Language access in healthcare is a fundamental clinical skill, vital for the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care. For the nation’s 41 million Spanish speakers, preventable barriers often lead to delayed diagnosis, complicated treatment, and eroded trust.

Closing the Gap in Medical Spanish

CanopyLearn is an NIH-supported Medical Spanish eLearning program designed to create a pipeline of qualified bilingual staff. Built exclusively for healthcare, its curriculum goes beyond vocabulary and grammar, integrating medical terminology, cultural competency, and realistic patient-provider dialogues to support genuine clinical communication.

Why Qualified Bilingual Staff are Essential

Qualified bilingual clinicians are key to continuity of care. They:

• Reduce avoidable delays by not depending on constant interpreter availability.
• Enhance accuracy in critical patient information like symptom and medication histories.
• Improve rapport and trust, leading to better patient adherence and more efficient visits.
• Support interpreter workflows by managing low-risk interactions in Spanish and knowing when to escalate to a certified interpreter.

Investing in bilingual staff consistently improves outcomes across the domains of the Language Access Index (LAI), an NIH-funded benchmarking tool.

Research-Backed Foundation: The Language Access Index (LAI)

The LAI, developed from stakeholder interviews and a systematic review of over 200 empirical studies, identifies 10 core domains for reliable, safe, and cost-effective language access. Organizations with CanopyLearn-trained staff are better positioned to achieve faster workflows, greater patient satisfaction, and fewer communication-related safety events, driving a clear ROI.

Skill Building as an Efficiency and ROI Strategy

CanopyLearn boosts operational efficiency by equipping clinicians to handle routine, low-risk Spanish interactions (greetings, comfort statements, simple explanations) without delay. These smooth micro-exchanges accelerate the entire workflow, from pre-arrival to discharge, reducing interruptions and errors. The course supports busy schedules with audio role-play, a medical Spanish telenovela (El Puente del Destino), and mobile microlearning.

Measurable Returns on Investment

The ROI is evident in:

• Higher patient satisfaction within Spanish-speaking communities.
• Reduced operational friction and fewer workflow delays.
• Lower rework and fewer communication breakdowns, improving safety.
• Enhanced trust and loyalty, which boost retention.

CanopyLearn is a strategic investment in bilingual workforce capacity, patient trust, and the operational excellence essential for modern healthcare.

Next Step: Executive Leadership in Language Access

Organizations can scale these benefits with our forthcoming Executive Training Program, which teaches leaders how to operationalize language access across governance, workflow, automation, financial modeling, and systemwide ROI.

To learn more, contact Dru at: dbhattacharya@withcanopy.com

The post CanopyLearn: Bridging Communication Gaps appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

Ģ����Ƶ Abortion Care & Reproductive Justice Institutes – Summer 2026

Four In-person Learning Opportunities the Summer in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, NC!

Summer 2026 – Applications Open Now – Seats Limited!

Four Date Options in Summer 2026:
May 14 – 17 (Summer A)
June 11 – 14 (Summer B)
July 30 – August 2 (Summer C)
August 20 – 23 (Summer D)

No cost for selected applicants – Scholarships cover ALL expenses
Apply Today!

If YOU are a medical student based in the U.S., an Ģ����Ƶ member* and YOU, like Ģ����Ƶ, believe:

• reproductive health services, including abortion care, are essential to comprehensive health care,
• legal, safe, voluntary abortions should be available to all who need them, regardless of how much they earn, who they work for, or what state they live in, and
• both Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) and Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs should offer abortion education and training.

If YOU uphold the fundamental principles of reproductive justice:**

• the right to have children,
• the right to not have children, and
• the right to nurture the children we have in a safe and healthy environment.

If YOU are interested in becoming part of a diverse physician workforce that includes highly skilled, culturally sensitive physicians prepared to provide abortion services to those who need them in various health care workplaces.

And, YOU are available ANY of these four date options:

• May 14 – 17 (Summer A)
• June 11 – 14 (Summer B)
• July 30 – August 2 (Summer C)
• August 20 – 23 (Summer D)

READ ON!

The Ģ����Ƶ Abortion Care & Reproductive Health Project is excited to host 4 in-person Abortion Care & Reproductive Justice Institutes this summer.
Each Institute will engage 10 U.S. based medical students in thought-provoking, dynamic conversations, as well as issue education, and hands-on clinical skill-building, with key experts working in abortion care, reproductive health and education, research, or reproductive and social justice.

Our retreat-like setting is a beautiful private location nestled deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Institutes are designed to provide deep dive opportunities to build knowledge, skills, and connections in a supportive, nurturing and Love-centered community, with a focus on finding and connecting with joy as we work on challenging issues facing our communities and future practice as physicians.

Clinical skill-building sessions will include a MVA “papaya” workshop and values-clarification training.

We will explore the impact of the Dobbs decision on reproductive health access, practice and policies at the state level, as well as medication abortion and self-managed abortion. Learning opportunities will also include:

• effective messaging communications
• networking and advocacy training
• building power and your circles of influence
• identifying and engaging reproductive freedom champions in your state
• values-based research and using data to make change.

The Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project provides resources and on-going support to organize local education and skill-building sessions for future physicians around the United States.
Institute participants will be encouraged and supported to share the knowledge and skills they will gain through research project posters, journal articles, blog posts, social media, or organizing local events during the 2025-2026 academic year. Local events could include, but are not limited to: clinical skills-building, networking and advocacy training, issue education, understanding state reproductive health policies, and values-based messaging and research.

The program begins on Thursday evening with a group dinner and ends after breakfast on Sunday morning. In addition to didactic and clinical workshop-style learning, there will be ample time for informal conversations, delicious meals and snacks, walking in the woods, star-gazing, and relaxing in the hot-tubs and around the fire. Each participant will have their own bedroom, some bathrooms will be shared. Meals will be prepared together.

• Want to know more about what an Ģ����Ƶ Repro Institute is really like?
  Read what a M4 student who joined us last summer had to say about the experience
  Recharging Your Medical Passion: The Power of a Retreat
  Why Every Medical Student Should Do a Medical Retreat (for any specialty)

Successful applicants will receive reimbursements (up to $600) to cover their travel expenses (students make their own travel arrangements). All meals, on-site training supplies, and transportation from the to the retreat location are provided at no cost.

DEADLINES:

• Application deadline for ALL 2026 Institutes is Sunday, March 29 at 11:59pmPT
• Applicants are accepted on a rolling basis and will be notified of acceptance at least 30 days before the Institute they are selected for
• Selected applicant must confirm attendance within 7 days of notification of their selection

Upon completion of the Institute, certificates of participation to add to your CV will be provided.

Applications Open Now – Seats Limited
Apply Today!

###

For more information email rhp@amsa.org

*Ģ����Ƶ membership info link
**Source –

The post 4 Amazing Summer 2026 Adventures in Learning with the Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project – Apply Today appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

Voices of Primary Care:
Dr. Kelly Thibert, Family Physician & Abortion Provider in Nevada��

Written by Nikitha Balaji, Ģ����Ƶ National President

In celebration of ���ѳ���’s annual National Primary Care Week, we are uplifting the voices and stories of primary care physicians whose work embodies the heart of primary care – a path to medicine which is grounded in equity, community, and patient-centered medicine. Throughout this series of interviews, we invite readers into conversations about the power of primary care, the unique joys and challenges of the field, and the many paths one might take in pursuing this calling to heal.

For our first installment, I had the honor of speaking with Dr. Kelly Thibert, DO, MPH, a family medicine physician and comprehensivist practicing ambulatory medicine in Nevada, past Ģ����Ƶ National President, and current Chair to the Ģ����Ƶ Foundation Board of Directors. Together, we reflected on her journey to family medicine, the impact of and need for primary care in our present moment, and the continued place that Ģ����Ƶ takes in shaping Dr. Thibert’s path as an inspiring physician-activist.

Nikitha: Welcome Dr. Thibert! Could you get us started today by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about the primary care work you do?

Dr. Thibert: Absolutely, thanks so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here for National Primary Care Week. I’m Dr. Kelly Thibert – my pronouns are she/her. I’m currently a family medicine physician in Las Vegas, working for a branch of the federal government, where I’m providing care for folks who are 18+. With that, I am providing abortion care, gender-affirming health care, and primary care, and am seeing folks on a day-to-day basis in the ambulatory setting. In that role, I’m still able to participate in advocacy and activism in various ways, both within my job and outside, really encompassing what it means to practice family medicine.

Nikitha: That is so amazing. It sounds like in many of those different parts of primary care that you practice within, that skill set and orientation towards advocacy is so important, especially at this current moment that we’re in.

What initially inspired you to pursue family medicine, and where did you see Ģ����Ƶ shepherding you in that journey, in addition to other early advocacy experiences?

Dr. Thibert: Ģ����Ƶ was vital, first in helping me get into medical school. It was the reason I joined Ģ����Ƶ. Then, I learned that Ģ����Ƶ was so much more than getting into medical school. Ģ����Ƶ taught me what osteopathic physicians were, and I’m proudly an osteopathic physician. Ģ����Ƶ helped me to learn about the different specialties that I could consider.��

It wasn’t until my fourth year, getting ready to go into my presidency year within Ģ����Ƶ, that I really had a great experience in a family medicine setting. That was at a rotation where I was at an FQHC – a federally qualified healthcare center – rotating with this incredible family medicine doc. He was practicing full spectrum: pediatrics, hospice care, treating patients living with HIV, participating in public health by means of both encouraging and advocating for his patients with them and alongside them in and outside of the clinical setting.��

It was then that I realized that these are all the things that I want to do in family medicine. I was so excited about every rotation that I always had in medical school and ultimately that boiled down to: this might be family medicine that I want to do. That rotation really solidified it for me.��

Ģ����Ƶ was there every step of the way, both as a pre-med and especially as a medical student. It was really helpful to have a space to come back to when I was learning. Medicine has a lot of flaws in it – sometimes clinically, a lot of times politically. Ģ����Ƶ was my safe space to come to learn how I could advocate for my patients and for myself as a physician in training. It was important for me to be able to show up in a place where I felt safe, where I felt heard and supported, where I could learn tools to learn how to advocate, both within my medical school and then my residency, and then use that to be the physician that I wanted to be.

Ģ����Ƶ has always been the medical school without walls, and so Ģ����Ƶ has always provided me with all of those additional things that I wanted to learn in medical school that just were never in the curriculum. It really supplemented everything that I wanted to learn to be the best-rounded physician that I can be. And quite frankly, Ģ����Ƶ still teaches me as an attending physician, all the time, still reading and learning and participating in Ģ����Ƶ activities. It was really beneficial and necessary for me to be a part of Ģ����Ƶ, to be the best family medicine doc.

Nikitha: That is so beautiful. It’s so lovely to hear how Ģ����Ƶ has partly shaped your journey towards family medicine. I’m hearing so much about how Ģ����Ƶ provided that safe space for you to explore medicine and all of its points of beauty, but also its flaws.

We’re having this discussion at a time where evidence-based medicine is increasingly under attack, we’re seeing cuts to care on a federal level, and we’re seeing how that places access to healthcare in peril. I’m wondering how you were able to translate that safe space that you experienced at Ģ����Ƶ to what you do now as a family medicine physician, meeting this current moment?

Dr. Thibert: Yeah, this is so important, especially at this time, so I really appreciate you asking that. Medicine, and specifically the physician frontline, is where a lot of patients come to first when they have questions. Most specifically, though, they come to their family doctor. The person who has known them longitudinally, someone who oftentimes knows their entire family. They’ve known them outside of the clinic walls, which really informs how we take care of our patients in family medicine.��

Number one, we are the most trusted resource for patients. We’re the place people come to in order to ask questions. Even if they do their research online, they come to us to confirm that this is, in fact, actually accurate. “Should I listen to this? Or what should I consider?”��

We are the people that patients partner with, and it’s crucial for us to still be here, speaking up, and showing folks that we can help them understand what is actually evidence-based. There are things out there that come across as evidence-based that we know, when we read and we delve a little deeper, are not. Our patients are susceptible to falling prey to that. We are the specialty that’s really going to help our patients and our communities stay healthy and help provide them with evidence-based healthcare and options.��

Family medicine is advocacy at baseline. We’re going to keep being advocates and activists in family medicine – speaking up for justice, speaking up against misinformation, and bringing our voice to Capitol Hill, our communities, and our states for what our patients – and ourselves, as physicians and physicians in training – not only need but deserve as humans living in this country.

Nikitha: It’s so lovely to hear you reflect on family medicine and how you’re meeting this moment in your specialty and the unique role that you’re able to occupy in the field of medicine through your primary care orientation.

For all those who are aspiring to family medicine and who are tuning in to this National Primary Care Week, what parting message would you leave for them?

Dr. Thibert: I would say choose family medicine – we’re the best specialty. I’m not just saying that because I’m a little biased as a family doc.

Truly, we can do it all. We can deliver babies, we can be there for people’s last breaths, we can help with an entire family in one visit, which is so unheard of. We can be there on Capitol Hill. We can do it all.��

You can really choose your own adventure, too. You can choose if you want to do a particular part of family medicine or you can do the whole thing and be a comprehensivist. You can really find what you love in medicine, find what you’re passionate about, and be there and succeed in it, and be there for your patients and for your communities.

I want you to just choose family medicine. There is a whole great world of family docs here ready to accept you with open arms, and we could not be more excited to stand next to you, to be your colleagues, and to be in this fight for social justice together.

###

Watch & Share Nikitha’s interview with Dr. Thibert on @Ģ����Ƶnational Instagram

The post Voices of Primary Care: Dr. Kelly Thibert – Family Physician & Abortion Provider in Nevada appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

SPOTLIGHT ON HEALTH & REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE��

Reproductive Justice & 15 Years of The Affordable Care Act

Written by Becky Martin, Ģ����Ƶ Senior Manager of Reproductive Health Advocacy

Sunday, March 23rd, marked 15 years since President Obama signed into law The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare as many call it. Since its hard-won passage have signed up for coverage through ACA marketplaces – that means now get their health care coverage via the ACA. An have gained coverage through ACA supported Medicaid Expansion in 41 states and DC.��

�ճ󲹳�’s who now have affordable health care coverage here in the United States — thanks to those who knew our nation could do better and
raised their voices for change, and didn’t take no as the answer.��

We still have a way to go to achieve ���ѳ���’s long-time goal of high-quality, affordable, accessible, sustainable, and equitable healthcare for all in our nation, and join the rest of the countries in the industrialized world in providing universal health care ensuring the human right to health care (Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 25).

At Ģ����Ƶ we believe reproductive rights are human rights. With our Reproductive Health Project we explore the connections between reproductive justice and health justice, and work to help students�� lift their voices for reproductive freedom and health care for all. ��We invite you to explore and share the resources below, to celebrate the gains we’ve made, and know that even in the face of the turmoil rising in our country today ���ѳ���’s vision of HEALTH CARE FOR ALL is absolutely achievable & YOU can find YOUR people in Ģ����Ƶ!

– CBPP��

�� – KFF

Medicaid & ACA Medicaid Expansion in YOUR State & Congressional District��

– HealthCare.gov

: Importance & Impact – NWLC

: A Critical Policy That Must Be Protected – Guttmacher Institute

– KFF

Preventive Care Coverage for:

No gender-based premiums:
– KFF

Insurers Cannot Limit Coverage Amounts
– KFF

The post Reproductive Justice & 15 Years of The Affordable Care Act appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

The Ģ����Ƶ Abortion Care & Reproductive Justice Institutes are back live & in-person
this summer in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, NC!

Summer 2025 – Applications Open Now – Seats��Limited!

Four Date Options in Summer 2025:
May 29 – June 1 (Summer A)
June 19 – 22 (Summer B)
July 24 – 27 (Summer C)
August 14 – 17 (Summer D)

No cost for selected applicants – Scholarships cover ALL expenses
Apply Today!

If YOU are a medical student based in the U.S., an Ģ����Ƶ member* and YOU, like Ģ����Ƶ, believe:

• reproductive health services, including abortion care, are essential to comprehensive health care,
• legal, safe, voluntary abortions should be available to all who need them, regardless of how much they earn, who they work for, or what state they live in, and
• both Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) and Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs should offer abortion education and training.

If YOU uphold the fundamental principles of reproductive justice:**

• the right to have children,
• the right to not have children, and
• the right to nurture the children we have in a safe and healthy environment.

If YOU are interested in becoming part of a diverse physician workforce that includes highly skilled, culturally sensitive physicians prepared to provide abortion services to those who need them in various health care workplaces.

And, YOU are available ANY of these four date options:

• May 29 – June 1 (Summer A)
• June 19 – 22 (Summer B)
• July 24 – 27 (Summer C)
• August 14 – 17 (Summer D)

READ ON!

The Ģ����Ƶ Abortion Care & Reproductive Health Project is excited to host 4 in-person Abortion Care & Reproductive Justice Institutes this summer.
Each Institute will engage 10 U.S. based medical students in thought-provoking, dynamic conversations, as well as issue education, and hands-on clinical skill-building, with key experts working in abortion care, reproductive health and education, research, or reproductive and social justice.

Our retreat-like setting is a beautiful private location nestled deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Institutes are designed to provide deep dive opportunities to build knowledge, skills, and connections in a supportive, nurturing and Love-centered community, with a focus on finding and connecting with joy as we work on challenging issues facing our communities and future practice as physicians.

Clinical skill-building sessions will include a MVA “papaya” workshop and values-clarification training.

We will explore the impact of the Dobbs decision on reproductive health access, practice and policies at the state level, as well as medication abortion and self-managed abortion. Learning opportunities will also include:

• effective messaging communications
• networking and advocacy training
• building power and your circles of influence
• identifying and engaging reproductive freedom champions in your state
• values-based research and using data to make change.

The Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project provides resources and on-going support to organize local education and skill-building sessions for future physicians around the United States.
Institute participants will be encouraged and supported to share the knowledge and skills they will gain through research project posters, journal articles, blog posts, social media, or organizing local events during the 2025-2026 academic year. Local events could include, but are not limited to: clinical skills-building, networking and advocacy training, issue education, understanding state reproductive health policies, and values-based messaging and research.

The program begins on Thursday evening with a group dinner and ends after breakfast on Sunday morning. In addition to didactic and clinical workshop-style learning, there will be ample time for informal conversations, delicious meals and snacks, walking in the woods, star-gazing, and relaxing in the hot-tubs and around the fire. Each participant will have their own bedroom, some bathrooms will be shared. Meals will be prepared together.

• Want to know more about what an Ģ����Ƶ Repro Institute is really like?
  Read what a M4 student who joined us last summer had to say about the experience
  Recharging Your Medical Passion: The Power of a Retreat
  Why Every Medical Student Should Do a Medical Retreat (for any specialty)

Successful applicants will receive reimbursements (up to $600) to cover their travel expenses (students make their own travel arrangements). All meals, on-site training supplies, and transportation from the to the retreat location are provided at no cost.

DEADLINES:

• Application deadline for ALL 2025 Institutes is Sunday, April 27 at 11:59pmPT
• Applicants are accepted on a rolling basis and will be notified of acceptance at least 30 days before the Institute they are selected for
• Selected applicant must confirm attendance within 7 days of notification of their selection

Upon completion of the Institute, certificates of participation to add to your CV will be provided.

Applications Open Now – Seats Limited
Apply Today!

###

For more information email rhp@amsa.org

*Ģ����Ƶ membership info link
**Source –

The post Summer Special! 4 Amazing Adventures in Learning with the Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project – Apply Today appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

Are you a future physician who has developed a novel digital health solution? A platform, tool, or technology designed to make healthcare more accessible and equitable? If so, tune in. We’d like to shine a light on your work.��

Ģ����Ƶ is thrilled to introduce the Digital Health Innovation Festival — a first-of-its-kind accelerator-lite designed to empower future physicians who are reimagining healthcare through digital innovation. Here, domestic medical and premedical students can:

• Pitch to an expert panel of judges
• Get published in an (even if you don’t proceed to final rounds)
• National recognition��
• Network with experts from healthcare, tech and venture capital industries
• Potentially win $125K in VC funding

Why This Matters

We’re at a critical inflection point for health equity. As medical students, you are uniquely positioned to help bridge disparities in access and quality of care — understanding the pain points of patients, the challenges faced by providers, and the untapped potential of technology. .

Who Should Apply?

We’re looking for medical student innovators who have developed:

• Real-world, functional tools or technologies.
• Solutions that expand access to quality healthcare through digital innovation.
• Projects that align with ���ѳ���’s mission to advance health equity and disrupt traditional barriers to care.

Key Dates to Remember

• (non-binding): open through December 20, 2024.
• : January 24, 2025.
• Virtual lightning pitches: later February 2025.
• Live pitches in Washington, DC: April 18, 2025.��
• Grand Prize Announcement: At the exclusive post-event mixer.

Not you? Forward this onto the folks you know that are building something amazing — or Or over here . We’re so excited about this! Contact us if you have any questions.

The post Calling student innovators: Join ���ѳ���’s Digital Health Innovation Festival appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

What’s Next Is What We Make It

Ģ����Ƶ National President’s Statement on 2024 Election

Hi future doctor, Annelise here.

I’m writing to you and honestly, I’m not quite sure how to articulate all of my emotions as we face an upcoming four years of uncertainty. When it comes to leadership, especially student-led organizational leadership, we often grapple with how to lead when you’re not quite sure what’s next. For our national leaders, our chapter leaders, and all of us as future and current physicians,�� the question is now— what’s next? Regardless of how you voted during this election, there are still pressing concerns that we, as the future of healthcare, need to reckon with: affordability+accessibility of healthcare, climate sustainability, mental health, gun violence, abortion rights and women’s health… the list goes on.

Over the next four years, in a major way, we will�� inherit the healthcare system that is forged and changed by this election. All of you are going through your training, me included, and developing into the kind of physician you will become and the leader you will be�� in your community. Over the next four years you will, quite literally, learn how to stand between life and death not only in the hospital�� room, but also beyond it. You will take an oath, whether to serve as a student doctor or as a fully-fledged physician, and be charged with doing no harm regardless of your political or personal beliefs. You will be scrutinized, tokenized, and some of you will choose to risk your livelihoods and licenses because of your beliefs and commitment to this profession. To become a physician in this day and age takes a tremendous amount of courage, patience, and grit. It also takes a tremendous amount of privilege and opportunity that we, as future physicians, can use to continue to fight for our patients and our profession. Regardless of who is in the White House, our fight happens day in and day out, patient by patient, family by family. If you’re anything like me, that’s exactly why you chose to dedicate your life to this work.

Medicine is not sexy, it is not easy, but oh is it worth it. We bring a lens to the medical profession�� that our predecessors cannot possibly fathom. So, it is up to us to use our voices to help them, our patients, and our communities understand the dangers we see coming. We have faced crises like this before; standing up for our values unapologetically is something that we at Ģ����Ƶ know a thing or two about. Ģ����Ƶ was forged in the fire of the VietNam War alongside the vision for and the values found within the .��

Today, I hope you’re taking the time to process and be with yourself and your loved ones. I wish I had the answers as to what’s next, but I can promise you that Ģ����Ƶ is, and will continue to be, the place you can come home to find your people and your voice. It’s been 75 years of us standing up for each other and our patients, and we’re not about to stop now.��

To those of us who are scared, angry, outraged, saddened, exhausted—we see you, I see you, and we’re here with you. We have put together a whole host of resources to help you navigate through this time (see below) and we are working on ways we can share and be in community together— stay tuned. Know you are not alone! We will regroup and find the strength to carry on towards our founding vision of a high-quality, affordable, and sustainable health care system that puts people (patients and providers) ahead of profits and ensures all have access to the care they need — regardless of how much they earn, who they work for, or what state they live in.��

For those of you looking to do something right now consider:

• Sign & share the to implement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and join me in calling on the United States government and private sector organizations to promote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights��
• Join one of the Ģ����Ƶ Action Committees here��
• Sign up for the Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project enewsletter that is filled with useful information and action opportunities .
• Check out from the Ģ����Ƶ Wellness and Student Life Action Committee

In 1961, President John Kennedy posed to the generation of Ģ����Ƶ founders “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Join us at Ģ����Ƶ because now it’s our turn.��

Annelise

The post Post Election Statement from Ģ����Ƶ President, Annelise Silva appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

SPOTLIGHT ON ABORTION CARE & REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE��

Stay Connected – to Resources, Community, and Radical Hope for Reproductive Freedom and Justice
– through the Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project!

Written by Jeff Koetje, MD, Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Programming Strategist

Greetings from all of us at the (Ģ����Ƶ RHP)! With the start of the new academic year well under way, we are excited to share with you what we have planned for 2024-2025. But before we get into that, let’s pause to acknowledge that we are just a few days away from Election Day here in the US (Tuesday, Nov 5), and this year, reproductive rights are a central issue in the federal election and abortion rights, specifically, are on the ballot in 10 states. We encourage everyone who can, and everyone who is eligible, to get out and vote if you haven’t already, and we encourage you to invite your friends and family to do the same! We know that regardless of the outcomes of the imminent elections and ballot initiatives, the work of protecting and advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice must continue.��

Who we’re for and what we’re about:��

We also know that future physicians – that’s you! – have important roles to play in the movements for reproductive freedom and justice. And we’re here to support and help you figure out what that can look like for you. The Ģ����Ƶ Repro Project – and Ģ����Ƶ, overall – invites reproductive freedom dreamers and doers, like you, to consider us as one of your home bases for relevant and timely information, resources, connections to a growing network of activated medical and premedical students, and spaces for organizing for collective action. We work to nurture and support the next generation of physician abortion providers and the next generation of physician-advocates for reproductive health, rights, and justice. We are here for you – whether you are a premedical or medical student Ģ����Ƶ member, an Ģ����Ƶ Chapter Officer, or an Ģ����Ƶ National Leader!��

Read on to learn more about the Ģ����Ƶ RHP and how you, your Ģ����Ƶ chapter, or your school can get involved.

First things first – Some introductions! Who we are:

The Ģ����Ƶ RHP team includes Becky Martin, who is, as she says, “one of those old-school community organizers” who brings a unique perspective to our work. She got her start working to expand education and licensing programs for midwives in Florida and then around the U.S. A deep concern and care for pregnant and birthing people has been at the core of Becky’s lifetime of advocacy, activism, and organizing. She has a deep appreciation for history and what we can learn from our past – she knows we all stand on the shoulders of giants. And having worked with Ģ����Ƶ for over 20 years from allied organizations before joining Ģ����Ƶ staff, Becky knows many of ���ѳ���’s giants personally. Becky reminds us medicine is both art and science, and how we grow our healers is vitally important. As ���ѳ���’s Senior Manager for Reproductive Health Advocacy,�� she helps ���ѳ���’s members, Chapter Officers, and National Leaders think and plan strategically for mobilizing future physicians for action on abortion access and reproductive healthcare equity. Dr. Jeffrey Koetje is a medical professional focused on transforming the systems and culture of education and training inside the House of Medicine. Utilizing critical theories such as intersectional feminism, queer theory, and Critical Race Theory, Dr. Koetje works to create transformed and transformative medical education, grounded in an absolute belief that spaces for education can and must be spaces for young people to more closely encounter and get to know their own power, agency, and capacity to be change-makers. The Project also works closely with , who is an OB/GYN abortion provider in the NYC area, and former Ģ����Ƶ Education and Advocacy Fellow, National Graduate Trustee on the Ģ����Ƶ Board of Trustees, and Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Programming Strategist. Two medical students also will be joining the Ģ����Ƶ Repro Project this year: Joy Udoh, M4 at Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine, will be the Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project Fellow, and Araam Abboud, M3 at Boonshoft School of Medicine will be the Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project Intern. Joy and Araam will be introducing themselves in the next issue of this newsletter.

What we offer:

As a grant-funded project, we are able to offer an abundance of support to you, your Ģ����Ƶ chapter, your school, and your community in the form of informational resources, connections to subject matter experts and activists for chapter events, interesting and compelling films to view and discuss, clinical skills workshops, advocacy skills workshops, and several programs you can enroll in, including our Abortion Care & Reproductive Justice Institutes back in-person! (Read what a student from this summer wrote about his experience: Recharging Your Medical Passion: The Power of a Retreat . We also offer small chapter grants ($200 – $500) to cover food/beverage costs for Ģ����Ƶ Chapter events planned in coordination with the Ģ����Ƶ RHP! We can even help chapters with new member recruitment by providing Ģ����Ƶ RHP swag for tabling events and a limited number of free memberships for students who participate in RHP-sponsored chapter events!

We’ll highlight many of the RHP offerings here, but be sure to check out all the details posted to the , and keep up with all the updates and opportunities by reading the Ģ����Ƶ Repro Health & Justice eNewsletter.�� to start receiving the newsletter, delivered to your inbox every other Saturday – and catch up on what you’ve missed by reading current and past issues!

New & Expanded Offerings for Ģ����Ƶ Members & Chapters from the Ģ����Ƶ Abortion Care & Reproductive Health Project

Clinical & Research Skills:

• Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA, or “papaya workshop”)
• What Would You Do? Values Exploration & Clarification
• Pelvic Exam Best Practices Workshop
• Trauma Informed Abortion & Reproductive Health Care
• Self-Managed Abortion: A Safe Option for Many (SMA)
• Contraception Counseling & IUD Insertion
• Pregnancy & Abortion Care Options Counseling
• Understanding Mandated Reporting: What Is & Is Not Required
• Designing & Presenting Compelling Research Projects

Advocacy, Organizing, & Networking Skills:

• Effective Communication about Abortion Care: What & How We Talk Matters
• Lifting Your Voice: Writing Compelling LTEs,OpEds & Blog Posts
• Building Relationships with Reproductive Freedom Champions in Your State
• Understanding How Bills Become Laws & Regulations Govern Physician Practice
• Translating Data & Research Findings into Policy Recommendations
• Finding & Sharing Change-maker Stories in Your Community

Issue Education Teach-Ins:

• The History of Abortion: Roots of Stigma, Opportunities for Change
• Abortion as a Moral & Social Good: The Ethical Basis for Conscientious Provision of Abortion Care
• Religious & Spiritual Affirmation of Abortion
• Men & Abortion – Feminist Frameworks for Male/Masc Abortion Rights Allies
• Fetal Personhood & Criminalizing Pregnancy: Fast Tracks to Gilead
• Physicians as Enforcers: Urine Drug Screens, Mandated Reporting & Criminalization of Pregnant People
• Anti-abortion Laws & Maternal Mortality: Turning the Tide
• Birth Justice – A Framework for Improving U.S. Health Outcomes by Uniting Physicians, Midwives & Doulas��
• Reproductive Justice: A Movement & Framework for Equitable Health Care

Expanding Conversations with Film

Films offer unique ways to share information, generate conversations and move people to action, especially around difficult or challenging topics facing our communities. The Ģ����Ƶ RHP shares film access and provides expert speakers for facilitated, interactive conversations with Ģ����Ƶ members and Chapters. This year we are expanding our film offerings and focusing around key topics starting with:��

• How Stories Move People & Foster Change
  Ours to Tell, a short documentary film featuring several abortion stories
• Informed Consent: Vital for Patients, Students & Providers
  At Your Cervix, a documentary film about medical education and unconsented pelvic exams on anesthetized patients
• Forced Sterilization: What is it & How it is Still Happening?
  Belly of the Beast, a documentary film about the forced sterilization of women incarcerated in California’s prison system
• In the Time Before Roe: Lessons from Our Not too Distant Past
  The Janes, a film that tells the story of underground abortion providers in Chicago who cared for over 11,000 women in the years before Roe
• Moral Injury, Burnout & Suicide Among Physicians & Trainees
  Do No Harm, a documentary film that shines light on the crisis of medical student and physician suicide along with the toxic issues and environments far too many are facing today

***Everything listed above can be organized into an Ģ����Ƶ Chapter event!***

Courses and Programs:

• Ģ����Ƶ Abortion Care and Reproductive Justice Institutes
  for first dibs on registration
• Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health & Justice Mentorship Program
  Learn more and sign-up for the Winter 2025 Repro Mentorship Sprint (Jan/Feb 2025)
• Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Scholars Program
  Our next offering will be Fall 2025, for first dibs on registration
• Ģ����Ƶ-UM Elective in Abortion Care, Family Planning, and Reproductive Justice
  Explore the program description here, our next offering is planned for Fall 2025.��

Essay Contests, Poster Presentations & Scholarship Opportunities:

• Repro Poster Presenter Scholarships
  to present your abortion and repro-related poster at the 75th Annual Ģ����Ƶ Convention in Washington DC April 17-19, 2025 – Learn more at
• Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Essay Contests
  Stay tuned for details coming soon!

###

*Note: an excerpt of this Spotlight is included in Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project eNews #31: Say Their Names, Get Connected, Stand for Change, Nov 2, 2024
Find the current and past issues in the Ģ����Ƶ Repro eNews Archive.

Explore the Ģ����Ƶ Reproductive Health Project
Find news, tips, tools, opportunities�� & more!

for Ģ����Ƶ Repro Project Updates

The post Stay Connected – to Resources, Community, and Radical Hope for Reproductive Freedom and Justice appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

Today, we’re offering a brief overview of ���ѳ���’s House of Delegates: what it is and how you can play a role. Let’s go.

What’s this?

���ѳ���’s House of Delegates occurs annually and will take place virtually this year on Saturday, February 3rd, 2024.

This is our opportunity every year to take stock of the world around us and make sure that our organization is governed by the laws we believe in. Every year, we pass resolutions (cough-cough *publications*) that modify our by-laws so that they are up-to-date and express the views that Ģ����Ƶ members truly believe in.

Our by-laws come in two parts- one is the Preambles, Purposes, and Principles (PPP), which dictates what Ģ����Ƶ is allowed to advocate for. We also have the Constitution and Bylaws of Internal Affairs (CBIA), which share the structure of Ģ����Ƶ and how we govern ourselves. These documents, hand in hand, help make us the organization you see today.

What can I do?

Two choices! First, if you want to write a resolution but are not sure how, never fear!�� We’ll have workshops and opportunities to meet directly with our national leaders for more insight. Keep an eye on our website and for specifics. We’re here to help! Submissions close on December 20th, 2023.

And/or you can get involved in leadership at the House of Delegates! Our Nominations, Credentialing, and Reference Committees help our House of Delegates run, and can be a stepping stone to more leadership opportunities in the future. Learn more at our website! Applications will close on December 5th, 2023.

I’d like to learn more.��

We recently held a workshop that’s recorded and stored here — where we simulated resolution-making and more, to give you a primer.

At Ģ����Ƶ, we believe in helping you become the best future physician you can be. Feel free to reach out to us at vpia@amsa.org or secretary@amsa.org if you have any questions!

Thank you,
Anishaa Sivakumar
Ģ����Ƶ’s VP for Internal Affairs

The post What do we stand for? How do we make impact? appeared first on Ģ����Ƶ.

…a powerful chorus of change, growth, and community — future physicians from medical school campuses near and far. And this chorus only gets stronger and louder as the months pass, culminating in a global, spring convening like no other. This is Ģ����Ƶ’s Annual Convention: .

And here’s what you need to know: the FP4Change adventure begins now.��

What’s this about?

Everyone remembers their first Ģ����Ƶ Annual Convention. It’s a vibe. It’s a movement. This event summons tomorrow’s physicians from all walks of life and all corners of the country and globe. The result? Three days of energy, optimism, learning, advocacy and connection with experts, peers and mentors.

And, as we’ve learned over the years, the sooner you start planning for it (as in, today!), the better the experience. There’s so much tap into. Just how you do it is up to you — and we’re here to help you along.

See, Future Physicians for Change is not the kind of event where you slap on your name tag, watch a few presentations and head out. It’s an inspired, year-long journey (really, a life-long journey if you think about it) where you immerse yourself in learning, advocacy, research and networking throughout the year.

And it all coalesces at Future Physicians for Change (this year is our 74th convention!) — and we’re headed back to Washington DC.

How to prepare?

First up: Save the Date. Future Physicians for Change 2024 is happening May 30 – June 1, 2023 in Washington DC. Put it on your calendar!

Choose your adventure — dive into one or many of the following opportunities that set things up so nicely for the year ahead (and all the years that follow, really!):

• Pick your Ģ����Ƶ Scholars Program. Or pick a few! These are focused programs that allow you to delve into timely, critical topics from experts — then meet the experts in person (and more experts!) at FP4Change. Explore what’s on.
• Think on a poster topic. Take that research that’s been rolling around in your head and crystalize it into a project — then share the poster at our poster competition at FPF4Change (you may win!).
• Consider becoming a leader. Nationally or locally — leaders are critical to Ģ����Ƶ — and reserve special “seats at the table” at FP4Change (not to mention, help drive Ģ����Ƶ forward). Check out the options here.
• Help forge policy! Play a role in Ģ����Ƶ’s House of Delegates.
• Join the Reproductive Health Project — advocate for comprehensive healthcare and access to full range of reproductive services. One of our more robust programs — get involved!
• Advocate for med-ed reform — Help improve medical school curricula and promote well-being among medical students by addressing issues like mental health and burnout. Learn more here.
• Join Ģ����Ƶ’s anti-racism efforts: Engage within the medical community to promote inclusivity and equity and join our team working on actionable goals. Get know our REACH program.

And those are just some of the opportunities — give our Action Committees and Campaigns a tour.

Follow along by or drop us a note if we can help answer any questions along the way! Can’t wait to see you on the journey to #FP4Change2024.

Be the first to know when registration opens by signing up for #FP4Change2024 updates

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