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Candidate for Trustee-at-Large

About the Candidate

David Fassler, M.D.

General Member, 1983

• Clinical Director, Otter Creek Associates, 1987-
  
• Chair, APA Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families, 1997-
  
• Representative, Vermont Psychiatric Association, APA Assembly 1990-96
  
• Clinical Associate Professor, University of Vermont College of Medicine, 1994-
  
• Vice Chair, AMA Section Council on Psychiatry, 1997-
  
• Recipient, Green Ribbon Award for Advocacy and Public Education, National Mental Health Association, 2000
  

Candidate’s Views

I’m a child and adolescent psychiatrist practicing in Burlington, Vt. Like most of us, I lead a diverse and somewhat eclectic life. I am part of a multidisciplinary group that includes 15 psychiatrists. In addition to outpatient practice, we provide psychiatric services for many area agencies, organizations, and hospitals. I am also a member of the clinical faculty at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.

Within APA, I currently chair the Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families. I have also served as the Assembly rep from Vermont, as chair of the Committee on Psychiatry, Mental Health, and the Schools, and as the Assembly’s liaison to the Council on International Affairs. At a local level, I’m the treasurer and federal legislative rep of the Vermont Psychiatric Association and the current president of the Vermont Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

My message is fairly simple. APA needs to focus its limited resources on the things we do well.

These are challenging times for all professional organizations. In this regard, APA is no different. As trustee-at-large, I would emphasize the following priorities:

• Streamline APA structures and improve communication with the membership
  
• Make APA resources and services more accessible to members
  
• Reevaluate the current dues structure with an emphasis on value and flexibility
  
• Support district branch initiatives to deal with local issues
  
• Focus our energy and attention on advocacy for our members and for our patients.
  

As an organization, we will thrive by paying close attention to the evolving needs of our members. We need to reach out and really represent all of American psychiatry. We are an increasingly diverse group of physicians. We’ve trained in medical schools and programs around the world, and we work in a wide variety of settings. We need to be proactive in our efforts to provide practical and useful tools for our members. We need to identify and actively support our members-in-training and early career psychiatrists. We also need to find ways to reconnect with our colleagues who have become disaffected with organized psychiatry. And we need to continue our efforts to secure adequate and stable funding for our training programs and research agendas. The future of our profession depends on our ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of our interventions.

Despite the challenges we face, these are also exciting times for psychiatry and for APA. It’s exciting that the science of our profession is stronger than ever before. It’s exciting to practice at a time when we’re unraveling the genetics and the neurobiology of mental illness. And it’s exciting that we’re joining forces with advocacy organizations to pass parity legislation, protect patient confidentiality, and preserve the doctor-patient relationship.

I’m honored to have been nominated to run for the position of trustee-at-large. If elected, I will do my best to represent the views, interests, and needs of our members and our patients.

Primary Loci of Work and Sources of Income
Work: 50%—Private practice (Otter Creek Associates/Matrix Health Systems)

30%—Hospital and community consultation (Vermont and upstate New York)

20%—Volunteer work for psychiatric associations and advocacy organizations

Income: 60%—Private practice (clinical and administrative activities)

40%—Hospital and community consultation

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