Bruce A. Scott, MD, an otolaryngologist from Kentucky, was voted president-elect of the AMA by physicians and medical students gathered at the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting. Following a year-long term as president-elect, Dr. Scott will be installed as AMA president in June 2024.
“Winning the faith and support of my peers to represent the nation’s physicians and patients we serve is a great honor and tremendous responsibility,” Dr. Scott said. “Physicians faced incredible challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—personal challenges to their own health, as well as financial headwinds and inflation that closed many, and imperiled other, physician practices.
“With physician burnout surging, prior authorizations taking more and more time and resources away from patient care, and an unsustainable Medicare system, I will advocate relentlessly during my presidency for the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians,” he added.
Dr. Scott has been a leader in medicine throughout his career and a member of the House of Delegates (HOD) for more than 25 years. First elected speaker of the HOD in 2019, he previously served as vice speaker and joined the AMA Board of Trustees in 2015.
Based in Louisville, Dr. Scott is board-certified in otolaryngology. He is president of Kentuckiana Ear, Nose & Throat, medical director of Premier Ambulatory Surgery Center, and holds a clinical appointment at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Dr. Scott also is a member of the board of directors for Health2047, the AMA’s Silicon Valley-based innovation subsidiary that finds and funds tech-enabled commercial health care enterprises. In this role, he is helping shape the future of medicine to empower patients and health care providers with meaningful and measurable impact.
Dr. Scott has been president of his state and county medical associations and continues to serve on the board of the Greater Louisville Medical Society and the Kentucky Medical Association. As a leader of these associations, he has fought for access to care for vulnerable populations, improvement in public health and reduction of administrative burdens in health care.
An author of myriad articles for peer-reviewed publications, as well as chapters in otolaryngology textbooks, Dr. Scott also speaks to physician audiences around the country on topics ranging from leadership and advocacy to sinusitis and clinical documentation.
New speaker elected
Lisa Bohman Egbert, MD, was elected to take on the role of speaker of the AMA House of Delegates. An ob-gyn from Dayton, Ohio, Dr. Egbert has served as the HOD’s vice-speaker since 2019.
“It is an honor and a privilege to be elected by my peers to serve as speaker of the AMA House of Delegates,” Dr. Egbert said.
“Data- and evidence-based solutions and advocacy from this House,” she said, “have never been more important.”
Dr. Egbert began her AMA service in medical school when she was selected to serve as the medical student representative on the Women in Medicine Advisory Panel. Subsequently, she was elected to the governing councils of the Resident and Fellows Section and the Young Physicians Section, serving as chair of the latter. She was also previously a member of the AMPAC board of directors and the AMA Council on Medical Service.
As vice speaker, Dr. Egbert played an integral role in coordinating unprecedented virtual meetings during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Egbert has been a general ob-gyn in solo practice in Dayton for more than 25 years, and is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from The Ohio State University.
New vice speaker elected
John H. Armstrong, MD, a trauma surgeon, medical educator, and Army veteran from Ocala, Florida, was elected as the new vice speaker of the AMA House of Delegates.
“I am grateful for this honor and privilege to represent the views of the nation’s physicians and help guide them in their policy-making decisions,” Dr. Armstrong said. “As the policy-making body of the AMA, the House of Delegates holds a unique position to blend the many views of the nation’s physicians into one strong, unified and effective voice for physicians and the patients we serve.”
Dr. Armstrong has been active in the leadership and policymaking process of the AMA, having been elected as the young physician trustee and serving as the AMA secretary in 2004–2005. He was a member of an AMA advisory council on planning and development, and since 1989, has participated regularly in the House of Delegates as a member of several delegations representing the voices of surgeons, physicians in training, hospital-based physicians, and Army physicians.
A practicing trauma surgeon with a career in military hospitals and civilian trauma centers, Dr. Armstrong is professor of surgery and distinguished educator at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, and adjunct professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Dr. Armstrong served as Florida’s surgeon general and secretary of health from 2012 to 2016 and helped achieve the lowest infant mortality rate in the state’s history.
2 board members reelected
In other 2023 AMA election action, two physicians were reelected to serve on the AMA Board of Trustees.
Michael Suk, MD, MPH, an orthopaedic surgeon based in Danville, Pennsylvania, was elected to a second four-year term on the Board of Trustees. First elected to the as a trustee in 2019, Dr. Suk has served as board liaison to:
- AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.
- AMA Council on Long Range Planning.
- AMPAC.
- AMA Integrated Physicians Practice Section
- AMA Private Practice Physicians Section.
An active AMA member for over 30 years, Dr. Suk was the first medical student and first Asian American elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 1994.
Board-certified in orthopaedic surgery, Dr. Suk is professor of orthopaedic surgery at the renowned Geisinger health system, where he also chairs the Musculoskeletal Institute. Additionally, he serves as chief physician officer of Geisinger System Services, where he provides clinical leadership over the system’s $1.5 billion enterprise supply chain and pharmacy division. Geisinger is a member of the AMA Health System Program.
“As a practicing, fellowship-trained orthopaedic trauma surgeon, I’m well aware of the demands the medical profession places on each of us,” said Dr. Suk. “I also believe doctors should be able to practice in the manner they choose—with neither insurance companies, EMR systems nor politicians dictating care. We are at a crucial moment in medicine, and I recognize the profound trust my colleagues have placed in me.”
Willie Underwood III, MD, MSc, MPH, a urologist based in Buffalo, New York, was reelected to a second term on the Board of Trustees. Dr. Underwood will also serve board chair for 2023–2024. An active leader in organized medicine for decades, Dr. Underwood was first elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 2019. He has chaired the AMA Council on Legislation and the AMA Resident and Fellow Section, served as president of the Erie County (New York) Medical Society, and he serves as a delegate for the American Urological Association.
A board-certified urologist with more than 20 years of overall urologic surgery experience, including more than 10 years focused on robotic urologic surgery, Dr. Underwood is an expert in health care disparities and health care policy. He has served on several national and regional health care policy committees, including as a board member of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of New York and the Board of Commissioners of the Joint Commission.
“The goals on which the AMA was founded more than 175 years ago—professionalism, advocacy and ethics—are as noble and worthy today as they were then, and I am privileged to be a part of such a proud heritage,” said Dr. Underwood.
Other election results
These candidates won election to the AMA Council on Medical Education:
- Kelly Caverzagie, MD.
- Ricardo Correa, MD, EdD.
- Shannon Kilgore, MD.
- Daniel Young, MD.
These candidates won election to the AMA Council on Medical Service:
- Patrice Burgess, MD.
- Alice Coombs, MD, MPA.
One candidate won election to the AMA Council on Constitution and Bylaws:
- Mark N. Bair, MD, RPh.
Three candidates won election to the AMA Council on Science and Public Health:
- Ankush Bansal, MD.
- Marc Mendelsohn, MD, MPH.
- Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD.
These candidates were elected to the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs:
- Arthur R. Derse, MD, JD
- Sophia A. Doerr (medical student seat)
These candidates won election to serve in various resident/fellow seats:
- Pratistha Koirala, MD, PhD, AMA Board of Trustees.
- Dan Pfeifle, MD, AMA Council on Constitution & Bylaws.
- Daniel Lee, MD, AMA Council on Medical Education.
- Hari Iyer, MD, AMA Council on Medical Service.
Explore the AMA candidate webpages and read about the other highlights from the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting.
