Two California representatives were elected to the American Medical Association (AMA) Board of Trustees last week at the association's annual meeting in Chicago – Stanford resident Ryan Ribeira, M.D., and UCLA medical student Karthik V. Sarma, M.S. Also returning to the AMA Board of Trustees for another term is Jack Resneck, Jr., M.D., a dermatologist from San Francisco. Dr. Resneck was named chair-elect, a position he will hold for a year before being installed as board chair at the 2018 AMA annual meeting.

Dr. Ribeira, an emergency medicine resident at Stanford University, was elected by his peers to a one-year term as the resident-and-fellow representative on the AMA board.

Dr. Ribeira previously served as medical student representative to both the California Medical Association (CMA) and AMA Board of Trustees and currently sits on the Board of Directors for CMA's political action committee (CALPAC).

A graduate of UC Davis School of Medicine, Dr. Ribeira completed his undergraduate work in 2008 at Brigham Young University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and nutritional science. He also graduated in 2014 with a Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree from Harvard School of Public Health with a dual concentration in health care policy and management and public health leadership.

“Now, more than ever, physicians need to speak with a united voice as we engage in the national discussion on health care,” said Dr. Ribeira. “I look forward to working with this incredible group of physicians as we advocate for our health care system and for our patients.”

Dr. Ribeira has done extensive policy work and research for various programs including the AMA Medical Student Section, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Ghanaian Ministry of Health.

Sarma, a medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, was elected to the AMA Board of Trustees as a representative of the AMA Medical Student Section. Sarma, who previously served on the AMA Council on Medical Service is currently pursuing dual degrees in the UCLA M.D./Ph.D. program. His primary research focus is the development of novel artificial intelligence techniques for medical applications.

“The practice of medicine is in the midst of great change, and as the youngest member of the board, I look forward to bringing my experience and perspective on innovation to our discussions,” Sarma said. “I will support the AMA’s critical efforts to ensure that the continual changes in health policy, technology and the practice of medicine all lead to our common goal of improving the lives of our patients.”

Sarma previously served on the AMA Council on Medical Service and as the founding chair of the AMA Medical Student Section's Health Information Technology Task Force. He has also served on the CMA Board of Trustees representing the medical students and is currently the vice chair of CMA's Subcommittee on Health Information Technology.

Sarma is also co-founder and chief technology officer of SimX, Inc., which has developed the first professional-grade virtual and augmented reality platform for medical simulation training. Born and raised in Chicago, Ill., he is an alumnus of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and received his Bachelor of Science with Honors in Computer Science from the California Institute of Technology.

Dr. Resneck, a dermatologist and health policy expert from San Francisco, was named chair-elect of the AMA Board of Trustees. Passionate about advocacy for physicians and patients, Dr. Resneck has held several leadership positions in organized medicine and has been an AMA trustee since 2014. He has been a member and chair of the AMA Council on Legislation and he has served as a delegate to the AMA House of Delegates for 10 years.

Dr. Resneck is professor and vice-chair of the UC San Francisco Department of Dermatology, and holds a joint appointment as a core faculty member at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. He also directs the dermatology faculty practice clinics at UCSF, where he previously ran the dermatology residency training program.