Each step that I have taken on my journey toward being a doctor has
equipped me with tools that I hope to bring to my American Psychiatric
Association. I have served in leadership positions with NAACP and Alpha Phi
Alpha Inc., organizations founded on tenets of advocacy and activism for
persons who are often left voiceless. I have been educated in the field of
public administration, gaining insight into the skills of organizational
collaboration, team building, and professional and personal ethics. During
graduate school, I worked with a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving
the homeless. I have sat in the chamber of my hometown's city council and
played a role in helping quantify effective government. I have been trained at
a medical institution founded in order to educate and serve those who are
often underrepresented or face discrimination. It has been ingrained within me
that the disenfranchised and the voiceless must have representation. The
recognition of psychiatric illness continues to grow, faster than the stigma
can be dispelled. Many of our patients are the overlooked, the homeless, the
forgotten, and the barely tolerated. It is unacceptable for us to be silent
and allow our patients to be seen as "less than" or as irritating
speed bumps to those "really in need."
I seek to use my time as member-in-training trustee not only as a
representative of the needs of members-in-training, but to further enhance the
potential that my professional organization has to fuel change and
embolden those who desire more for the persons we serve. I seek to serve as
one of the faces of diversity within our field, while pushing for continued
minority involvement. I seek to use my position to help reignite fires
suppressed by the overwhelming realities of modern medical practice. I seek to
be the voice of an evolving member-in-training component that will soon
inherit the reins of psychiatry.
My goals as member-in-training trustee will be:
I look forward for the opportunity to serve as your member-in-training
trustee.