Having emergency physicians at helm of AOA, AMA is a ‘unique opportunity,’ DO notes

Over the summer, emergency physicians took the helm at two of the nation’s most prominent physician organizations: the AOA and the American Medical Association.

Emergency physician Chadd Kraus, DO, MPH, explores the significance of this in a recent opinion piece in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. He notes that such widespread leadership by emergency physicians is particularly impressive when one considers that emergency medicine is a relatively young specialty.

“In the early days of our specialty, when a fledgling department of emergency medicine was being established at [the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine] and a few other medical schools around the country and both MD and DO emergency physicians were working to establish specialty recognition and board certification, it would have been almost unimaginable that in a few short decades an emergency physician would become one of the youngest presidents in the history of the AMA,” writes Dr. Kraus.

Dr. Kraus also weighs in on the impact he sees AOA President John W. Becher, DO, and AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD, imparting in the health care arena.

“From a population health perspective, having emergency physicians at the helm of the AOA and AMA is a unique opportunity to impact U.S. health care for years to come, from how physicians are trained to how care is delivered to the presence of physicians in public policy discussions,” he writes.

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