APA Distinguished Fellow Deborah Peel, M.D., Named One Of Most Powerful People In Healthcare

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 27 Sep 2007 - 14:00 PDT


The American Psychiatric Association (APA) congratulates APA Distinguished Fellow Deborah Peel, M.D. on being named fourth on the list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare in the August Modern Healthcare.

The list places Dr. Peel alongside Sister Carol Keehan, Governors Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger, President Bush and Senator Hillary Clinton. With over 12,600 nominations and 265,000 votes cast, Dr. Peel stands out as a strong voice for patient rights.

"This is a tremendous honor for one of our colleagues," said APA President Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D. "Dr. Peel's tireless work as a patient advocate is something to be admired."

Dr. Peel is a practicing psychiatrist and national expert on health privacy. She is the founder and chairman of the Patients Privacy Rights Foundation. Active in privacy rights at the federal and state level, Dr. Peel advocates for patients at national panels and congressional briefings. Dr. Peel earned the attention of Congress by working cooperatively to form the bi-partisan Coalition for Patient Privacy in 2006.

She has held a wide range of leadership positions within the APA. Dr. Peel served on the APA Assembly Allied Organization Liaison Committee and the APA Assembly Committee on Planning. She was president of the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians from 2000-2001.

Dr. Peel received her medical degree and completed her residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and psychoanalytic training at the Dallas Psychoanalytic Institute. She resides in Austin, Texas.

About the American Psychiatric Association

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose more than 38,000 physician members specialize in diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses including substance use disorders. Visit the APA at http://www.psych.org and http://www.HealthyMinds.org.

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