American Medical Student Association

Paul Ambrose Legislative Affairs Leadership Institute - September 8-12, 2006

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) presents the Paul Ambrose Legislative Affairs Leadership Institute, September 8-12, 2006, at the Savoy Suites Hotel in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Over one hundred medical students, our nation's best and brightest up-and-coming health policy leaders from schools across the country will briefly leave their challenging studies behind to attend a power-packed weekend aimed at guiding their chapter's legislative activities for the 2006-07 school year. Over the course of the five-day program, they will be inspired by such high-profile voices as Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Kenneth P. Moritsugu, MD, MPH, Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson, renowned anti-poverty physician activist Dr. Gloria Wilder-Brathwaite, MD, MPH, highly decorated Army physician Major Sudip Bose, and United States Senator Barack Obama.

The medical students will see Washington, D.C., politics at its most vivid--rallying at the White House against the Genocide in Darfur, holding a Candlelight Vigil for Veterans' Health at the Vice President's residence, participating in a mass call-in for S.2772, the Health Partnership Act, currently our nation's best bipartisan opportunity for achieving health care for ALL Americans, and lobbying on Capitol Hill for S.2506, Senator Obama's Healthy Places Act, an innovative solution for reducing our nation's burden of chronic disease and obesity. After spending the weekend centered around four communities or populations whose unmet needs often frustrate medical students--Veterans, Refugees, Underserved Communities, and the Uninsured, the Institute will culminate with a full day workshop guided by veteran Campaign Director Tim Fuller. During this session, students will formulate their strategies for the upcoming election season and incorporate other issues of concern--ranging from eliminating medical student debt to advocating for the rights of underrepresented minorities in medicine.

The Legislative Affairs Leadership Institute is named for former AMSA Legislative Affairs Director Paul Ambrose who was killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. For questions about the Institute, please contact the office of AMSA's Legislative Affairs Director, Catherine Davenport Pollock, at 703-620-6600 x211 or lad@amsa.org.