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Anesthesiologist Becomes American Medical Association President-Elect

Analysis  |  By Christopher Cheney  
   June 14, 2022

The Wisconsin-based physician was on the AMA Board of Trustees from 2014 to 2020, including serving as chair of the board.

The American Medical Association has voted a Wisconsin anesthesiologist to serve as the organization's president-elect.

Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, was elected at the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates. He will become president of the AMA in June 2023.

"I am honored to be elected by my peers to represent the nation's physicians and the patients we serve. It is a pivotal and challenging time for medicine, physicians and our health system, and as president-elect, I am committed to advancing the AMA's immediate goals around the Recovery Plan for America's Physicians, as well as the longer-term advocacy efforts aimed at shaping the future of medicine and improving the health of the nation," Ehrenfeld said in a prepared statement.

He is the first openly gay individual to serve as AMA president-elect and is an inaugural recipient of the National Institutes of Health Sexual and Gender Minority Research Investigator Award.

Ehrenfeld has served in several AMA leadership roles. He was elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 2014 and served as chair of the board from 2019 to 2020. He has served as a member of the governing councils of the AMA Young Physicians Section and the AMA Resident and Fellow Section.

Ehrenfeld is a practicing anesthesiologist, senior associate dean, and tenured professor of anesthesiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is also an adjunct professor of anesthesiology and health policy at Vanderbilt University and adjunct professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.

Ehrenfeld is the co-author of 18 clinical textbooks and more than 200 peer-reviewed articles. His areas of research include using digital technology to improve surgical safety, patient outcomes, and health equity.

He is a graduate of Haverford College, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health. He conducted his post-graduate work including a residency in anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

A combat veteran, Ehrenfeld served in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and Resolute Support Mission. He lives in Milwaukee with his husband, Judd Taback, and their son, Ethan.

Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.


KEY TAKEAWAYS

Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, is the first openly gay individual to serve as president-elect of the AMA.

Ehrenfeld is the co-author of 18 clinical textbooks and more than 200 peer-reviewed articles.

He is a graduate of Haverford College, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health.

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