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Alan Newman, M.D., a fourth-year resident at the University of Arkansas, is one such psychiatrist, having been named the 1997 Daniel X. Freedman Congressional Fellow. He serves on the staff of the enate Labor and Human Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction of several health-related areas, and was hired by its chair, Vermont enator James Jeffords.
The six-month fellowship, now in its third year, is sponsored by the American Psychiatric Foundation with partial funding from an Eli Lilly and Company grant. It is named after former APA president Daniel X. Freedman, M.D., who advocated strong involvement of psychiatrists in the political process.
peaking to psychiatrists attending APA's Federal Legislative Institute in Washington, D.C., in April, Newman cautioned that "enormous stigma" still plagues many lawmakers' views of mental illness and that finding common ground with all segments of the mental health community, even in light of "attacks on psychiatrists' scope of practice from some sectors," will be necessary before advocates can point to any significant legislative successes.
One area that should concern psychiatrists, Newman noted, is the future size of the physician workforce. The expense to the government of subsidizing residents' training, coupled with a pervasive sense on Capitol Hill that the U.. has a physician surplus, could lead to moves that will ensure that fewer physicians enter the labor pool in the coming decades.
In light of the possibility that Congress will enact changes designed to shrink the physician workforce, he suggested that unless psychiatrists begin to practice in underserved and rural areas they have frequently avoided, it will be difficult to argue that "others should not be allowed to step in and fill the service needs" of people who do not have easy access to psychiatrists.
Newman said that he believes his Capitol Hill experience will give him an advantage when he advocates for psychiatric issues throughout his career. He cited three elements that make the fellowship possible and will continue to make it a success--an organization interested in improving awareness of psychiatric issues, legislators willing to take on a psychiatric fellow, and identifying and nurturing residents with an interest in legislative issues.
(Psychiatric News, June 6, 1997)