Dr Srinivas ‘Bobby’ Mukkamala has been elected the first Indian-origin president of the American Medical Association in its 178-year history. He will be the organisation’s 180th president.
For Dr Mukkamala, the honour comes just months after his battle with cancer. He had also undergone surgery to remove an 8-cm temporal lobe tumour on the left side of his brain. “As I lay in recovery from brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic, with tubes and wires monitoring my every movement, this night—this honour—this opportunity to improve health care seemed a very distant dream,” he told the crowd after his election.
“To call this moment humbling doesn’t capture it. It’s moving. It’s awe-inspiring,” he added.
Adding how he learned about being a physician by being a patient himself, Dr Mukkamal also touched upon the challenges faced by the American healthcare system and the generations of sacrifice that led him to this position.
The AMA is the largest professional association of physicians in the United States.
Born to two physicians who were immigrants from India, Dr Mukkamala thanked his parents who “gently nudged him to pursue medicine”.
Who is Dr Mukkamala
An ENT specialist from Flint in Michigan, Dr Mukkamala has been an active presence in the AMA since his residency. He is also the chair of the AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force and has advocated vigorously for evidence-based policies to end the nation’s overdose epidemic. Dr. Mukkamala is a past recipient of the AMA Foundation’s “Excellence in Medicine” Leadership Award.
He graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed his residency at Loyola University of Medical Center in Chicago. He is also a past president of the Genesee County Medical Society (GCMS) and continues to serve on the GCMS Board of Directors. His wife, Nita Kulkarni, MD, is an obstetrician-gynecologist.
Who is Dr Bobby Mukkamala? American Medical Association gets first Indian-origin president
