WMA elects its First Woman Chair of Council

Dr. Ardis Hoven, Immediate Past President of the American Medical Association, was today (Thursday) elected the new Chair of the World Medical Association. She was elected at the WMA’s 200th Council meeting in Oslo, Norway and takes over immediately as the WMA’s first woman Chair.

Dr. Hoven, who did her internship and residency at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is an internal medicine and infectious disease specialist in Lexington, Kentucky, and is Professor of Medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. She was President of the American Medical Association in 2013 and had been a member of the AMA Board of Trustees since 2005, becoming its secretary and then chair. For the past few years she has been the chair of the AMA delegation to the World Medical Association.

Dr. Hoven has been the recipient of many awards, including the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award and the Kentucky Medical Association Distinguished Service Award. In 2013 she was named one of Modern Healthcare Magazine’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare and among its 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders.

Speaking today, Dr. Hoven said: ‘We face complex and far reaching challenges -shrinking resources, complicated and difficult practice environments, shifting government regulations and dangerous working conditions. However our current work speaks to our impact.

‘I value consensus and our diversity and I will work to increase our visibility and strengthen our voice.’

Prof. Dr. Frank Ulrich Montgomery, President of the German Medical Association, was elected unopposed as Vice-Chair, and Dr. Masami Ishii, from the Japan Medical Association, was elected unopposed as Treasurer.