Delegates attending the American Medical Association’s Annual Meeting in Chicago have elected Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD, a staunch vaccine advocate, as President-Elect. Dr Fryhofer previously served as the AMA’s liaison to the Centers for Disease Contral and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the Committee that was significantly overhauled by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. She is a board-certified Atlanta-based internist, who also teaches at Emory University School of Medicine.
As reported by Politico, the election of Dr. Fryhofer indicates that the AMA is increasingly willing to challenge Kennedy on vaccine policy and to challenge Republican efforts to cut Medicaid. On her election, Dr. Fryhofer pledged to address the failures of the Trump Administration’s health polices, specifically citing “measles running rampant, public health destroyed, a trillion dollars ripped from Medicaid, inadequate physician payment, stupid immigration rules.”
In the AMA’s press release announcing her election, Dr. Fryhofer stated: “Patients are at the heart of everything we do as physicians, and there has never been a more important time to advocate for them. Medicine is at its best when we put patients first and remain guided by science and evidence.”
The AMA represents 320,000 physicians from across the country.
The AMA press release announcing Dr. Fryhofer’s election is linked here. The Politico post discussing the significance of Dr. Fryhofer’s election is linked here.