The Texas Medical Association’s annual TexMed conference brings a celebration of the transition from one president to the next. At this year’s event, TMA thanked a fighter for physician-led health care likened to “a superhero straight out of a comic book” and welcomed in a proponent of physician wellness set to unite members around his rallying cry, “Let doctors be doctors.”
Jayesh “Jay” Shah, MD, officially becoming the 160th TMA president on May 10, helped welcome member physicians to his hometown of San Antonio in his speech to the House of Delegates, while making clear his dedication to his fellow physicians.
“I stand before you today not just as an internist, not just as a wound care specialist, and not just as an advocate – but as a physician who believes, with every fiber of my being, that doctors must be free to do what they were called to do: To heal. To care. To serve,” he said.
Sharing a lesson about self-care he learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Shah also called for member physicians to prioritize their well-being.
“TMA will expand wellness initiatives this year with resources, mentorship, mindfulness, yoga, and physician-led support networks,” he pledged. “Let’s care for ourselves as we continue to care for others.”
Warning against burnout, he noted, “A career in medicine should not drain our souls. It should ignite our purposes.”
Dr. Shah used a metaphor culled from another large state, invoking California redwoods, with surprisingly shallow but intricately interconnected root systems, to stress the importance of TMA physicians uniting for upcoming challenges.
“It’s their connection to each other that allows them to stand tall,” he observed. “Just like redwoods, we physicians are strongest when we stand together. That is the power of the Texas Medical Association – the largest and most effective medical association in the nation.”
Capitalizing on that power, Dr. Shah has launched a new TMA podcast, Let Doctors Be Doctors, featuring conversations with fellow physicians on how they fight burnout to provide better care to their patients.
In becoming TMA’s first-ever Indian American president, Dr. Shah also made history. The installation was one of two special ceremonies for him that day, coinciding with his daughter’s graduation from University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine.
He noted that she’ll begin her family medicine residency in Corpus Christi, the city where he’ll pass on the president’s pin to his successor – former House of Delegates Speaker and now President-Elect Bradford W. Holland, MD – at next year’s TexMed.
A fierce farewell
With the help of an artificial-intelligence-generated images and a short video, Dr. Holland introduced outgoing TMA President G. Ray Callas, MD, as the superhero he has been for medicine.
In his signature bold fashion and referring to the ongoing 2025 Texas legislative session during which he spent much of his presidency, Dr. Callas described the ever-present battle to preserve physician-led health care and physician autonomy in Texas during his May 9 sendoff speech.
“They said, 'Anyone can do what doctors do,' and we said, 'Not on our watch,' because physician-led care is not a slogan. It’s a safeguard,” the Beaumont anesthesiologist declared.
“I sat in hearing rooms and looked at stacks of testimony, and then I saw you – TMA members filling in and filing in with white coats,” Dr. Callas said, recalling TMA physicians converging on Austin to testify against scope of practice creep bills like House Bill 3794 and Senate Bill 3055. “And I smiled because I knew we wouldn't flinch … We fought smart, we fought hard, and we fought together.”
Dr. Callas also recounted his many visits to hospitals, county medical societies, medical schools, and clinics throughout Texas on TMA’s behalf during his year at the helm.
“In every corner in Texas, I saw something extraordinary: the beating heart of medicine. Not systems, not slogans – people, real people with passion, with grit, with purpose.”
Though he’s handing the torch to Dr. Shah to close out this legislative session, he promised to remain in the fight, declaring what TMA has done this year “just the beginning.”
“We've got the voice of reason, we've got the science, we've got the trust, and we've got each other,” he proclaimed. “Let's train the next generation of physician leaders. Let's mentor with purpose. Let's speak with courage. Let's fight with facts and let's work from the heart, because when medicine is at risk, Texas physicians rise.”
Read Texas Medicine Today for coverage of this year’s TexMed and see highlights on TMA’s Instagram page. Check out TMA’s event page for upcoming events; the next statewide conference, the 2025 Business of Medicine Conference, will convene in El Paso from Oct. 18 to 20.
Phil West
Associate Editor
(512) 370-1394
phil.west[at]texmed[dot]org
Phil West is a writer and editor whose publications include the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Austin American-Statesman, and San Antonio Express-News. He earned a BA in journalism from the University of Washington and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin’s James A. Michener Center for Writers. He lives in Austin with his wife, children, and a trio of free-spirited dogs.