In their capacity as leaders, the members of the Council of the American Psychosomatic Society (“APS”) must act at all times in the best interests of APS. The purpose of this policy is to help inform the Council about what constitutes a conflict of interest, assist the Council in identifying and disclosing actual and potential conflicts, and help ensure the avoidance of conflicts of interest where necessary. This policy may be enforced against individual Council members as described below.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY

  1. Council members have a fiduciary duty to conduct themselves without conflict to the interests of APS. In their capacity as Council members, they must subordinate personal, individual business, third party, and other interests to the welfare and best interests of APS.
  2. A conflict of interest is a transaction or relationship, which presents or may present a conflict between a Council member’s obligations to APS and the Council member’s personal, business or other interests.
  3. All conflicts of interest are not necessarily prohibited or harmful to APS. However, full disclosure of all actual and potential conflicts, and a determination by the disinterested Council members – with the interested Council member(s) recused from participating in debates and voting on the matter – are required.
  4. All actual and potential conflicts of interests shall be disclosed by Council members to the APS Council through the annual disclosure form and/or whenever a conflict arises. The disinterested members of the APS Council shall make a determination as to whether a conflict exists and what subsequent action is appropriate (if any). The Council shall retain the right to modify or reverse such determination and action, and shall retain the ultimate enforcement authority with respect to the interpretation and application of this policy.
  5. On an annual basis, all Council members shall be provided with a copy of this policy and required to complete and sign the acknowledgment and disclosure form below. All completed forms shall be provided to and reviewed by the APS President & Executive Director, as well as all other conflict information provided by Council members.

American Psychosomatic Society Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form

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Acknowledgement goes to Jeffrey Tenenbaum, Esq (of Venable LLP) who shared a template of this form which was used to create one tailored for APS.