Speak up for your patients and profession
By Mollie Frost
Internal medicine physicians are not just doctors for adults, according to keynote speaker Vineet Arora, MD, MAPP, MACP. "We are doctors for the world," she said. "And the world needs us to speak up right now."
During Dr. Arora's talk at Thursday's Opening Ceremony, "Lead from Where You Stand: How to Advocate for Your Patients, Your Profession, and Yourself," she emphasized the power physicians have to use their voices for change.
"There's plenty to speak out about: SCOTUS, affirmative action, DEI training, LGBTQ health, abortion bans. … So when I say, 'Lead from where you stand,' some of you will be leading, like I have, from your identity with your community or in your family," she said. "Some of you will be leading as a clinician for your patients, which we all share. And some of you are leaders yourself, and, I should say, all of you are or will be leaders."
Dr. Arora, who is the Herbert T. Abelson Professor of Medicine and dean for medical education at the University of Chicago Medicine Pritzker School of Medicine, said she first learned about advocacy in medicine through her involvement with ACP. Twenty years ago, as Chair of the Council of Resident/Fellow Members, she testified to Congress about the primary care crisis.
At that time, Dr. Arora enjoyed support from ACP's Washington, D.C., office, as well as many people in her organization. "But some said, 'Be careful. Don't get too political,'" she said. "And I wondered, what did that mean?"
After all, "public advocacy on the part of each physician, without concern for the self-interest of the physician or the profession" is part of the ABIM Foundation's Physician Charter, Dr. Arora noted. "Being an internal medicine physician, it is a statement of advocacy every day for every patient that we take care of," she said. "So if we're advocates for our patients, I thought, why wouldn't we be advocates for our community and our society?"
Dr. Arora's keynote was followed by a conversation with Darilyn V. Moyer, MD, MACP, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of ACP. In it, Dr. Arora offered an immediate way for attendees to engage in advocacy—not from where they stood, but from where they sat: sharing a selfie with a simple yet powerful message.
"I want you to say '#IMProud to advocate for …' and then you choose what you're going to advocate for, whether it be gun violence prevention, antiracism, health equity, LGBTQ health, whatever it is," she said. "Medical education, clinical practice, well-being, burnout—there's so much we need to change, and you can all be those change agents."
On Twitter, attendees tied their selfies to advocacy for healthier patients and communities, clinician well-being, health equity, physician payment reform, women in medicine, reproductive rights, immigrants, affordable care, and a diverse workforce, among many other things.
Dr. Arora hoped these messages would help destigmatize advocacy by physicians. "The word advocacy, we're not going to hide from. It's not a dirty word," she said. "It is part of who we are as internal medicine physicians." ■