(Term Ends: 2028)
Dr. Patrice Harris is the CEO and Co-Founder of eMed, a digital healthcare company. A board-certified psychiatrist based in Atlanta, she brings extensive experience as a practicing physician, county public health director and patient advocate. With deep expertise in public policy on legislative and regulatory matters at all levels of government, Dr. Harris was the 174th President of the American Medical Association (AMA) and, notably, the first African American woman to hold that position. She serves as a visiting professor of psychiatry at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and is the Chief Health and Medical Editor of EverydayHealth.com.
Dr. Harris also served on the AMA Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2021, including a term as Chair from 2016 to 2017. Her AMA leadership roles included chairing the AMA Council on Legislation and contributing to multiple task forces on topics like health information technology, payment and delivery reform and private contracting.
As Chair of the AMA Opioid Task Force from 2014 to 2021, Dr. Harris led national efforts to address the opioid epidemic, advocating to remove barriers to treatment, improve access to affordable non-opioid pain care and reduce stigma for individuals with substance use disorders.
Beyond the AMA, Dr. Harris has held leadership roles with the American Psychiatric Association, Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association, Medical Association of Georgia and The Big Cities Health Coalition, where she chaired the coalition of leaders from major U.S. metropolitan health departments. She also serves on the boards of United Bankshares Inc., Quartet Health, the Georgia AIDS Coalition and the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement (ARCHI).
Raised in Bluefield, West Virginia, Dr. Harris aspired to work in medicine in an era when few women of color worked in the field. She earned her B.A. in psychology, M.A. in counseling psychology, and M.D. from WVU, where her passion for child advocacy began. She completed her psychiatry residency and fellowships in child and adolescent psychiatry and forensic psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine, where she was also a senior policy fellow at the Barton Child Law and Policy Center.
Dr. Harris is known for her dedication to children’s mental health, behavioral health integration, health equity and the social determinants of health, with special focuses on childhood trauma and mental health in athletics. A respected mentor, advocate and role model, she is frequently invited to speak at national and international conferences and has appeared as an expert on CNN, MSNBC, Fox and NPR. Dr. Harris’s many honors recognize her contributions to healthcare, public health and medical education.