January 8, 2008

Dear Friends and colleagues,

You have received this letter because you have been a recent member of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry, or because you have voiced an interest in joining.

As I write to you the news is full of the political hurly burly of a presidential election year. The watchwords seem to be change and hope. In that spirit I would like to share with you some of the changes in the organization and the hopes that we have for it over the next few years.

I would like to begin by introducing myself as the new President of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry. I am currently on the faculty of the University of Iowa in the departments of Medicine and Psychiatry. I came to this position after completing a combined Internal Medicine/Psychiatry residency. In the course of my practice at the University of Iowa have had the opportunity to work in many areas that reflect the mission of the Association. These have included a Med-Psych inpatient unit, a Med-Psych clinic, a collaborative care program in primary care and a Med-Psych residency program.

As many of you know this mission is to enhance the care of patients with concurrent physical and neuropsychiatric disorders through. The association seeks to achieve this:

1. By creating educational programs to disseminate basic science and clinical knowledge about concurrent medical and psychiatric illness and the care of patients with such comorbidities;

2. By developing curricula and teaching materials for students, residents and fellows in the primary care and psychiatric specialties;

3. By generating guidelines for residencies in Internal Medicine/Psychiatry and Family Medicine/Psychiatry, fellowships in Psychiatry in the Medically Ill for primary care physicians, Medical/Psychiatry Units and Medical/Psychiatry Clinics;

4. By setting priorities and fostering basic and applied research in the care of patients with both physical and psychiatric problems; and

5. By participating in national forums related to the assessment, treatment and research funding of projects pertinent to the care of patients with combined illness.

This association invites balanced participation by primary care physicians, psychiatrists and dually trained practitioners which makes it an ideal forum for innovation in the dissemination of information, creation of services and training programs, and the performance of research for benefiting patients with physical and psychiatric problems.

I know that many of you share my passion for pursuing the goals above. In pursuing a career in this area of medicine, this association has provided me with a forum for meeting and collaborating with others who share that passion. Thus it is a privilege and an honor to have been asked to serve you and help to shape this organization into a force for progress and innovation in this fields.

Unfortunately it is also a considerable challenge and one in which I am requesting your help. We are trying this year to rejuvenate the organization and get it back on firm footing. I would also like to ensure that the association is meeting the needs of you, the members.

Over the last few years we have been plagued with administrative difficulties that have made it hard to communicate with you regularly or to collect dues on a consistent basis. This is a situation that I would like to rectify.

Many of you who have not heard consistently from the association may wonder as to what the current activities and future directions of the association are. To this end I have attached a brief summary of recent developments and plans for the immediate future that I hope you will review.

The first order of business is to update our list of members and to collect dues to allow the organization to move forward with the initiatives described above. In order to move forward with the above I would like to request your help in the following areas

I. Renewing membership: I am attaching a membership form in lieu of a dues statement. For those of you who have been long term members this will allow us to update your information. If you no longer wish to be a member of the organization please send me an email noting this.

II. Tell us about your needs: The form includes some questions about how you would like to see the organization progress in future. The council and I would really value your feedback on this.

III. Join us at the Annual Meeting: Information about the 2008 meeting will be disseminated no later than mid-February. It is slated for the fall, in August/September. I would look forward to your joining us there and participating in a discussion on future direction for this group.

Again, I am glad to be in this position and would like to thank you for this opportunity to serve you as the President. I look forward to working with you and hopefully meeting each of you at our annual meeting. If I can be of any other assistance, please feel free to email me at medpsych@amedpsych.com.

Sincerely,



Anjan Bhattacharyya, MD.