Throughout the year, UCCOM AMA will be interviewing chapter members, physicians, and healthcare professionals that are actively involved in organized medicine as part of our “Advocacy @ UC” series. For our first post, we talked to three members of the UCCOM AMA Executive Board that also hold national leadership positions: Haidn Foster and Adam Darwiche, UCCOM AMA Co-Presidents; and Tom Plagge, UCCOM AMA Legislative Chair.
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How are you involved in AMA on the national level?
Haidn: I am a member of the MSS Standing Committee for LGBTQ Issues as well as a member of the MSS Reference Committee for the AMA Interim 2018 meeting. In the Committee for LGBTQ Issues, I review resolutions that deal with healthcare issues affecting the LGBTQ community. I also have proposed a program–that will likely take place during this year’s AMA Annual meeting–in which a physician panel will talk about the various issues involved in caring for patients with differences in sex development. The job of the Reference Committee is to review all student-authored resolutions for novelty, quality, financial impact, etc. and make a final recommendation to the MSS regarding each resolution.
Adam: I serve on the MSS Standing Committee on Legislation and Advocacy (COLA). In COLA, I’m one of the special project managers that put together one page summaries all the important resolutions from past AMA Annual Meeting. All of the members of the committee are also active in the resolution review process and in crafting positions on different resolutions.
Tom: I sit on the Medical Student Section (MSS) House of Delegates Coordinating Committee (HCC). HCC assesses student-authored resolutions for their novelty with regard to existing AMA policy. We refer the author to whatever passages from AMA or MSS policy might relate to their idea and help them shape their resolution into something that really moves us forward rather than something that already exists.
What piqued your interest in advocacy?
Haidn: I got involved in advocacy in high school as president of the debate team, where we debated all sorts of local and national policy issues. In terms of healthcare advocacy, I’ve been uninsured, benefited from Medicaid, and been a patient who has had multiple surgeries. I’ve lived the experience of trying to navigate the healthcare system and want to make the experience of receiving healthcare as good as possible for as many patients as possible.
Adam: During my junior and senior years of undergrad, I had the opportunity to travel to DC and Columbus with our university advocate, who lobbied at the state and federal level on behalf of the college. It was super exciting to feel like I was a part of the behind-the-scenes action of national politics and, since then, I’ve really wanted to be involved in advocacy.
Tom: I first developed an interest in advocacy during my senior year of college as a member of a burgeoning Partners in Health Engage Team. Though it was small, it was great to be a part of a club that took action on global healthcare issues.
How has being an AMA member affected the way you advocate?
Adam: Despite having previous experience in advocacy, it’s definitely been sort of a tempering of expectations. I came in as a politically active young person hoping to do cool things and change the world and I’ve realized that it is much more of a slow march. It takes a lot of work on behalf of a lot of people and a lot of time to get things done. Yet, for me, that hasn’t been something disillusioning but rather something that’s made me more determined. There’s even more value in continuing to push for the change that is needed in healthcare knowing that it will be challenging. I have more of a realistic outlook on things.
Are there any issues for which you are currently advocating?
Haidn: I am currently the lead author on the resolution trying to encourage investigators to ascertain the sexual and gender minority (SGM) status of participants in medical research, in order to observe trends in health and healthcare among SGM populations. I am also co-author on a resolution that would establish AMA policy in opposition to any legislation that would mandate reporting of children questioning their gender identities. Bills that would make it a crime to not report children questioning their gender identity are currently being considered in the Ohio and Delaware legislatures.
Tom: While I have some nebulous ideas, I am not currently authoring any resolutions. One of the more interesting resolutions that I have seen as an HCC member advocates for expanding the responsibilities of non-physician healthcare providers, such as EMTs or paramedics, in order to address the healthcare gap in rural communities. I think that could be a really cool solution to a nationwide problem.
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