Federal News & Issues

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 29, 2020 –At the close of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Virtual Highlights Meeting, Joseph C. Napoli, M.D., assumed the role of Speaker of the APA Assembly of District Branches.

Napoli is a board-certified psychiatrist in Fort Lee, New Jersey, a Partner and Co-Director of Resiliency, LLC, and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Board Certified in Psychiatry, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the APA. He is Past President of the New Jersey Psychiatric Association (NJPA), a district branch of the APA. He has served many years as a Representative to the APA...

WASHINGTON, D.C. April 11, 2020 – Reports are emerging that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is disproportionately impacting the African-American community in areas across the United States. In Chicago, for instance, half of those diagnosed with COVID-19 have been black, while African Americans only make up one third of the total population. Seventy percent of the fatalities linked to COVID-19 in Louisiana have been among black people, while this community makes up about a third of the overall population.

The higher rates of infection and fatality are linked to existing health inequities facing black Americans, such as higher rates of diabetes and hypertension (both of which lead to higher mortality rates for COVID-19) and barriers to care. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is concerned about the...