As they do in helping to care for patients in the clinical setting, medical students play a valuable role in advocating to move medicine forward.
For medical students looking to turn their passions into health policy, the AMA offers the chance to connect with nearly 53,000 AMA student members, get hands-on experience advocating for change at the state and federal levels through trainings, meetings and events in Washington, D.C.—and online.
Beyond that, here are a few examples drawn from AMA reporting that detail how medical students can bolster their credentials while helping to shape the future of medicine.
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Write an op-ed
- Articulating the medical student vantage point through advocacy can be an important part of developing as a physician. Publishing an op-ed in a local or national publication is an effective way to get a topic in front of a broad audience. When selecting a topic, be sure to follow your passions, says M3 Alexandra Beem.
- “When it’s the thing you are passionate about, whether it's like a personal experience or a professional experience, it’s your soapbox,” she said. Also, learn about how to get published in medical school and boost your CV.
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Speak to a lawmaker
- There’s no better way to make an impact as a medical student advocate than speaking with those who make policy on the local and national levels. As a medical student, you are typically going to advocate on issues that affect you and your patients, such as scope of practice or medical student-loan forgiveness. While politicians are key policymakers, they may not have a total understanding of the landscape—particularly when it comes to medical training.
- “Legislators know a lot of things,” said Jenny Young, director of membership for the Virginia Medical Society. “One thing they don’t necessarily know about is medical education. They don’t understand that after you graduate medical school you are a doctor, but you still have three to eight years before you are allowed to practice independently.” In addition, discover three keys for medical student advocates on Capitol Hill.
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Get active in organized medicine
- Engagement with physician organizations such as the AMA can refine a medical student’s voice as an advocate and shape their careers for decades to come. As AMA member Charlie Adams pointed out, it’s not hard for medical students to get their start.
- “As medical students we are still learning and growing as professionals, but we have a lot to say,” said Adams, a third-year medical student at Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
- “For students, there are 1,000 leadership positions. I applied for a lot of them at first and you don’t always get it [the position], but it was a chance to get involved.” Dive deeper on AMA medical student leadership opportunities.
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Follow your passion
- With more than 50,000 members from nearly every medical school in the country, the AMA Medical Student Section enables future physicians to fight for the profession and for patients. But it only takes one inspired member to craft a resolution that, with the support of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD) and the house of medicine, can change the landscape for patients and physicians.
- Nishanth Ganeshbabu, now an M4, was the lead author of a resolution that was adopted, after amendments, by the HOD. This resolution includes resident programs, residents and fellows in existing policy on access to confidential health services for medical students.
- “When the resolution was adopted, it was satisfying,” he said. “That was my first resolution that I authored. I did the research myself. I assembled the team myself, and it was great to know the Medical Student Section and the HOD found it to be something important that needed to be addressed.”
Learn more with the AMA about how medical students help shape AMA policy—and medicine’s future.
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