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Ted Kennedy Presents Convocation Lecture Everyone can be an advocate. That was the message Edward “Ted” Kennedy Jr. brought to the APA tonight at the William Menninger Convocation Lecture at APA’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. Speaking exactly 20 years after his father—the renowned late Senator from Massachusetts—spoke at APA’s Convocation, Kennedy urged psychiatrists to be active advocates for their patients and their practice in state and federal legislative bodies. “[Legislators] are starved for real life testimony,” Kennedy said. “I think physicians are sometimes reluctant to be involved in politics, but I think you cannot afford not to be.” In his lecture he recounted the history of the disability rights movement and his own personal involvement with the movement, dating from the time when he lost his leg to cancer—a trauma that he called a “transformational event. He said, “When I was diagnosed with cancer I received incredible medical treatment, but there was virtually no recognition of the need for psychosocial supports.It was a scary, traumatic and sad event.” He is the president and cofounder of Marwood Group & Co., a healthcare-focused financial services firm with offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., and London specializing in proprietary healthcare research, asset management and private equity advisory services. Previously, he served as an Associate and later as Counsel to the law firm of Wiggin & Dana located in New Haven, CT. His health law practice focused primarily on state and federal regulatory and reimbursement issues affecting hospitals, homecare agencies, long-term care providers, physicians, and mental health providers. His wife Katherine is a psychiatrist and member of the APA. Kennedy brings to the APA meeting his family’s longstanding interest in and support of issues related to mental health. His father served 47 years as senator from Massachusetts and was a staunch supporter of parity coverage for treatment of mental illness and of funding for research on mental illness. Brother Patrick Kennedy was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island from 1995 to 2011 who was instrumental in the passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, signed into law on October 3, 2008. At the Convocation, Kennedy hailed the advocacy efforts of the APA. “You should all be proud on the huge impact APA has had efforts to serve the most vulnerable, misunderstood and stigmatized populations, for the way you have advocated for quality patient care, and for dignity and respect for each and every person…. You don’t see patient for their disabilities but for their humanity I congratulate you for what you have done.” |
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