ACCOLADES
Leadership Highlights:
District of Columbia PGY I & II Meeting
The first District of Columbia PGY I & II meeting took
place under the aegis of the Cosmos Club Health Group, on
September 29th at the Club with excellent and enthusiastic
participation of PGY I & II from GWU, Howard, Georgetwon
and St. Eze. The participants also included Doctors Ray Scallettar,
former Chairman of the Board of the AMA, Annelle Primm, Director
of Minority and National Affairs of the APA, William B. Lawson,
Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, Howard University College
of Medicine, Jeff Akman, Chairman Department of Psychiatry,
GW, Connie Dunlap, President, DC Psychiatric Society, and
Eliot Sorel, Chairman of the Cosmos Club Health Group and
the meeting's convener. The Residents expressed a very keen
interest in continuing and building on this event, a very
keen wish to learn more about each other's programs, and to
get involved with the DC professional community. In addition
to the very good time had by all, one other concrete outcome
from the meeting may be a Transcultural Psychiatry Conference,
next spring in Washington, D.C. with broad institutional participation
and representation in the planning of the event. Dr. Sorel
also presented special thanks to Dr. Maryam Razavi, Chief
Resident at GW, for her important contributions in assisting
with preparation of this pioneering and very successful event.
Dr. Sorel Selected for Global AIDS Fellowship Program
Eliot Sorel, M.D., D.F.A.P.A., Clinical Professor of Global
Health, Health Services Management and Leadership in the School
of Public Health and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
in the School of Medicine has recently been selected as an
Objective Reviewer for the first cycle of the Global AIDS
Fellowship Program organized by the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) and the American Association of Schools of Public Health
(ASPH).
Change in APA Bylaws
During the 2004-2005 year, Roger Peele, as Area III Trustee,
saw the final step in the Action Paper he, Larry Kline and
others authored several years before asking that the APA Bylaws
be changed to state that the CEO of the APA is the Medical
Director, not the President. Bylaws changed effective May,
2005. During the year, he and other WPS Assembly members had
motions passed to update the DSM, improve the APA's governance
and provide greater ability of patients to challenge the exposure
of their records to a state Board, motions still being addressed
in parts of the APA.
Presidential Highlights of the year 1999-2000
at a glance
By Eliot Sorel, M.D., F.A.P.A.
Celebrate
WPS 50 th Anniversary
WPS Awards Banquet
The Surgeon General’s Public Service Award
NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Awards
Educate, Communicate, Evaluate
Brain Research and the Mapping of the Human Genome: Applications
to Primary Care and Psychiatric Medicine Conference
First webcast of such conference
Psychiatric Residents’ meetings at George Washington
University, Georgetown University, Howard University, and
St. Elizabeth’s Hospital
First meeting of the WPS President with National Alliance
for the Mentally Ill Leaders of the Washington Metropolitan
Area
Mental Illness Awareness week Candlelight Vigil keynote speaker
Established listserve and website
First WPS Council Retreat
First Strategic Planning Focus Groups
WPS Executive Director and Staff performance standards
CNN interview on U.S. Presidential Candidate, Senator John
McCain
Advocate
First meeting with the United States Office of Personnel Management
Legislate
Physicians’ Negotiation Act of 1999, Bill 13-333, Expert
testimony
District of Columbia Receiver’s Performance testimony
Negotiate
MAMSI payments to psychiatrists meeting
Litigate
Joined professional colleagues in NY/NJ litigation against
managed care companies’ practices
It has been a memorable year, a pleasure and a privilege to
have been able to serve and lead a group of extraordinarily
talented, innovative, devoted, and hard working psychiatrists.
Many thanks to the WPS Council, the Executive Director, and
the staff.
Dr. Brian Crowley
Highlights of my year as WPS President, 1996-97
We continued to emphasize and fight for:
- The maintenance of the doctor-patient relationship as
the cornerstone of our profession;
- Resisting managed care intrusions into privacy, and deprivation
of needed psychiatric care;
In my presidential columns, which I enjoyed writing and
received favorable comment on, I spoke out against the dangers
of "split treatment"; the profession's need to resist
the term "medically necessary" being define by managed
care companies; the need for maintenance of confidentiality
as the cornerstone of our work. I spoke in my columns of the
tendency for the role of the psychiatrist to be marginalized,
minimized; and how through leadership we needed to become
again captain of the mental health ship.
The Supreme Court decided Jaffee v. Redmond in the second
month of my presidency. In my presidential column I wrote:
"Effective psychotherapy depends upon an atmosphere of
confidence and trust, and therefore the mere possibility of
disclosure of confidential communications may impede development
of the relationship necessary for successful treatment. The
privilege also serves the putlic interest, since the mental
health of the Nation's citizenry, no less than its physical
health, is a public good of transcendent importance."
Is the from an APA position paper in support of parity, or
confidentiality, or the centrality of psychotherapy in treament?
No, this is the language of the Supreme Court of the United
States, in Jaffee v. Redmond, just decided on June 13, recognizing
for the first time a patient-psychotherapist privilege; in
the federal judicial system.
The Supreme Court's tribute to the importance, dignity, and
inviolability of the therapeutic relationship was impressive
and clear, and was only highlighted by Justice Scalia's dissent
in which he suggested the average citizen's mental health
would be better served by getting advice from his mom than
from a therapist.
Some Supreme Court decisions have a gradual but massive
spreading effect, in time influencing areas of our lives far
beyond the narrow confines of the original holding. I hope
and believe this will be one of them....
In my presidency, we were still a relatively small Executive
Council. I could call four or five key, representative members,
and make some key decisions quickly by phone, knowing our
joint wisdom could be supported by the next Council meeting.
I find the present structure of the Board of Directors overlarge
and daunting--although that may be offset by the greater inclusiveness
achieved. I guess the president now tries to use his executive
cmte in a similar manner. I'm not sure that works as well;
for instance I felt monumentally unsupported by the exec cmte
in the past year while chairing the WPS Ad Hoc Cmte on the
Board of Physicians v. Harold Eist, M.D., matter--despite
my keeping them apprised through emails, through Walter, etc.
I have the impression that the exec cmte focused on fiscal
prudence, but spent little energy, time, or money on such
key issues as those presented in the Eist matter--e.g., fighting
for patient rights, collegial support, etc. I preferred the
way things functioned within WPS nine years ago.
Since my presidential year:
- In APA: I served five years on the Guttmacher Award Committee,
the last three years as its Chair;
- I've served on the Council on Psychiatry and Law (corresponding
member, but very active, ask Paul Appelbaum) continuously
for the past five years;
- I serve on the Isaac Ray Award Committee (term 2004-07).
In WPS, I continue to serve on Board as Federal Legislative
Rep.
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