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As you might imagine, attending a health policy conference (AMA Interim Meeting) two days after a Presidential election was quite a whirlwind! The workshop that my committee coordinated on post-election advocacy overflowed with students and physicians ready to learn how the coming changes to our government may impact health care, and access to care for their patients. Though the results of this election have challenged my optimism, I left feeling *slightly* more empowered with a better idea of where our national health policy discussions are headed.

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Todd Askew, Director of AMA Congressional Affairs Division addresses students & physicians

At the conference, students, residents, and physicians pushed for and passed a resolution that calls upon the AMA to actively engage the incoming Trump Administration and Congress in discussions on the future direction of health care, with a special focus regarding patient access to care and patient health insurance coverage.

In the student section, another resolution that I helped craft regarding the integration of patient drug costs into electronic medical records also passed! My classmate and leader of this resolution team, Vinay Guduguntla, spoke with confidence and conviction on the merits of this resolution in assembly. Now the hard work of refining our thinking and establishing support in the overall physician membership to the AMA House of Delegates begins.

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AMA Research Symposium (Alex Kelsall, Nonie Arora, Hannah Cheriyan)

While at the conference, I really appreciated the opportunity to see friends and colleagues who I’ve been working with remotely on our AMA-MSS national Committee on Legislation and Advocacy. Working with these students from around the country has been a highlight of my second year of medical school.

In addition to the policy portion of the conference, several of us presented research. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my work in newborn quality improvement and for the financial support from UMMS that made this possible.

Thankfully, there was some time for relaxation and even “studying” by the pool.

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