Ishaan Rischie, Class of 2027 medical student
Ishaan Rischie (he/him), a medical student in the Class of 2027, has been elected to the American Medical Association (AMA) Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs this past weekend at the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates. Following an initial nomination by Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, the now newly inaugurated AMA President, Ishaan was voted in unanimously this past weekend by the physicians representing the over 190 specialty organizations and state medical societies that comprise the AMA. This marks a historic first for the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
The AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) – composed of seven physicians, one resident/fellow, and one medical student – is one of seven councils that are tasked with providing recommendations to the AMA on how to approach various issues impacting patients, physicians, and the overall healthcare system. Even amongst these councils, CEJA is unique in its function of maintaining and interpreting the AMA Code of Medical Ethics, which is the world’s first and most comprehensive national code of medical ethics. The Code is a living document that continues to articulate ethical guidance for professional conduct, patient-physician relationships, and the many moral obligations of physicians that are often intertwined with legal principles in contemporary medicine.
“At a time when external forces are threatening our profession’s core ethical tenets,” Ishaan said in his acceptance remarks, “I’m stepping into the role of CEJA Councilor with the intention to listen, to learn, and to uphold medicine’s highest ethical ideals.”
Ishaan has spent his medical education at the intersection of clinical care, ethics, and health policy. At UVA School of Medicine, he is a Hook Scholar with the Center for Health Humanities and Ethics, where he forged experience in practical bioethics through research conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Julia Taylor. At both the state and national levels, Ishaan has held multiple leadership roles that have deepened his engagement with organized medicine, having served as Chair of the AMA Medical Student Section Committee on Bioethics & Humanities and currently still sitting on the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation’s Board of Directors. In just three years, he has authored an extraordinary 11 policies that have been adopted by the AMA to meaningfully influence the organization’s advocacy on timely topics ranging from gender-affirming care to paid sick leave to prior authorization reform. He is now embarking on a yearlong predoctoral research fellowship with the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Medicine.
Past Presidents of the Medical Society of Virginia, Alice Coombs, MD, (left) and Cynthia Romero, MD, (right), congratulate Ishaan Rischie (middle) after his nomination to CEJA.
His commitment to collective advocacy drew strong support from mentors and leaders across the AMA. In her endorsement letter for his nomination, Cynthia Romero, MD – past president of the Medical Society of Virginia and former Virginia State Health Commissioner – wrote, “His ability to integrate insights from diverse roles and delegations to then articulate forward-thinking solutions aptly reflects his belief that advocacy is a collaborative effort aimed at building a better healthcare system for patients and physicians alike.”
CEJA’s work remains central to the ethical foundations of American Medicine. As such, election to CEJA is widely regarded as a signal honor, with the position being one of the most influential positions in medical ethics that a student can be entrusted with. Over the next two years, Ishaan will serve among a select group of physician leaders who are responsible for reviewing ethical opinions, adjudicating professional conduct issues, and writing reports that drive the evolution of the AMA Code of Ethics to meet the challenges of modern practice.
“Thank you for believing in the value of a medical student perspective and for helping me find my voice in this space,” Ishaan added in closing his remarks, “I’m now excited to use my voice alongside the custodians of our AMA Code of Ethics in service of … our profession as a whole.”
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