For medical students, the path to becoming a physician involves extends well beyond sharpening one’s clinical skills—it’s about shaping the future of health care. State and local advocacy offers a vital opportunity to do just that.
An MD-PhD student at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Andrew Norton has been involved in both the Wisconsin Medical Society and the Dane County Medical Society. He offered insight on how those experiences have helped him grow as a leader.
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You are boots on the ground
Norton, an AMA member, is the medical student member of the Wisconsin Medical Society’s board of directors. His involvement at the state level began through his work in the AMA Medical Student Section.
By working on both the national and state levels, he found that he could watch a policy often filter down from the AMA to its implementation at the state level. Some of those policies directly affected his medical training.
“There is a continuum of advocacy that falls underneath the larger umbrella of organized medicine,” said Norton, who is in the midst of his research track in his MD-PhD program. “As medical students, we can fit into that space at every level.”
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Medical students make a mark
Practicing physicians simply don’t have the time to take the reins on every project in state and local advocacy organizations. Because of that, medical students can step in to assist in projects that may otherwise be stalled due to limited personnel or time among physicians.
Norton said in his work with the Wisconsin Medical Society’s board of directors, he does a lot of listening and looks for ways medical students can fill gaps.
“One of the things like I like to do is when I go to meetings is I take notes, and then I ask myself: What can we do as medical students to help with these initiatives?”
Through his work with the Wisconsin Medical Society’s Medical Student Section, Norton said, “I have a chance to communicate the opportunities available for students.”
“At the medical society level, medical students can get experience in advocacy and build connections, while also moving projects forward in a meaningful way,” he said.
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One of Norton’s major initiatives through the Wisconsin Medical Society was to help restructure the organization’s Medical Student Section. The result was a more robust board for the section and more medical student involvement overall.
Working on projects through these local organizations can help medical student build confidence.
“I personally have built a lot more confidence in myself,” Norton said. “I’ve also realized that it’s OK to make mistakes, which I think is something in medicine that is very frowned upon in medicine at large. But advocacy is a spot where you can really learn and grow and if a mistake happens these organizations are structured to provide a buffer, and you learn from it.”
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Barriers to entry are low
The Wisconsin Medical Society has hundreds of active medical student members. To get involved, Norton said simply volunteering your time is the way to get started.
“The best way to go into these organizations is to keep your mind open and take opportunities when they arise,” he said. “At some point, all those physicians were in that same spot, and they had to step into that role. They weren’t ‘prepared’ for those roles, but they still stepped into them and moved into the roles they have today.”
