President’s Perspective: Deborah Dyett Desir, MD, Assumes ACR Presidency

Dr. Desir has served as an ACR volunteer in numerous leadership positions throughout her career, including as a member of the nonpartisan political action committee, RheumPAC; a member of the Government Affairs Committee; a member of the Finance Committee; a member of the Committee on Ethics & Conflicts of Interest; a member of the Committee on Rheumatologic Care (CORC); a member of the Committee on Corporate Relations; and as an alternate adviser to the Relative Value Update Committee (RUC).

Dr. Desir with the new leadership team at ACR Convergence 2023. (Click to enlarge.)

In addition to her ACR positions, she has held leadership roles with numerous organizations, including serving as president of the New Haven County Medical Association, co-chair of the Connecticut State Medical Society legislative committee, a board member of the Connecticut State Medical Society and a board member of the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center Foundation.

Dr. Desir is delighted to begin her role as president of the ACR. She recently allocated some time to share her perspectives on the priorities and opportunities facing the College in the coming year and beyond, as well as her insights into the benefits and personal satisfaction of volunteering for the ACR.

The President Speaks

The Rheumatologist (TR): You have volunteered for the College for quite some time. Why did you decide to get involved with the ACR and begin volunteering?

Dr. Desir:  My involvement with organized medicine began in childhood. My father graduated from medical school in 1954, during a time when African Americans were excluded from many medical organizations. Nevertheless, he became a devoted member of the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association, which was an association for Black physicians. My father often took our family to medical conferences, and we children began to feel like we were members of these organizations as well. This experience instilled in me a strong belief in the importance of organized medicine, and I became very active in county and state medical societies. Participation in organized medicine has become a family tradition; two of my four children are physicians who are also active in their specialty professional organizations.

I owe my initial involvement with the ACR to Joseph Flood, MD, who served as ACR president in 2013–2014 (b. 1952–d. 2023). Dr. Flood visited my office in the early 2000s and encouraged me to become an ACR volunteer, perhaps on the Committee on Rheumatologic Care [because] I ran a rheumatology practice. I was quite interested in volunteering for the ACR, but my passion was advocacy, so I expressed my interest in the Government Affairs Committee (GAC). I have been involved in ACR volunteering and advocacy work ever since.