Bobby Mukkamala, MD, a board-certified otolaryngologist—head and neck surgeon, was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in June 2017. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, he is in solo, private practice in Flint, Mich.
Dr. Mukkamala, who has been active in the AMA since residency, is a past Michigan representative to the AMA Young Physicians Section, a past recipient of the AMA Foundation’s “Excellence in Medicine” Leadership Award and, for the last 13 years, a member of the Michigan delegation to the AMA House of Delegates. In 2009 he was elected to the AMA Council on Science and Public Health and served as its chair from 2016 to 2017.
In addition to his leadership roles at the AMA, Dr. Mukkamala has served as a member of the Michigan State Medical Society Board of Directors since 2011, as board chair the past two years, and currently as its president. He is also a past president of the Genesee County Medical Society (GCMS) and continues to serve on the GCMS Board of Directors.
While a wide range of public health issues are important to Dr. Mukkamala, no issue strikes closer to home than his own city of Flint’s nationally publicized struggles with high levels of lead leaching into the drinking water. As the past chair of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, he and the foundation’s board became the clearinghouse for funding projects focused on mitigating the effects of lead in local children. He is a member of the board of the Foundation for Flint, a supporting organization of the Community Foundation that is working to increase access to high-quality early education for children—a proven strategy for helping children who have been exposed to lead.
Deeply committed to the revitalization of his hometown, Dr. Mukkamala returned to Flint after completing his residency at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago in 2000. Today, he shares an office with his wife, Nita Kulkarni, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist. Together, they have been part of the city’s revitalization, including demonstrating their dedication to Flint by establishing the Endowed Health Professions Scholarships at the University of Michigan, Flint, in 2012.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Mukkamala enjoys tinkering with his car collection and spending time with family that includes twin sons, Deven and Nikhil, who are currently in college at the University of Chicago and University of Michigan, respectively.