APA selects Petros Levounis as next president-elect

The American Psychiatric Association has chosen Petros Levounis, MD, MA, as its next president-elect, the group announced in a press release.

The APA Board of Trustees will confirm the election results at its March meeting.

“I am honored and grateful to have been elected by my fellow members to help lead the APA,” Levounis said in the release. “I look forward to helping build APA’s leadership role in mental health both within American medicine and in collaboration with our colleagues across the world."

Upon assuming the role in May 2023, Levounis noted his priorities as APA president include expanding the workforce by creating more residencies and developing innovative career pathways for young psychiatrists. He also aims to raise reimbursement of clinical services to a level near that of other medical specialties, as well as to amplify psychiatrists’ voices on issues including systemic racism, homophobia and climate change.

Levounis, professor and chair of the department of psychiatry and associate dean for professional development at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, has held various leadership roles within APA and other national organizations. According to the release, he is the first openly gay psychiatrist elected as APA president. His term as president-elect will begin in May at the conclusion of the APA Annual Meeting, when the current president-elect Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD, begins her term as president.

Other APA leadership candidates who will take office after the annual meeting include:

• Richard F. Summers, MD, as treasurer;

• Michele Reid, MD, as trustee-at-large;

• Geetha Jayaram, MBBS, MBA, as area three trustee;

• Barbara Yates Weissman, MD, as area six trustee; and

• Seth L. Daly Stennis, MD, as resident-fellow member trustee-elect.