AMA Young Physician Trustee

The following were among the points made by the AMA-YPS, other AMA delegates, and the AMA Council on Long Range Planning and Development in garnering support for a designated seat on the Ama Board of Trustees for a physician under the age of 40 (and not a resident). Grassroots lobbying on this issue was crucial to its adoption.

• In asking for support, try to find common ground on the main subject--that there should be, in one way or another, young physician representation on the Board. The mechanism for achieving such representation is not as important as the need for representation.

• Young physician input will enhance the Board’s deliberations by providing first-hand input regarding the concerns, needs and problems facing young physicians and the medical profession. Given the fact that young physicians practice in a different environment with different concerns than other physicians, such input is critical, especially in the looming debate over health system reform.

• Yes, a young physician could now run and be elected to the Board. However, from a practical standpoint, a young physician has very little change of being elected. It is hard to develop the necessary visibility and experience and still be a young physician. It is also extremely difficult to obtain state/specialty support for an election campaign.

• The rationale for establishing a young physician Board seat is very different from that used by other Sections in their campaigns to get a Board seat. Being a young physician is a relatively brief stage in a typical physician’s career, similar to being a medical student or a resident. A physician is a woman, IMG, or member of another minority group for a lifetime, and can be a hospital medical staff member indefinitely. All these groups have many more opportunities to elect a representative to the Board.

• Young physicians comprise 22% of AMA physician membership, and 24% of the total physician population, but there is no physician under the age of 40 among the 16 practicing physician members of the Board.

• A young physician trustee will aid in membership recruitment, particularly of younger physicians. Having a visible young physician on the Board will enhance physician perception of the AMA as a dynamic, progressive organization.

Young physicians were asked to go to their upcoming state and county meetings, and to any AMA delegation caucuses, and talk to their delegates. To aid in tracking the AMA-HOD sentiment on this issue, young physicians were also asked to convey the positions of AMA-HOD delegates whom they had contacted to the AMA-YPS delegate.