The APA Board of Trustees has made it easier than ever to achieve coveted fellowship status, voting at its July meeting to remove the requirement that a psychiatrist must be a general member for five years before becoming eligible to become an APA fellow. The remaining requirement for general members is board certification. Trustees had previously voted to eliminate a requirement that letters of recommendation had to be submitted on an applicant’s behalf.

Once APA receives a member’s application for fellowship, that member’s district branch has an opportunity to offer comments before the application goes to the Membership Committee and the Board of Trustees for final approval.

In addition to enhancing a psychiatrist’s professional credentials, fellows can use the FAPA designation on all of their professional documentation and are recognized at the Convocation during the APA annual meeting. Fellows also receive a lapel pin and a certificate indicating their status.

Fellowship applications are available on APA’s Web site at www.psychiatry.org/join-participate/member-benefits/becoming-a-fellow. Applications can be filled out online or faxed to (703) 907-1085 and must be received at APA by September 1.

The Board also voted at the July meeting to fund the APA Diversity Leadership Fellowship from the American Psychiatric Foundation’s reserves, if the foundation’s board approves, to replace the annual $165,000 grant formerly provided by pharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca. The fellowship, which was funded by the company for 15 years, is a vehicle for getting residents involved in the work of APA through participation in the annual meeting and committees, councils, and other components and preparing them for future leadership roles.

In other actions, the Board voted to

• change the national dues rates  on almost every category of membership primarily to reflect a new graduated dues structure for early career psychiatrists. In some cases dues will decline, with first-year general-member dues for U.S. members dropping the most—by $130. The largest increase will be in sixth-year dues for U.S. general members—$180. The increase for members in their seventh year of membership and beyond—the category that affects the greatest number of APA members—will be $10. Member-in-training dues will decline by $30 for U.S. residents. Dues for APA fellows will rise by either $5 or $10.

  Canadian members, who pay lower dues than their U.S. counterparts in each membership category, will also see their annual dues adjusted either up or down.

  The new dues structure does not affect district branch/state association dues, which are set by those entities.

• support a proposal from the Membership Committee to offer a one-time 25 percent discount on first-year dues to all new international members . This is an addition to the multiple strategies that the Board and other APA leaders have implemented as part of their commitment to boost the Association’s international membership.

• endorse two action papers from the Assembly on issues pertinent to the mental health of transgender and gender-variant individuals . One paper relates to access to medical care and its impact on the mental health of these individuals, advocating for removal of barriers to care and support for public and private insurance coverage for gender-transition treatment. The other paper on this topic concerns the pervasive discrimination transgender individuals face. It puts APA on record supporting laws that protect their civil rights and explains the mental health consequences of discrimination and lack of equal rights in areas such as health care, employment, housing, and licensing.

The 2013 APA national dues rates can be accessed at www.psychiatry.org/join-participate/becoming-a-member. A summary of actions from the Board of Trustees’ July meeting will be posted on the APA Web site at www.psych.org/home/access-denied?returnUrl=/network/boardof-trustees/governance-meetings.