Dr. James Rohack, director of Scott & White’s Center for Healthcare Policy, was named president-elect of the American Medical Association on Tuesday during its annual meeting.

The American Medical Association is the nation’s largest physician organization.

Rohack, who takes office as president in 2009, will act as the official spokesperson for the AMA and will sit on its board of trustees.

The Bryan resident said the nation faces big challenges in health care, including rising costs, an increase in the number of uninsured Americans and a looming Medicare funding crisis.

“It is humbling to be selected to serve in this role for the next three years to help in the needed health system reform for our nation,” Rohack said. “As part of the physician-led Scott & White system, I have seen firsthand how to provide comprehensive, high quality health care enhanced by medical education and research.”

As president of the AMA, Rohack said he will continue the association’s work to help doctors help patients.

“My voice for our patients and medical profession will be clear, focused and forceful to assure those basic American principles of freedom and choice,” he said.

A board-certified cardiologist, Rohack is actively involved in patient care at Scott & White, and serves as a professor of medicine at Texas A&M University Health Science Center College of Medicine.

He is the medical director for system improvement of the Scott & White Health Plan, a not-for-profit, community-based health plan, which is nationally recognized for quality health care delivery.

Rohack graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso, and earned his medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1980. He has previously served as president of the Texas Medical Association, president of the American Heart Association’s Texas affiliate, and a member of the AMA’s board of trustees. He has been on the staff of Scott & White since 1986.