A Farewell to My Readers By Herbert S. Sacks, M.D. APA President

This is my last president's column, my 25th since assuming the presidency. The biweekly effort often flows easily from brain to pen and at other times it is a chore given my continuing obligations and travel. The column's calendar imperative puts into play preconscious fragments, ideas, and notions about policy matters that become coherent as the blueline stage approaches in the editor's offices and in my mind. For the gentle calendar reminders always touched by grace, I am grateful to Assistant Managing Editor Cathy Brown.

I have been appreciative of your telephone calls, faxes, letters, and personal comments that have kept me on course and inspired me to reach beyond my grasp. My mission has been to use the column as a bully pulpit, but not to belabor the reader with wearying calls to action when APA, inside and outside the Beltway, has been pressing forward on every front to make our case for quality patient care, and for our professional standards and credo.

I have wanted to broaden our view of the world, to hear your thoughts about the place of psychiatry among the 24 medical specialties, and to see us as powerful advocates for our patients. Most importantly, for the field to thrive, I wanted to underscore our humanism and our capacity to engage in philosophic reflection, and to strongly encourage the life of the mind. From your responses and from the notes I have received from mentors like Henry Work and Jay Katz and colleagues such as Al Rothenberg, Abe Halpern, and many others, I believe I have succeeded in stirring the porridge, provoking informed discourse, and keeping you abreast of what your leaders are thinking.

And now I pass the baton to my good friend and close colleague, Rod Muņoz, who shares with me a strong conviction about APA's vision and mission.