Holy Cross Alumnus Steven Stack Inaugurated as President of the American Medical Association

Steven J. Stack, a member of the College of the Holy Cross class of 1994, and an emergency physician residing in Lexington, Ky., became the 170th president of the American Medical Association (AMA) in June 2015. Board-certified in emergency medicine, Stack currently practices in Lexington and surrounding central Kentucky. He is the youngest AMA president since 1854.

Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president of the College of the Holy Cross, offered a prayer at Stack’s inauguration last week.  “As a classics major in a Jesuit liberal arts college, Steve’s education gave him a valued perspective on the past and a values-laden perspective on serving humanity in the present,” Fr. Boroughs remarked. “This less-traveled road from classics to medicine, helped Steve to integrate his varied academic interests, his commitment in the Jesuit tradition to be ‘a man for and with others,’ and a discerning world view which embodied the values of his faith within his vocation as a physician.”

Stack spoke about his liberal arts education at his inauguration, saying that studying the classics afforded him valuable insight into human behavior and politics. He also stressed the importance of history by using Alexander the Great as an example. “The lesson from the pages of history could not be more clear: an empire built by one man will not stand. An empire built by many endures,” he said.

The AMA is the nation’s largest and most influential physician organization. Stack is nationally recognized for his special expertise in health information technology and served in the role of chair of the AMA's Health Information Technology Advisory Group from 2007 to 2013.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Stack graduated magna cum laude from Holy Cross, where he was a Henry Bean Scholar for classical studies. Stack returned to campus in March to give a lecture on the importance of a liberal arts education.

Read the full story on the AMA website.

The news of Stack's appointment ran in media outlets across the country including Bloomberg News, MarketWatch and numerous medical industry publications.