BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Dr. Patrice Harris is a Bluefield native, a West Virginia University graduate, and she is now the first African-American woman elected as president of the American Medical Association.
Harris will become the 174th president of the AMA in June 2019, and is now serving as president-elect. She was elected to the post earlier this month. She practices psychiatry in Atlanta, a long way from the hometown that produced her.
“I enjoyed growing up in Bluefield,” Harris said. “It was a thriving town during my years.”
It was a normal childhood for Harris, one that many can relate to.
“I was a majorette, and so Friday night football, of course, was huge with the Bluefield Beavers,” Harris said.
But when it came time to leave Bluefield for WVU, Harris didn’t have much guidance on how to get to where she wanted to be — into medical school.
“No one in my family had gone to medical school, and I had no family friends that did,” Harris said. “It is not an easy thing to do if you don’t know or don’t have guidance as what to major in.”
