Dermatologist Inaugurated as AMA President
Jack S. Resneck Jr., MD, was inaugurated as the 177th president of the American Medical Association (AMA). He is a dermatologist, professor, and vice-chair of the Department of Dermatology at UC San Francisco.
Jack S. Resneck Jr., MD, was inaugurated as the 177th president of the American Medical Association (AMA). A dermatologist, Dr Resneck is also professor and vice-chair of the Department of Dermatology at UC San Francisco (UCSF). He has now assumed the office of AMA president following a year-long term as president-elect of the organization.
Sworn in during the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD), Dr Resneck spoke about the specific challenges of practicing medicine during COVID-19, including prior authorizations, physician burnout, and longstanding inequities in the US health system. He also underscored the importance of the AMA’s Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians, which was announced at the opening session of the meeting.
“For more than 2 years, physicians have put everything on the line,” Dr Resneck said. “Today, we are reminding policymakers that it’s time our nation renews its commitment to doctors and the patients we serve. We will work to elevate and prioritize the voices of physicians over purveyors of misinformation. We will fight in legislatures and in court to keep politicians from inserting themselves into our exam rooms, and dangerously criminalizing evidence-based care, including contraception, abortion, and gender-affirming care. We are intentionally and deeply committed to the work of health equity and racial justice. And today, for our nation’s physicians who have bravely responded to a historic call without hesitation, we are a focused, science-based, nimble, influential, and powerful ally. We will always have doctors’ and patients’ backs.”
Dr Resneck was first elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 2014 and held the office of board chair from 2018 to 2019. Previously, Dr Resneck had served as chair of the AMA Council on Legislation and as a delegate to the AMA House of Delegates. He has also served as president of the California Society for Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery, a board member at the American Academy of Dermatology, and active member of the California Medical Association.
He holds a joint appointment as an affiliated faculty member at the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. He also serves as the medical director for the dermatology clinics at UCSF where he had run the dermatology residency training program.
Dr Resneck maintains his California dermatology practice while being a proponent of the modernization of medical education, innovations in digital health, and improved access to care in various roles. He has testified in Congressional hearings on the topics of telemedicine, digital health, rising prescription drug prices, prior authorization, and other challenges facing the US health care system.
In addition, he has written many noteworthy studies on patient access to care, telemedicine, quality metrics, prior authorization, and public health. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD) and sits on the board of directors of the National Quality Forum.
Reference
Krigel, M. UCSF Dermatologist Inaugurated as American Medical Association President. UCSF Campus News. Published June 14, 2022. Accessed June 14, 2022. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2022/06/423131/ucsf-dermatologist-inaugurated-american-medical-association-president
