Pender named APA president‐elect

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has chosen Vivian Pender, M.D. , as the medical society's next president‐elect, APA officials announced. The results were released Feb. 12 but are not official until the APA board of trustees confirms them at its APA annual meeting in March. Pender is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, a training psychoanalyst at Columbia University, and a consultant psychiatrist and psychoanalyst to the United Nations. She is in private practice in New York City and founder of Healthcare Against Trafficking Inc., working to raise awareness of the role of health care in addressing this public health issue. An APA Distinguished Life Fellow, she has served in numerous leadership roles at the APA, including as a member of the APA board of trustees since 2014, and a member of the Finance and Budget Committee. Among Pender's priorities as APA president, when she assumes that role in May 2021, are improving access to treatment; ensuring parity in reimbursement; increasing advocacy and combating stigma and discrimination; and promoting diversity, inclusion and social justice.