Dr. Faheem of WV Board of Medicine Receives National Recognition

Contact:
Mark A. Spangler, Executive Director
(304) 558-2921
Mark.A.Spanger@wv.gov

For Immediate Release: April 25, 2019

Dr. Faheem of WV Board of Medicine Receives National Recognition

Fort Worth, Texas __ Dr. Ahmed D. Faheem, a longtime member of the West Virginia Board of Medicine, today was named recipient of the Federation of State Medical Boards’ 2019 John H. Clark, MD Leadership Award in recognition of his “outstanding and exemplary leadership, commitment and contribution in advancing the public good at the state board level.”           

The award was presented during FSMB’s Annual Meeting, which continues through Saturday in Fort Worth. The award honors the memory of its namesake, a former chair of the Utah Physicians Licensing Board, who served as FSMB president in 1982-83 and was known for his leadership and integrity.

“I am both pleased and humbled to receive this honor,” Faheem said in accepting the award. “To be mentioned with Dr. Clark, and others who have come before me, is something I will cherish.”  

Faheem completed a four-year term as board president in July 2018 and currently serves on the board’s Executive / Management Committee, Legislative Committee and Personnel Committee. In addition, Faheem is a member of FSMB’s Nominating Committee.

“It seems that every time a medical or governmental organization in West Virginia needs someone to step to the forefront, to provide leadership on often critical issues in health care, one name consistently appears, and that is Dr. Ahmed Faheem,” said board president Kishore K. Challa, MD. “He is a physician of impeccable credentials, vast experience and seemingly boundless energy.”

Faheem was a member and ex-chairman of the West Virginia Comprehensive Behavior Health Commission and served for nine years as a board member of Appalachian Regional Healthcare, which oversees nine hospitals in Kentucky and West Virginia. He is associate medical director of General Psychiatry and medical director of Adolescent Psychiatry at Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital (BARH).

Originally from Hyderabad, India, Faheem completed his medical training and residency in India, England, and the United States. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry, and by the American Board of Adolescent Psychiatry. He is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at West Virginia University, in addition to a full-time private practice in Beckley, where he resides.

Faheem is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Faheem has served as the president of BARH, president of the Raleigh County Medical Society, and president of the West Virginia Psychiatric Association. He also served as president of the West Virginia State Medical Association (WVSMA) from 2001 to 2002.

Faheem is a recipient of the WVSMA's Wyeth-Ayerst Outstanding Community Service Award, and in 2016 received the West Virginia Mutual Insurance Co.'s Robert L. Ghiz, MD award for outstanding service to the Mountain State's physician community.

The FSMB represents 70 state allopathic and osteopathic regulatory medical boards within the U.S., its territories and the District of Columbia. It supports its member boards as they fulfill their mandate of protecting the public’s health, safety and welfare through the proper licensing, disciplining and regulation of physicians and, in most jurisdictions, other health care professionals.

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