November 20, 1998

Stressing the need for unity, APA President Rodrigo Muņoz, M.D., opened this year's Institute on Psychiatric Services in Los Angeles with the traditional bell ringing ceremony and a pithy presentation that highlighted his top priorities.

Noting that there were only 85 days between the Institute on Psychiatric Services and the next APA Board of Trustees meeting, Muņoz said the Association needed to "streamline our operations, integrate our activities, coordinate our efforts, and unify our goals."

APA's top goals and priorities, said Muņoz, should be advocating for both patients and the psychiatric profession; supporting education, training, and career development; defining and supporting professional values; and enhancing the scientific basis of psychiatric care.

Under his tenure, said Muņoz, APA has already taken strides toward the implementation of these goals and priorities, including "combining activities related to government relations and public affairs into one strong, unified component and establishment of a research and education institute" (Psychiatric News, November 6).

The question is, "How do we proceed from here?," asked Munoz.

APA may be conceived as "a pentagon" consisting of five elements-the Board, the Assembly, the district branches, the components, and the staff, he noted. "It is only with the integration of the efforts of all five parts of the pentagon that we can accomplish our goals and serve our patients and members."

He offered some hypothetical examples of how this unified approach might work. The goal of parity for patients with chemical dependence might involve APA's Council on Addiction Psychiatry working with the Joint Commission on Government Relations (JCGR) and the Joint Commission on Public Affairs (JCPA), thus uniting the efforts of these various components to accomplish a goal supported by the Board, the Assembly, and the district branches. Another example would be having the Council on Research coordinate with the Council on National Affairs, with the help of the JCGR and JCPA, to promote research among minorities.