NCMS Past President Charles F. Willson, MD, was elected to a second four-year term on the ten-member AMA Council on Medical Service during the AMA 2010 Annual Meeting in Chicago this week. In campaigning for the seat, Dr. Willson stressed the important role the Council will play in addressing issues associated with the new health care reform law. Dr. Willson serves as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Co-Director of the Center for Children with Complex and Chronic Conditions at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

Other Annual Meeting Highlights

New Jersey-based pediatric neurosurgeon Peter Carmel, MD, was chosen President-Elect of the AMA following a runoff election on Tuesday. During a debate held June 12, Dr. Carmel pledged to push Washington to pass further healthcare reforms, including provisions left out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that would have benefited physicians.

Winners in the race for four Trustee seats were incumbent Joseph A. Annis, MD, an anesthesiologist from Austin, TX; Barbara McAneny, MD, an oncologist-hematologist from Albuquerque, NC; Stephen Permut, MD, a Philadelphia-based family physician; and Carl A. Sirio, MD, a Pittsburgh-based internist.

Among the AMA House of Delegates actions were adoption of new public health policies, which included addressing public health lessons from the Gulf oil disaster; strengthening the nation’s physician workforce; supporting FDA regulation of electronic cigarettes as drug delivery devices; and several new policies.

Click here to access an overview of the AMA 2010 Annual Meeting, including video highlights, Reports and Resolutions and other activities.