COVERITLIVE.COM

5:08	Dr. Wilarda Edwards of Baltimore gives the invocation

5:10	Introduction of the presidents of all the state medical society presidents, AMA leaders and past presidents

5:12	TMA President William H. Fleming III, MD, introduced

5:13	AMA President Nancy Nielsen, MD, introduces former AMA President Joseph Painter, MD, of Houston, and Nancy Dickey, MD, of College Station.

5:15	Dr. Nielsen introduces AMA Trustee Joe Annis, MD, of Austin

5:17

5:21

Dr. Nielsen begins her goodbye speech after standing ovation from the audience.

Thanks her colleagues on the board and AMA staff. "It has been an extradordinary year. A lot of it is timing."

Advice to Dr. Rohack. "We all need to remember, Jim, today's peacock is tomorrow's feather duster."

That's it from Dr. Nielsen.

5:22	Board Chair Joe Heyman, MD, introduces and administers oath of office to Dr. Rohack.

5:23	Dr. Heyman: "He is supremely qualified to be our AMA president at a moment in history when vast systemic changes are taking place in our health care landscape."

5:26

Rohack has left hand on the bible and right hand raised.

From the oath of office: "I shall dedicate myself and my office to improving the health of the American people and to bringing high quality medical care to all people."

Dr. Heyman: "Dr. Rohack it is now my privilege to present to you the American Medical Association's president's medal in recognition of your service to your nation and your profession."

5:26

5:26	Standing ovation for the new AMA president.

5:27	Rohack: "I’d like to share a few thoughts about the Evolution of Medicine—the Art and the Science that make it useful – and the Ethics that make it meaningful." "I’d like to talk about evolution as a trait of an Individual, an Organization, a Profession and a Society."

5:28

Thanks his parents, sisters and brother and families for their love and support.

"

A constant in my life for the last 29 years is my wife, Charli and our daughter Elisha. Charli is my best friend, my partner, and the love of my life. And Elisha is the light of my life. Both give me perspective through the prism of life and don’t let me forget the most vulnerable among us. They are part – the most important part – of my evolution as a person. And I thank each of you for allowing me to be here tonight and stand as President of the American Medical Association."

5:29	Left New York at age 18 to 'leave behind the drifts of snow and head south to a warmer place."

5:30	Thanks his "family, friends and colleagues from Scott & White, Texas Medical Association, American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, American Medical Group Association, Texas A&M Health Science Center, the National Quality Enterprise and our American Medical Association"

5:31	This writer proud to stand and be recognized with that group!

5:33

Says Darwin talked about both human compassion and surivival of the fittest.

"As human beings, we seek out each other for the caring and compassion a safe place provides. This impulse has driven physicians to evolve. An evolution from the shamans who provided just a hope of physical healing but always comforted the spirit."

"Medicine itselft has gone through its own epic changes through the centuries. But what hasn't changed is the soul of medicine."

5:33

"There are those that say the Art of Medicine is a lost art. That the intangibles of healing have been eclipsed by the coldness of performance measurement, the boundaries of documentation and the realities of liability.

Like it or not, these are the components of what it means to be a physician in America in 2009.

But there’s no reason that the regulations and paperwork imposed on our profession can’t be made to co-exist with the Art of Medicine."

5:34	"I believe the future of our profession is bright – as long as we remember that the human touch cannot be replaced with a Blackberry text message or a 140-character entry on Twitter."

Page 1 Next >