About the Arizona Psychiatric Society
why belonging to your progressional organization is important
- APS is a strong voice in Arizona Legislature and at the state regulatory agencies - advocating for the profession and our patients.
- APS provides representation of psychiatry at the Arizona Medical Association.
- APS participates and provides leadership in coalitions with other mental health professionals, patient, and family groups in advocating for access to quality care, ending stigma and discrimination against patients and psychiatric treatments.
- Coalitions that APS participates in include the Interprofessional Behavioral Health Association of Arizona, the Arizona Coalition for Insurance Parity, and the Arizona Healthcare Advocacy Coalition. APS offers quality CME programs through scientific meetings.
- APS represents Arizona psychiatrists in matters before the American Psychiatric Association
- APS provides its members with the opportunity to have input and participation through committees positions of leadership. APS is your advocate and your representative in these challenging times. Without a strong and unified organization, who else will advocate for the interests of psychiatry?
ARIZONA PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY 2022-2023 EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President: Stephen (Larry) Mecham, DO
President-Elect: Gagandeep Singh, MDVice President: Nicholas Ahrendt, MDTreasurer: Srinivas Dannaram, MDSecretary: Margaret Balfour, MD, PhDCo Resident-Fellow Member Representatives:
Reema Chopra, DO,
Chase Crookham, DO, and Kailee Marin, DO
APA Assembly Representatives:
Jason Curry, DO (serves term concluding 2023)
Jasleen Chhatwal, MBBS, MD (two-year term concluding 2024)Payam Sadr, MD (one-year term concluding 2024)
Jasleen Chhatwal, MBBS, MD, Past President
The Society thanks these members for their leadership.
we invite you to contribute to leadership
The work of the Arizona Psychiatric Society is achieved through the efforts and contributions of many different Committee Chairs and their supporting committee members. Members are invited to join and contribute to committees of interest; contact the Society to be added. The Committees of the Society and their current Chairpersons are as follows:
APS Delegates to the Arizona Medical Association House of Delegates: Brian Espinoza, MD, and Alan Anderson, MD
Communications: Chair (Open)
Disaster Mental Health: Chair (Open)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Jasleen Chhatwal, MBBS, MD
Early Career Psychiatrists: Srinivas Dannaram, MD, and Nathan Jones, MD, Co-Chairs
Education: Stephen (Larry) Mecham, DO, Chair
Ethics: Jehangir (Jay) B. Bastani, MD
Forensic: Jack Potts, MD, and Scott Kirkorsky, MD, Co-Chairs
Legislative: Don J. Fowls, MD, Chair
Membership: Nicholas Ahrendt, MD, and Payam Sadr, MD, Co-Chairs
Nomination: Gurjot Marwah, MD, Chair
Resident-Fellow Member (Co-Chairs Elected Representatives Above)
Women's Group: Bahar Altaha, MD, Chair
Celebrating our members
As a member of the APA since medical school, and APS since starting residency, I am grateful for the opportunities that our professional organizations have provided me. Specifically, APS membership has afforded me the opportunity to establish mentors who have encouraged me to follow my passion around Women’s Reproductive Mental Health as well as therapy. Similarly, through the resident caucus of the APA, I learned of the Reproductive Psychiatry Interest Group and the American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis. APS membership helped me identify these opportunities that I anticipate leveraging as I embark on the next chapter of my career.
The field of psychiatry drew my interest because of the close relationships it offers and because of the need for mental health treatment in my own community. Being a member of the Arizona Psychiatric Society has allowed me to better advocate for my patients, remain connected with my colleagues and stay up to date with and contribute to improvements in the field.
I am very grateful to receive the Resident Recognition Award for 2022. It is a huge honor considering the amazing cohort of residents I have worked with at my program. For the next part of my journey, I am thrilled to be joining the inpatient faculty at Banner University Medical Campus – South in the fall where I will find myself as a physician leader. To be a physician leader means staying accountable to my core values which include adaptability, remaining introspective, adhering to the highest ethical standards, and accepting ownership when failure may happen. To be a leader is also to empower those around me to be as successful as they can become, such as my patients, my colleagues, the residents and medical students I will have the privilege of working with, and everyone I encounter in the system that we are working in. It is an incredibly exciting time in psychiatry to find myself as a physician leader where novel treatment modalities are on the rise and advocacy for those in need are growing.
ARIZONA PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY past presidents
Otto L. Bendheim, M.D. 1960-1961Warren S. Williams, M.D. 1961-1963T. Richard Gregory, M.D. 1963-1964Boris Zemsky, M.D. 1964-1965 Hal J. Breen, M.D. 1965-1966Joseph M. Green, M.D. 1966-1967Irene M. Josselyn, M.D. 1967-1968Hubert R. Estes, M.D. 1968-1969Richard H. Bruner, M.D. 1969-1970Thomas F. Kruchek, M.D. 1970-1971David S. Burgoyne Sr., M.D. 1971-1972Marshall W. Jones, M.D. 1972-1973Harold D. Haeussler, M.D. 1973-1974William B. Haeussler, M.D. 1974-1975Edward S. Gelardin, M.D. 1975-1976Hugo L. Cozzi, M.D. 1976-1977Robert F. Meyer, M.D. 1977-1978James E. Campbell, M.D. 1978-1979Stuart M. Gould, M.D. 1979-1980Elliot M. Heiman, M.D. 1980-1981Stephen V. Shanfield, M.D. 1981-1982Jerry A. Biggs, M.D. 1982-1983Robert C. Shapiro, M.D. 1983-1984Dennis C. Westin, M.D. 1984-1985John H. Jarvis, M.D. 1985-1986James G. Hill, M.D. 1986-1987Robert P. Bevan, M.D. 1987-1988Eugene J. Kinder, M.D. 1988-1989
James M. Campbell, M.D. 1989-1990David S. Burgoyne II, M.D. 1990-1991
Stuart W. Hollingsworth, M.D. 1991-1992Kevin J. Leehey, M.D. 1992-1993Stephen S. Brockway, M.D. 1993-1994Michael H. Stumpf, M.D. 1994-1995Lauro Amezcua-Patino, M.D. 1995-1996David S. Burgoyne II, M.D. 1997-1998Glenn Lippman, M.D. 1998-1999Lisa Jones, M.D. 1999-2000David J. Coons, M.D. 2000-2001James M. Campbell, M.D. 2001-2002Bradley Johnson, M.D. 2002-2003David W. Leicken, M.D. 2003-2004Thomas N. Crumbley, M.D. 2004-2006Jeffrey L. Schwimmer, M.D., M.P.H. 2006-2007Stephen O. Morris, M.D. 2007-2008Jack L. Potts, M.D. 2008-2009Elizabeth A. Kohlhepp, M.D. 2009-2010Michael E. Brennan, M.D. 2010-2011Gretchen Alexander, M.D. 2011-2012Tariq M. Ghafoor, M.D. 2012-2013Joanna K. Kowalik, M.D., M.P.H., 2013-2014Payam M. Sadr, M.D., 2014-2015Roland Segal, M.D., 2015-2016Gurjot Marwah, M.D., 2016-2017Aaron Wilson, M.D., 2017-2018Mona Amini, M.D., 2018-2019
Don J. Fowls, M.D., 2019-2020
Jasleen Chhatwal, M.B.B.S., M.D., 2020-2022