AACOM Virtual Day of Action

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Policy & Advocacy

AACOM Virtual Day of Action, Oct. 7, 2020

COVID-19 has put an unprecedented strain on our healthcare and medical education systems, impacting patients, hospitals, healthcare workers, medical students, schools, and our communities. As our country continues to respond to the pandemic, it is critical that we boost our advocacy efforts not only to address current challenges, but also to continue to ensure federal policies and programs support the osteopathic medical education (OME) community and invest in the future physicians who provide care to our nation.

Congress wants—and needs—to hear from you.

We are students, faculty members, physicians, and mentors. We must also be advocates.

Advocate Stories

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Shawn Hamm, DO, MPH

“My story’s not unlike many of my physician colleagues. I completed medical school with the dream of becoming a full-scope family medicine physician knowing good and well that it was going to take a significant financial investment to reach that goal. Here I am today, a third-year family medicine resident working on the frontlines of COVID-19, carrying a tremendous amount of financial debt. Congress needs to hear our stories because we are living the reality of the federal health and higher education policies that they enact on our behalf. We need support.”

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Owais Durrani, DO

“There are so many important issues that the osteopathic medical education community must advocate for. This year especially, supporting graduate medical education (GME) is crucial to expanding the physician workforce battling COVID. So many residents are working tireless hours to make sure that Americans stay safe and are treated when they do get sick. GME is how we meet the demand for our lack of physicians. I urge my congressional representatives to support GME education and provide funding for this very important issue.”