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Shastri Swaminathan, M.D., an APA member and private practitioner in Chicago, was recently elected to AMA's IMG (international medical graduate) Governing Council. Like APA member Richard Balon, M.D., he will serve a one-year term that ends next summer (Psychiatric News, August 21).
Swaminathan, who is also a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois in Chicago, told Psychiatric News, "I have been involved with the AMA's IMG group since 1990, when it began as an advisory committee, then became a caucus, and evolved last year into the IMG Section.
"My role on the council will be to promote and advocate for IMG interests and needs across the United States. Through the IMG council's contacts with the AMA's board and other components, we will have a chance to develop and use our leadership skills."
The IMG Section, which has more than 2,000 members, was formed last year and its leaders appointed. The election for council members was held in June, and Swaminathan was among seven leaders voted in by section members. He was nominated by the Illinois Medical Society and the Indian Medical Association of Illinois. Balon was nominated by then APA president Herbert S. Sacks, M.D.
Swaminathan, who is the legislative representative for the Illinois Psychiatric Society, received his medical training at the New Delhi Institute of Medical Science and completed his psychiatric residency at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago.