Well, it’s hard to believe it’s spring again, that the annual meeting is right around the corner, and that my term as resident is drawing to a close. It’s been a wonderful year, and I feel tremendous satisfaction and pride in what APA has accomplished.

This has been a terrific year for advocacy, and I was honored to be asked to represent APA three times at the White House: last June at the White House Conference on Mental Health, in December for the release of the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health, and in March when Mrs. Clinton and the Surgeon General announced their initiatives regarding children’s mental health.

It was timely, and, in fact, overdue, that we moved to substantially enhance our advocacy efforts at APA. Government relations and public affairs activities were coordinated in a way not previously done, and substantially more resources have been devoted to our government-relations advocacy efforts. The new Commission on Public Policy, Litigation, and Advocacy, approved at the March Board meeting, will provide the structure for allocation of new resources in the advocacy arena.

The new resources I am referring to come about as a result of the substantial budget reallocation the Board passed in October. This reallocation will provide nearly $25 million over the next 10 years for new activities in government relations, public education, revenue sharing with district branches and state societies, and substantial dues relief for early career psychiatrists (the group in which we’ve had the greatest falloff in APA membership).

Of course, as I mentioned numerous times this year, this reallocation could not have come to pass without the members’ approval of our corporate reorganization. Many people, especially district branch and state society leaders and our public affairs staff, worked extremely hard to ensure that the bylaws changes that will allow our reorganization to go forward were passed by the membership. The nearly 95 percent "yes" vote reflects what a great job everyone did and allows us to move ahead with our plans.

There are a number of other significant actions this year of which I am very proud. These are a few of the ones I feel are most important:

• A multiyear, multimillion-dollar initiative to work in partnership with the business community to improve the benefits for mental health and substance abuse treatment provided by employer. Lawrence Kraus, a past senior vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has joined the APA staff as a consultant to help lead these efforts.

• The consolidation of APA and APPI publishing activities into the American Psychiatric Publishing Group. This restructuring will help us maintain our leadership position in psychiatric publishing and enhance the efficiency of our publishing operations.

• The sale of our interest in our headquarters building with investment of the proceeds from the sale. This and other fiscal management activities gave us a budget surplus for 1999 and allowed us to continue the moratorium on dues rates that has been in existence for a number of years. This moratorium has resulted in an effective reduction in dues rates of 10 percent when the effects of inflation are taken into account.

• We operationalized two new committees to improve relationships between national APA and district branches and state societies: a Board committee on district branch relations and the district branch advisory committee made up of DB and state society execs. The work of these groups was enhanced by new electronic communications tools.

• The Board acted to assure the future stability of the professional liability insurance program endorsed by APA.

• A substantial new investment in electronic communications and information technology infrastructure, including APA’s cofounding role in Medem.com, our multispecialty public education Web site project.

• The recruitment of Darryl Regier, M.D., an internationally renowned psychiatric researcher, to head the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education and the APA Office of Research. We also increased our commitment to development activities with the hiring of a permanent, full-time development director for the American Psychiatric Foundation, Steve Rubloff.

As should be clear, we have had a busy and productive year, and many people deserve a share of the credit. The Board of Trustees took to heart the theme of last summer’s Board retreat, "Leading Through Change," and worked diligently and creatively to translate our Association’s goals into practical reality. I’m especially appreciative of the role played by our past presidents on the Board, who provided thoughtful counsel from the perspective of their experience in senior leadership in APA.

One of the highlights of this year, and of my entire career, was the opportunity to work closely with Steve Mirin, our medical director. If there was ever a right person at the right time for a job, Steve is clearly that person. His dedication, his intelligence, and his energy have already benefited APA in ways that few will ever fully appreciate, and I know that this will continue into the future.

Special thanks go to all my colleagues in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Even with my attention and time sometimes directed more to APA than to our department, you have continued to maintain a standard of excellence in all we do with understanding and graciousness. Particular thanks go to Joan Lucas, my administrative assistant in Louisville, who not only managed all my department work, but added on all my APA work in her usual unflappable and unbelievably competent way. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the year without Joan’s help.

Most important, I want to thank my family. The time that I’ve spent working for APA over the last several years has been wonderful and gratifying in many ways, but one of the prices for this experience has been less time with my wife, Cathy, and my kids, Josh, David, and Sarah. Hurried conversations from airports and hotel rooms, missed parents’ nights at school, and faxed editing comments about college application essays don’t really take the place of being at home. Their understanding and their tolerance made it possible for me to succeed more than anyone else.

Being APA president has been a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’ve met thousands of people and traveled to many places that I would not have been able to do otherwise, and I’ve been proud to represent our Association. I have tried hard to give back to APA a fraction of what it has given me throughout my career.

While my year as president is ending, the personal and professional relationships that I’ve developed will continue, and I know I will still be working with all of you over the coming years to uphold the highest standards of our profession.

Thanks for your support.