inspires her involvement with medical
and community organizations. She has
been recognized for her commitment
to her patients and the community in a
variety of ways, including being selected
as Psychiatrist of the Year by the GPPA in
2001 and inducted into the West Virginia
University Academy of Distinguished
Alumni in 2007.
“What I can do and what other physi-
cians and health professionals can do in
the exam room is just part of the matter,”
she says. “Being a physician
and being involved in orga-
nizations in the community
and around the country offer
the opportunity to elevate
important issues and talk
about policy. It’s important
we have policies that support
child health, ensure mothers
have healthy pregnancies
so they can have healthy
babies and provide all chil-
dren with access to health
coverage and insurance so
we can intervene early for
any issues that may arise. For
these reasons, I am so hon-
ored to have been involved
in the AMA for so many years and now
to be president-elect. It gives me a con-
tinued platform to make sure we have
healthy individuals, healthy communities
and a healthy nation.”
A Personal Stake
Another issue Harris is passionate
about is physician-led efforts to address
the opioid epidemic that has ravaged the
nation and her home of Southern West
Virginia.
In 2014, the AMA board of trustees
convened an opioid task force made up
of 26 representatives from state medical
societies and national specialties to am-
plify the work that was already occurring
in the physician community regarding
the opioid epidemic. Harris has been a
dedicated leader and member of the task
force, traveling the country to speak at
state and national meetings about policy
recommendations.
“The goal of the opioid task force is to
better coordinate and collaborate, identify
potential partnerships and make specif-
ic policy recommendations,” she says.
Since 2014, the task force has proposed
six recommendations for the medical
50
WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
community, including that all public and
private payers should ensure access to
medication-assisted treatment for opioid
use disorder and remove administrative
barriers to treatment such as prior autho-
rization; policymakers and regulators
should increase oversight and enforcement
of parity laws for mental health and sub-
stance use disorders to ensure patients
receive the care they need; and public and
private payers must ensure patients have
access to affordable, non-opioid pain care.
“We know we need to treat pain, and
we want to make sure patients who need
pain care get it,” she says. “We have seen
and heard from both patients and physi-
cians that some of the burdensome reg-
ulations and restrictions that have been
placed on the number of pills and max-
imum dosages have negatively impacted
patients with pain. I know programs in
West Virginia and other states are looking
at access to multimodal pain treatment,
which is critical. Opioids are an import-
ant option to treat pain, but
there are other evidence-
based alternatives. However,
if patients cannot get access
to these because they don’t
have insurance, their insur-
ance doesn’t cover them or
they can’t afford their co-pays,
then they really don’t have
access. There is no one-size-
fits-all treatment for pain
either.”
An International Stage
Although her medical
career has taken her beyond
the borders of her beloved
home state, Harris’ connec-
tion to West Virginia remains strong. She
currently serves on the board of directors
for the WVU Foundation, and she comes
home several times each year to visit her
family, cheer on her teams at WVU and
Bluefield High School football games and
attend foundation meetings.
While Harris started her medical jour-
ney in Morgantown, her tenure as pres-
ident-elect, president and immediate
past president of the AMA will take
her across the globe. “The AMA pres-
idents have the wonderful opportunity
to promote the work we do around the
country and the world,” she says. “One
of the great honors of this position is to
represent the AMA at the World Med-
ical Association (WMA) meetings, so I
will have the opportunity to learn from
physicians around the world and share
learning, knowledge and expertise.”
In 2018, Harris attended the WMA
meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland. In the
future she will travel to Santiago, Chili,
and Tbilisi, Georgia. She is grateful
for the opportunity, but she’ll never
forget her roots in Almost Heaven, West
Virginia.
Harris and fellow WVU alumnae Terry Hornsby and Carmen
William at Milan Puskar Stadium. Photo by Dr. Patrice Harris.
“We also spend a great deal of time
talking about the stigma that faces those
who have substance use disorder as well as
those who suffer from chronic pain,” she
says. “Identifying and eliminating stigma
is one of our core recommendations.”
Harris believes any intervention or pre-
vention efforts made must be multidisci-
plinary and include all the stakeholders,
and she thinks local communities—
including many in West Virginia—have
been successful at this.
“No community is safe from this epi-
demic, but in West Virginia we have been
hit particularly hard,” she says. “This is a
complicated and complex issue, and there
is no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s not one
specific solution—it’s a set of solutions.
What I’ve seen West Virginia communities
do well is get together with all the stake-
holders—physicians, public health officials,
law enforcement, schools and community
organizations—to discuss the next steps.
That is working well on the local level, but
we need solutions at all levels.”
From a physician’s point of view, Harris
also believes those who truly suffer from
chronic pain have been unfairly stigma-
tized and must have access to care.