New AMA president: “determined” doctors can lead the health care reform

With friends, family, mentors and former AMA presidents sitting behind him, Bobby Mukkamala, MDThe newly inaugurated AMA president has faced the hundreds of delegates gathered this evening and has taken from the glow of a decisive career.

“The call at that moment Humiling does not capture it,” said Dr. Mukkamala, an Oto-Rhino-Laryngologist and the 180th President of the AMA. “It’s moving. It’s impressive.”

For many participation in the AMA presidential inauguration in the Hyatt Regency Chicago, this inspiration was reciprocal.

Last November, a magnetic resonance imaging examination (MRI) revealed an 8 cm temporal lobe tumor on the left side of Dr. Mukkamala’s brain. Three weeks after the surprising discovery, the father of two 53 -year -olds underwent surgery.

THE Elimination of 90% of the tumor was the best of cases for Dr. Mukkamala. To avoid radiation therapy and chemotherapy, he takes an inhibitor of the dehydrogenase isocitrate which prevents the growth of the parts of the tumor. His doctors said he could enjoy up to 20 years of survival.

“While I was in the recovery room of cerebral surgery at Mayo Clinic, with tubes and sons monitoring each of my movements, that night – this honor, this opportunity to improve health care – seemed a very distant dream,” said Dr. Mukkamala. (Read his entire speech.)

During his work decades in organized medicine, Dr. Mukkamala was a fierce defender of patients. His battle against cancer has reaffirmed the objective of his position – to use his platform and lived experience to plead for a better and more equitable American health system.

“I am here this evening because of the brilliance of many skilled doctors, because of the lasting love and patience of my family and my friends, and because our health care system – for all its faults, and there are many – is always the best in the world for people like me,” he said.

“But it is not true for everyone. Most patients who go through our doors have a very different experience. ”

Dr. Mukkamala went to emphasize that he undoubtedly benefited the best possible treatment. But for many patients, the process of obtaining care is accompanied by much more disturbing questions than reassuring the answers: if the insurance will cover a procedure, how many drugs cost or how long they will wait to see a specialist for something as serious as a piece in their neck.

“Our health system needs the contribution of many qualified doctors – physicist leaders in all states and specialties – who work with an incredible goal and emergency,” he said. “He needs the AMA more than ever, the leaders of our profession speaking with a firm and dominant voice.”

Dr. Mukkamala clearly said that his survival – and his ability to stand in the desk as the AMA president – was made possible by decades of medical research and innovation supported by the government. He warned that the types of treatments and breakthroughs that saved his life was likely to disappear in today’s political climate, where investment in science and medicine is more and more politicized or depressed.

Resident for Life of Flint, Michigan, Dr. Mukkamala has spent decades to treat patients in a city that has resisted economic collapse and public health disasters. Flint, he said, is emblematic of the most urgent problems of American medicine.

He returned to the city with his wife –Nita Kulkarni, MD, An OB -GYN – After completing his medical training. The two share an office together and are exposed to “incredible and heartbreaking health disparities in the city,” he said. “Generalized poverty, community divestment and an artificial national catastrophe of deterioration of lead pipes have contributed to high obesity rates, chronic diseases, cancers, infant and maternal mortality, and other conditions that paint a fairly dark health board.”

Life expectancy in flint is approximately 12 years shorter than in neighboring suburbs.

In flint, he sees patients waiting for weeks – sometimes months – for specialized references, who skip medicines due to costs and who are faced with limited options for timely care.

He shared a story on a patient who called to plan a follow-up meeting just before Dr. Mukkamala for brain surgery. When the patient realized that she should wait until weeks to see another oto-rhino-laryngologist in the region, she told her that she preferred to wait for her return-even if he recovered from brain cancer.

“This is the state of medicine today,” said Dr. Mukkamala. “Too few doctors, stretched far too thin.”

Among other challenges, doctors must bear the overwhelming weight of administrative charges, in particular the delays caused by Previous authorization requirements. Dr. Mukkamala spoke frankly about how these systemic ineffectiveness lose precious time and endanger patient care.

As a doctor in a private office, Dr. Mukkamala regularly confronts the same financial pressures that push many of his peers out of medicine.

To keep their doors open, many doctors must make difficult choices concerning staff, technological investments or the limitation of the number of drugs Medicare or Medicaid they see. And then there are the implacable ineffectiveness of the previous authorization process.

Dr. Mukkamala described the many fronts on which the AMA continues to fight for a more functional and equitable health care system. Among them:

Many of the changes necessary for the American health system must come from the congress. But recover health care on a solid field begins with the AMA.

“Our patients and colleagues are the reason why we are fighting, and why we will continue to fight until our health system really reflects the values ​​of our profession: compassion, access and respect for dignity and human rights,” said Dr. Mukkamala. “We have a long way to go, but I am engaged in this work and I am ready for this fight.”

In the weeks following his surgery, Dr. Mukkamala began to compile a personal file labeled “tumor wisdom” – a space for reflections on everything, from clinical empathy to spiritual humility.

During his difficult time, he gained clarity on what matters – the connection, the compassion and the importance of not pushing back for tomorrow, next month or next year what should be said or done today. This ethics now guides the urgency with which he plans to approach his mandate as president of the AMA.

“There is no doubt that our nation and profession are faced with many challenges at the moment, and in times like this, it would be easy to fall into despair and apathy,” said Dr. Mukkamala. “But this is where we have to find the motivation to advance us – to advance the work of this organization.

“Doctors are designed for moments like this. We are problems with problems. We are defenders. We are resilient. We are determined. We must speak with one voice to demand a better future for our patients and our profession. ”

Read on the other Highlights of the AMA annual meeting 2025.