Hey there fAMSA!
First, let me introduce myself, my name is Dr. Michael Walls and I am AMSA’s National President. This is going to be the first of many Presidential Addresses so I can keep you up to date on what we’ve been up to and what we have coming up!
So what have we been up to? Over the past month, we finished up our Summer Repro Health Institute and brought together 120 students from across the country, including myself, to learn about advocacy, reproductive health, and how to be the kind of doctor who fights for their patients. We are also working with 5 chapters to host Manual Vacuum Aspiration trainings, with more to come soon!
We also helped coordinate protests and meetings with their representatives at Eastern Virginia Medical School to advocate for the right to an abortion. EVMS and their leaders did an amazing job fighting for their patients and I want to commend them for their leadership.
With the help of our amazing Education and Advocacy Fellow Oak, we hosted a phone banking event to advocate for physician mental health. Did you know many state medical boards ask physicians whether they have sought mental health or substance use treatment? This discourages physicians from seeking help, so we called 26 state medical boards and demanded they remove these questions from licensing exams. Because of our efforts and a network of organizations dedicated to this issue, 24 states have already changed their licensure applications because of our advocacy. And if mental health is important to you, reach out to Oak for ways to get involved!
This month, we also saw the largest health and environmental bill passed in decades, the Inflation Reduction Act. We released an official statement to commend Congress and President Biden for passing this legislation, which, while not perfect, takes great strides towards protecting the environment and lowering healthcare costs for millions of people.
Finally, because of the work so many of you have done, I was invited to the White House not once, but twice to represent the medical student voice! The first was the Future of Vaccines Summit to learn how we can start to educate our patients on vaccines to get us out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The second will happen in a few weeks to celebrate and further the work that came out of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Now what can you do to get involved?
The best thing you can do is to get connected with your local AMSA chapter! And if you don’t have one, start one! You can find all of the resources you need to start a chapter here and let us know how we can help!
Our Life + Leadership Program registration is now open! As future physicians, we are often seen as leaders in our community, our clinics, and our hospitals. This course will teach you some of the skills necessary to being a great leader.
Our Reproductive Health Project is also running strong. With the fourth year of the project starting in September, we kick off the new academic year with three reproductive health leadership programs: Reproductive Justice; Medical Ethics in Reproductive Health; and Career Pathways in Family Planning.
Finally, we are working on an event in Washington, D.C. to raise awareness for National Physician Suicide Awareness Day on September 17th by bringing together stakeholders and policy makers and discussing what we can do as a society to address this problem. If you would like to participate and help support this work, email myself or Oak and we will reach out soon!
I hope you found this month’s Presidential Address helpful and I hope to hear about what you and your chapter are up to soon!
In power,
Michael Walls, DO, MPH
