NY/NJ Pediatric Surgeon Named AMA President-elect

Peter W. Carmel, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon from New York City, was named president-elect of the American Medical Association today, and will become AMA president in June 2011.

"I am honored to be elected to lead the nation's most influential physicians' organization," Carmel said in a media release. "As AMA president-elect, I pledge to serve as a strong voice and dedicated advocate for patients and physicians on the pressing issues confronting our healthcare system."

Carmel, who practices in Newark, NJ, is the chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the New Jersey Medical School and co-medical director of the Neurological Institute of New Jersey.

He was first elected to the AMA board in 2002, and re-elected in 2006, and has served as a member of the AMA House of Delegates for 17 years. He has served as chair of the Specialty and Service Society, and chair of the AMA Council on Long Range Planning and Development, where he helped establish the proportional representation for specialty medical society members.

Carmel received his medical training at New York University School of Medicine and was a research associate at the National Institutes of Health. He completed his residency in neurosurgery at the Neurological Institute of New York, and obtained his doctorate in neuroanatomy from P&S, where he was the founding chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery and a professor of neurological surgery.