2013 AMA Annual Meeting
In her inaugural address on June 18, AMA President Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, recalled her early days in medicine in the late 1970s in Lexington, Ky. An infectious diseases doctor, she started seeing and treating patients with AIDS. That experience made a lasting impression on her. “My AIDS patients and their family members taught me about strength, about courage and about never, ever passing judgment about something you do not understand,” Dr. Hoven said. She urged physicians to work together on issues such as medical liability reform, innovations in medical education and health care technology improvements. “By standing together, unified in vision and commitment, physicians can shape the health care system this country needs.”
Photo by Ted Grudzinski / AMA