CHICAGO -- Ronald M. Davis, MD, a preventive medicine specialist from East Lansing, Mich., was inaugurated as the 162nd president of the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest and most influential physician organization.

In his inaugural address at the AMA Annual Meeting, Dr. Davis pledged that the work of the AMA would be guided by the medical profession's sacred responsibility to patients. "We will win our battles on big issues, not for ourselves, but for our patients. We will advance the frontiers of science and healing, not for ourselves, but for our patients. We will stand together, stronger, not for ourselves, but for our patients," said Dr. Davis.

Dr. Davis served as the first resident physician member on the AMA Board of Trustees from 1984 to 1987. He returned to the AMA Board in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005. He has served as chair of the Board Finance and Audit Committees, AMA representative to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's Board of Commissioners, and AMA liaison to the Advisory Committee for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Davis has had an active role in shaping the policies of organized medicine. He has chaired the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs and the AMA Specialty and Service Society, a consortium of 100 national medical specialty societies represented in the AMA House of Delegates.

Dr. Davis' distinguished career as a public health official includes positions as medical director for the Michigan Department of Public Health and director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. Currently, he is the director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

Dr. Davis received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. He obtained his medical degree and a master's degree in public policy at the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine.

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