CHICAGO - The American Medical Association (AMA) has announced that Joseph M. Heyman, MD, assumes the chair of the AMA Board of Trustees after a one-year term as chair-elect. Dr. Heyman is a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist in Amesbury, Mass., who has been a member of the AMA Board of Trustees since 2002.

"I am proud to lead the resources of the AMA, and the collective wisdom of the physicians it represents, in offering practical solutions to the challenges we face in the nation's health care system," said Dr. Heyman.

Dr. Heyman was previously a member of the Council on Medical Service, a prominent AMA advisory committeee, serving on its executive committee from 1997 to 2000 and as its chair from 2000 to 2001. During his tenure on the Council, Dr. Heyman helped develop important AMA policy on health insurance reform and emerging issues faced by physicians and the paitients they serve.
Since 2003, he has served as a commissioner on the Joint Commission, an organization that evaluates and accredits nearly 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States and is the nation's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

Previously, Dr. Heyman served as president of the Essex North District Medical Society (1984-1985) and as president of the Massachusetts Medical Society (1996-1997). He has been a member of the medical staff at Anna Jacques Hospital in Newburyport, Mass. for the last 35 years, and has served the hospital as chief of the department of obstetrics and gynecology, medical staff president and executive committee member.

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