major parties is irrelevant just because you vote for the other one.

no because almost as many people for the other party whilst more than twice as many physicians have nothing to do with the AMA these days. once the AMA was a force to be reckoned with (mostly in a bad way), now very little attention is paid to the AMA on the hill because they do not represent the vast majority of physicians thus cannot claim to represent physicians.

I don't feel particularly represented by them and I don't belong to the AMA, but I still think it's pretty cool that their new president is a psychiatrist. Kinda like I'd think it was pretty cool if the president of the US were from my hometown. It may not mean I agree with his politics. I might not have voted for him. But it's still kinda neat.

Originally Posted by splik

the AMA is irrelevant. they do not represent the majority of physicians and they most certainly do not represent the majority of psychiatrists.

Dogma aside, and regardless of how little I care for the AMA, they're still the largest single physician's professional group in the US and the public perception of doctors is entwined with their actions. Even if they had no political power "on the hill", I still think its great that someone from my often overlooked and under-appreciated specialty is at its helm.

you're a medical student! tis not your specialty yet! but yes i suppose there is something for psychiatrists getting into positions of power where they can increase the visibility of psychiatry as a medical specialty and advocate for better care of the mentally ill.

Originally Posted by splik

you're a medical student!

Not everyone keeps their SDN status updated. If I hadn't seen this post, I wouldn't have updated mine, for example...

Professor Marie Bashir, the chancellor of the University of Sydney and the governor of the state of New South Wales (of which Sydney is the capital), is a psychiatrist. We hear about her a lot in Australia because of her prominent roles in health-related politics, and I had no idea that she was a psychiatrist until I read her Wikipedia page a couple of weeks ago.

Originally Posted by digitlnoize

Not everyone keeps their SDN status updated. If I hadn't seen this post, I wouldn't have updated mine, for example...

Am I the only one who hasn't started yet? (My orientation is in July =P)

I hope the new AMA president advocates for psychiatrists!

Oh, oops, no he's right, I'm an MS4! well, I suppose I strongly identify with the field and I'm surrounded by big guns in psych who are mentors of mine, pardon my overzealousness.

That idiot fake "union" they portray to the public

Its a political lackey group, undermines all physicians

Shouldnt be allowed to speak for others like they do

Yeahhh I kind of wish doctors had a REAL union of sorts that actually represented our interests. It goes against the typical ethos of a "professional", but screw it, docs all going to be employees of someone else someday. Docs desperately need actual political representation.

Who will save us?

Originally Posted by MrJiggles

Yeahhh I kind of wish doctors had a REAL union of sorts that actually represented our interests. It goes against the typical ethos of a "professional", but screw it, docs all going to be employees of someone else someday. Docs desperately need actual political representation.

Who will save us?

a lot of people are apart of AAPS.

Originally Posted by DOC PENGUIN

a lot of people are apart of AAPS.

But that, like the AMA, is a professional society, not a union.

Originally Posted by MrJiggles

But that, like the AMA, is a professional society, not a union.

The AMA has been known for health lobbying in Congress, something that is normal in all fields. IMO, i always thought individual organizations like ABNP and AHA do better than the AMA. If anything, where is the libertarian option?