AMA elects new president heavily involved in Flint water contamination response

The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates today elected Bobby Mukkamala, MD, an otolaryngologist from Flint, Michigan. Mukkamala was named president-elect of the AMA for the 2025-2026 term. He will be officially inaugurated as the AMA president in June 2025.

“It is a turbulent time to be a physician in this country,” Mukkamala said in a statement. “Challenges like an unsustainable Medicare payment system, excessive prior authorization, and physician burnout have put our health system in a precarious place. But the AMA is fighting these battles in Congress, in state capitals, and in our communities to achieve a better future where physicians can spend more time with their patients.”

Mukkamala has been active in the AMA since he was a resident at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. He is currently chair of the AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force, which advocates for evidence-based policies to fight the nation’s overdose epidemic. He is a past recipient of the AMA Foundation’s “Excellence in Medicine” Leadership Award and was elected to the AMA Council on Science and Public Health in 2009. He chaired the council from 2016–2017, before being elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 2017. Mukkamala then won reelection to the board in 2021.

The son of two immigrant physicians, Mukkamala was inspired to go into medicine and return to his hometown of Flint to serve the community that welcomed his family decades before. He played a central role in response to the Flint water crisis, serving as chair of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, a group that sought to mitigate the effects of lead exposure in children.

He has served as a member of the Michigan State Medical Society’s board of directors since 2011, as board chair for two years, and as its president. He is also a past president of the Genesee County Medical Society and continues to serve on its board of directors.

Mukkamala will succeed Bruce A. Scott, MD, as the second consecutive AMA president to specialize in otolaryngology.

AMA Speaker, vice speaker reelected

Lisa Bohman Egbert, MD, was reelected to the role of speaker of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD). An ob-gyn from Dayton, Ohio, Egbert previously served as the HOD’s vice speaker. She began her AMA service in medical school when she was selected to serve as the medical student representative on the Women in Medicine Advisory Panel. Subsequently, she was elected to the governing councils of the Resident and Fellows Section and the Young Physicians Section, serving as chair of the latter. She was previously a member of the AMPAC board of directors and the AMA Council on Medical Service.

John H. Armstrong, MD, was reelected as the vice speaker. He is a trauma surgeon, medical educator and Army veteran from Ocala, Florida. Armstrong was previously elected as the young physician trustee and served as the AMA secretary in 2004–2005. He was a member of an AMA advisory council on planning and development, and since 1989, has participated regularly in the HOD as a member of several delegations representing the voices of surgeons, physicians in training, hospital-based physicians and Army physicians.

AMA Board of Trustees and council election winners

• David H. Aizuss, MD (ophthalmologist)
• Melissa J. Garretson, MD (pediatrics)
• Lynn Jeffers, MD, MBA (plastic surgeon)
• Ilse Levin, DO, MPHTM (internist and epidemiologist)
• David Welsh, MD, MBA (general surgeon)

Candidates elected to open positions on AMA councils:

• AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs: Charles Hickey, MD, (ophthalmologist) and Kelsey Mumford, RN. 
• AMA Council on Medical Education: Seema Sidhu, MD, (OB-GYN)
• AMA Council on Constitution and Bylaws: Christopher E. Gribbin, MD (interventional radiologist)
• AMA Council on Medical Service: Steven Chen, MD, MBA (surgical oncology) ;  Erick Eiting, MD, MPH (emergency medicine); Zeke Silva, III, MD (diagnostic and interventional radiologist)
• AMA Council on Science and Public Health: Raymond K. Tu, MD, MS (radiology); Resident physician: Rachel Ekaireb, MD (general surgery resident)