Overview

• He was elected president at the AMA House of Delegates meeting in Chicago and officially inaugurated as its 180th president on June 11.
• Born in 1972 to immigrant parents from Andhra Pradesh, he graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School and has over two decades of experience as an otolaryngologist in Flint, Michigan.
• Last November an MRI revealed an 8-cm temporal lobe tumor in his brain, and surgeons removed about 90 percent of the mass, a result he called a best-case scenario.
• In his inauguration speech he condemned barriers patients face—from uncertain insurance coverage to high medication costs and long waits for specialists—as key issues for reform.
• The AMA under his presidency adopted a policy to integrate nutrition education into medical training and inform the public about the health risks of ultraprocessed foods.