The Road to a Healthy America

Traversing the country as the American Medical Association's President-Elect, Dr. Ronald Davis, AM'81, often exhorts his audience to pursue a healthy lifestyle.

“Here’s a statistic,” he says in a phone interview from a Miami hotel. “About half of the deaths in the United States are directly linked to unhealthy lifestyles. They are entirely preventable. The point is that people can do more to improve their own health status than doctors and hospitals and fancy technology can.”

To that end, Davis, who will become President of the AMA in June, exhorts health professionals to be good role models—something he takes to heart.

On the road it’s not easy to eat well or exercise, but Davis travels with his workout clothes and books on tape. In Miami, for instance, fellow hotel guests might have seen him riding the stationary bike deeply immersed in the latest Clive Cussler novel.

Books on tape also help him get through his commute from home in East Lansing to the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, where he manages various initiatives including programs on smoking cessation and employee wellness.

However, since being named President-Elect in 2006, Davis has had to balance his work in Michigan with working on a national scale to make a difference in people’s lives. “The public-at-large has tremendous respect for the AMA so people tend to listen. It gives us a responsibility to try and shape our healthcare system into the best possible system it can be.”

During his three-year term (one year each as President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President), which ends in 2009, he will represent the AMA in interviews with media, testimony before Congress, and meetings with leading policymakers. He also travels around the country talking to groups of physicians, medical students, or others like rotary clubs.

His focus is on advancing the AMA’s goals regarding healthcare coverage for the uninsured, medical liability reform, improving the quality and safety of healthcare, or Medicare reform. This role also affords him the opportunity to advocate for progress in public health, an area close to his heart—as a preventive medicine specialist.

Public health and policy have long been parallel interests for Davis, who took time off from medical school to attend the Harris School. “Public health is by definition a part of government, and it’s part of the public sector, so it depends on public policy,” he said. “I thought a good grounding in policy studies would help me in my future role as a public health physician to influence health policy.”

One thing the Harris School taught him is that change is incremental. That awareness has better prepared him for his work with the AMA. “It’s valuable to know that you can’t go to a city council or a state legislature or Congress and expect to achieve radical reform of any kind of public policy in one fell swoop,” he said. “You can’t expect to solve complex problems simply or quickly.”

Jenn Q. Goddu