The American Medical Association underwent its annual leadership change on Tuesday, inaugurating otolaryngologist Bobby Mukkamala, M.D. as the 180th president of the nation’s largest physician association.
The organization’s House of Delegates, composed of its member physicians and residents, also chose urologic surgeon William Underwood III, M.D., as its president-elect. Underwood will assume the presidency in June 2026.
Mukkamala is a Flint, Michigan-based physician who attended the University of Michigan Medical School and completed his residency at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. Mukkamala said in an interview with Fierce Healthcare in June 2024 that he hopes to work on prevention of chronic diseases rather than the "sick care" model that costs the health system millions.
He will also continue the heavy-hitting physician group's advocacy on increasing physician pay and easing the burden of prior authorization, two top concerns for physicians.
Mukkamala said last year his interest in chronic disease detection and prevention stemmed from his community work in Flint, Michigan. He said that at a local farmer's market, he offered blood pressure screenings. Nearly 30% of people entering the farmer's market had stage one hypertension, and they didn't know it.
Mukkamala also hopes to continue the AMA's advocacy of modernizing technology in healthcare and facilitating interoperability.
“If, during my three years, we can kind of call attention to the foolishness of this lack of interoperability of health information, I will leave the AMA in three years as a happy man knowing that I put my fingerprints on the work that makes that rights that wrong," he told Fierce Healthcare last year.
Mukkamala was diagnosed with an 8-cm brain tumor in November 2024, which made him uncertain that he would be able to hold the post as AMA president for 2025-2026.
“A few months ago, I didn’t know if this night would even be possible,” Mukkamala said in prepared remarks delivered during the 2025 Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates. “As I lay in recovery from brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic, with tubes and wires monitoring my every movement, this night – this honor – this opportunity to improve health care seemed a very distant dream.
Mukkamala also called attention to advancements in biomedical research and medical treatments, supported by government investments, that benefit patients even as the Trump administration makes drastic funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health.
"In fact, the medicine I’m currently taking – an IDH inhibitor– to help prevent growth and maybe even shrink my residual brain cancer, is a drug that was developed through a close partnership between pharmaceutical companies, academic researchers, and the National Institutes of Health – with major government-funded support," he said.
He continued: "Millions of people like me, none of whom have this privilege, this stage, and this microphone are alive tonight thanks to decades of government investment into research and exploratory science at leading universities and institutes. We cannot lose sight of what medicine and science have achieved in our lifetimes."
Underwood, the new president-elect, has spent his 25-year career in Buffalo, New York as a urologic surgeon and doing robotic urologic surgery. He holds patents for discovering a biomarker in prostate cancer and has co-authored nearly 120 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and published abstracts.
Underwood has held many leadership roles within the AMA in recent years. He was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2019, and he was board chair from 2023 to 2024. He previously served as chair of the AMA Resident and Fellow Section.
“It is an incredible honor to be chosen by my peers to represent physicians and the patients we serve at this critical moment for health care and medicine,” Underwood said in a statement. “The AMA is leading the way in fighting for a rational Medicare payment system, to rein in prior authorization, and reduce physician burnout. I will stand up to advocate for our profession in a way that will inspire, motivate, and activate physicians to join the AMA in our efforts to improve the health of our nation.”
Underwood has also put in time to serve other medical organizations including as the president of the Erie County (New York) Medical Society. He also served on the National Medical Association Commission to End Health Care Disparities, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Urology Residency Review Committee, and the American Urological Association Public Policy Council.
Bruce Scott, M.D., who has led the physician association’s work for the last year, has transitioned to immediate past president of the AMA, effective today.