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AMA names new president-elect, speaker of the House of Delegates, board members

Susan R. Bailey, MD, an allergist and immunologist based in Fort Worth, Texas, was voted in as president-elect of the AMA at the organization’s 2019 meeting.

“It is a deep honor and privilege to be named president-elect of an organization that is committed to helping the medical profession and the patients we serve,” Bailey said in a press release. “Challenging times remain for the health care system and as AMA president-elect, I pledge to serve as a strong voice and dedicated advocate for patients and physicians on the pressing health care issues confronting our nation.”

According to the press release, Bailey was elected to AMA’s board of trustees in 2011 and has held the roles of both vice-speaker and speaker of the House of Delegates. She served two terms and was appointed chair of the AMA’s Council on Medical Education, and was a member of both the AMA’s Advisory Panel to the Women in Medicine Project and the Ad Hoc Committee on Women Physicians.

Bailey has represented the AMA on the board of directors for the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and in the American Board of Medical Specialties Assembly, according to the press release.

Before her time in the AMA, Bailey was the president of both the Texas Medical Association and Tarrant County Medical Society, and served as vice-speaker and speaker for both the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology House and Delegates.

According to a separate release, Bruce A. Scott, MD, an otolaryngologist from Louisville, Kentucky, was elected to serve as the speaker of the House of Delegates. He served as the vice-speaker of the House of Delegates for the last 4 years, and has served in the AMA Resident and Fellow Section, the AMA Young Physicians Section and the board of trustees.

“It is a deep honor and privilege to preside over the policy-making forum at the center of American medicine and help craft results-focused policies that enable physicians to answer a national imperative to improve the health of the nation,” Scott said in the press release.

Grayson W. Armstrong, MD, MPH , a Harvard ophthalmology resident at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, was elected to the AMA’s Board of Trustees Resident and Fellow seat during the 2019 AMA annual meeting, according to a separate release. Armstrong first became an AMA delegate during medical school. He currently serves on the executive committee of the Massachusetts Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons and is the Harvard ophthalmology chief resident for the 2019 to 2020 academic year.

“I am driven to support the mission of the American Medical Association by focusing on the future of medicine,” Armstrong said in the press release. “The resident and fellow perspective will be vital as health care evolves and medical education shifts to develop young physicians poised to promote the health of the nation and tackle new challenges.”

A separate release announced that in addition to Scott, the new executive officers of the Board of Trustees for 2019-2020 are:

• Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, an anesthesiologist from Nashville, Tennessee, chair of the Board of Trustees.
• Russell W.H. Krindel, MD, a facial plastic surgeon based in Houston, Texas, chair-elect.
• S. Bobby Mukkamala, MD, an otolaryngologist from Flint, Michigan, secretary.
• Jack Resneck, Jr., MD, a dermatologist based in San Rafael, California, immediate past chair.

The release also included other newly elected members of the AMA Board of Trustees for 2019-2020:

• Lisa Bohman Egbert, MD, an OB-GYN from Dayton, Ohio, who was also elected to serve as the vice speaker of the AMA House of Delegates
• Sarah Mae Smith, MD, a medical student from the University of California, Irvine’s School of Medicine.
• Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, and orthopedic surgeon who practices in Danville, Pennsylvania.
• Willie Underwood, III, MD, MPH, a urologist from Buffalo, New York.

The release also stated that the following are returning members of the AMA Board of Trustees:

• Willarda V. Edwards, MD, MBA, an internist based in Baltimore.
• E. Scott Ferguson, MD, a diagnostic radiologist who practices in West Memphis, Arkansas.
• Sandra A. Fryhofer, MD, an internist based in Atlanta.
• Gerald E. Harmon, MD, a family physician from Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
• William E. Kobler, MD, a family physician based in Rockford, Illinois.
• William A. McDade, MD, PhD, an anesthesiologist from Chicago.
• Mario A. Motta, MD, a cardiologist from Salem, Massachusetts.
• Kevin W. Williams, MSA, a former senior executive at General Motors from Nashville, Tennessee, who serves as the public member of the AMA Board.

– by Erin Michael

Disclosures: Healio Primary Care was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the names of other executive board members as well as the board of trustees for 2019-2020.