Rahn Bailey, M.D., chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, was inaugurated as the new president of the National Medical Association (NMA) at that organization’s annual convention and scientific assembly in New Orleans last month.

Bailey, a former speaker of the NMA’s House of Delegates, is just the third of the NMA’s 113 presidents to be a psychiatrist.

Earlier this year Bailey also began a term as president of the Tennessee Psychiatric Association.

Founded in 1895, the NMA is the nation’s oldest and largest medical association representing African-American physicians. Its birth stemmed from the exclusion of African Americans from other medical organizations. Its mission statement says that its goal is “to advance the art and science of medicine for people of African descent through education, advocacy, and health policy to promote health and wellness, eliminate disparities, and sustain physician viability.”

Among the organization’s priorities are targeting health conditions that “disproportionately or differentially impact persons of African descent and underserved populations” and increasing the number of African-American physicians.

Bailey told Psychiatric News that heading his agenda as NMA president are “the elimination of health care disparities … and increasing access to parity for all Americans.”

He also plans to escalate the battle against the stigma and bias often attached to mental illness and the people who suffer from such disorders. “Stigma has a penetrating adverse effect on all patients,” he said, and is a significant barrier to people with mental illness receiving the quality care they need. Overcoming stigma, he added, will require education programs that raise awareness of mental health issues and are targeted in particular to families and friends of those with mental illness “and even physicians.”

Bailey said that he also hopes to shine a bright light on the health care disparities that keep many minority patients from getting treatment for severe brain disorders and result in earlier mortality compared with other population groups suffering from these disorders.

In 2006, the NMA honored Bailey for his efforts to coordinate medical care after Hurricane Katrina.

Bailey has also been active in APA for many years. He is currently the Assembly’s deputy representative for the Caucus of Black Psychiatrists. A forensic psychiatrist, he has also served on the Council on Psychiatry and Law.

At the NMA’s recent annual meeting in New Orleans, APA’s Office of Minority and National Affairs (OMNA) sponsored a reception in collaboration with the NMA Psychiatry Section and the Black Psychiatrists of America, attended by approximately 100 people, to honor Bailey and celebrate his ascension to the NMA presidency.

Annelle Primm, M.D., APA senior deputy medical director and head of OMNA, noted that Bailey “has been highly active in organizational medicine through his involvement in governance of both the NMA and APA. It is quite impressive that his contributions have resulted in him being elected president of the NMA and, simultaneously, president of the Tennessee Psychiatric Association. APA is fortunate to have him as one of our distinguished members.” She added that “This is truly a moment in the field of medicine wherein the presidents of major medical organizations, Dr. Bailey at the NMA and Dr. Jeremy Lazarus at the AMA, are psychiatrists.” Both of these leaders, she pointed out, “are poised to work collaboratively with APA to seize this opportunity to shed light on the importance of mental health in the context of overall health in this era of health care reform.”