Neurosurgeon Gains Top AMA Post

Neurosurgeon Peter Carmel was named president-elect of the American Medical Association on June 15, during the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates in Chicago. Board members are elected in secret balloting by more than 500 voting delegates who are members of the AMA and who have been selected by the organization they represent, such as a medical association.

Dr. Carmel is a pediatric neurosurgeon from Manhattan, N.Y., with a practice in Newark, N.J. He is chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the New Jersey Medical School and co-medical director of the Neurological Institute of New Jersey. Following a year-long term as president-elect, he will assume the office of AMA president in June 2011.

"I am honored to be elected to lead the nation's most influential physicians' organization," stated Dr. Carmel in an AMA press release. "As AMA president-elect, I pledge to serve as a strong voice and dedicated advocate for patients and physicians on the pressing issues confronting our healthcare system."

Read the related statement by the AANS and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.