Representation

The Board of Trustees, composed of officers and trustees, elected by the membership, governs the American Psychiatric Association. The power to make policy is vested in the Board, and the Board’s primary function is to formulate and implement the policies of the Association. The Board exercises all powers of the Association that are not otherwise assigned. Trustees are expected to attend all Board meetings and participate in the matters at hand, for they cannot delegate responsibility to govern or give a proxy vote. Area trustees are ex-officio members of their respective Area Councils. Meetings of the Board of Trustees occur five times a year.

The Assembly is a deliberative, advisory body to the Board of Trustees. It represents the individual members of the Association and acts for them in the affairs of the Association by means of the District Branch representatives. The Bylaws of the Association were amended in 1952 to create the Assembly of District Branches, commonly known as the Assembly. This allowed for representatives members of local/state psychiatric societies to meet and influence the direction of the national organization. Meetings of the Assembly are held twice yearly, each November in Washington, DC and each May just before the APA Annual Meeting.

The Assembly is officiated by a Speaker, Speaker-Elect and Recorder and governed by a Procedural Code of the Assembly. The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure by Alice Sturgis, is used to maintain order during Assembly meetings.

The Assembly is comprised of Representatives elected by the District Branches; a Representative from each Minority/Underrepresented Group; two Resident Fellow Representatives from each Area; two Early Career Psychiatrist Representatives from each Area; a Representative from each Assembly Allied Organization; and the Assembly Executive Committee.  

The Indiana Psychiatric Society is represented on a national level by Assembly Representatives Michael Francis, MD and Brian Hart, MD. Both Drs. Francis and Hart represent the society at Area IV meetings.  The Area IV is comprised of the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

To contact Drs. Francis and Hart about issues relevant to psychiatry, click here.