Dr. Willie Underwood III is the president-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA).

The Buffalo, NY, native is a Morehouse College alum who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1988, according to his LinkedIn profile. This was a dream for his family and simultaneously a reality check for an education system that attempted to write him off during his adolescent years and hold him back from realizing his potential, according to the National Press Foundation. 

“I went from a private Catholic school that was all-Black that believed in educating me to make me the best person I could be, to a school that was predominantly white, and the teachers had a policy, ‘We’re not educating them,’” Dr. Underwood said, per the outlet. “So they took all of us, all the Black males in the school, in that third-grade class where I started, and put us in remedial classes where I’m now in kindergarten. And I was there under the guise that I had a learning disability.”

Underwood went on to obtain three graduate degrees, including a master’s in cell biology and anatomy from SUNY Upstate Medical College, a doctorate in medicine from SUNY Upstate Medical College, and a master’s in health management and policy from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, according to information on his LinkedIn.

He now has a track record spanning more than 25 years in urologic surgery, with over 15 years in robotic urologic surgery. He is also a co-founder of KAPS Biotechnology LLC and has patents for co-developing a biomarker for prostate cancer, according to the AMA.

Underwood additionally stepped into various leadership roles, including being elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 2019, chairing the AMA Board of Trustees in 2023, and serving as a board member for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western and Northeastern New York, among others, notes the AMA.

He was also a member of the National Medical Association Commission to End Health Care Disparities, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Urology Residency Review Committee, and the American Urological Association Public Policy Council, per the AMA.

Underwood is now sporting a new hat as president-elect of the AMA.

“It is an incredible honor to be chosen by my peers to represent physicians and the patients we serve at this critical moment for health care and medicine,” Underwood said per an AMA report. “The AMA is leading the way in fighting for a rational Medicare payment system, to rein in prior authorization, and reduce physician burnout. I will stand up to advocate for our profession in a way that will inspire, motivate, and activate physicians to join the AMA in our efforts to improve the health of our nation.”

He will be inaugurated in June 2026, notes the release.