Nicole Gunawansa

During the course of my MPH, which I completed last year at George Washington University’s School of Public Health, I learned a tremendous amount about how advocacy and public health are integrally intertwined in medicine. I learned how much it matters that doctors are in the sphere of public health advocacy and necessary for promoting effective change in improving access to medicine for people from all walks of life. It was in seeing how much impact family medicine physicians can have during my MPH year (through courses and guest speakers) that I decided that family medicine would be the right choice for me as I apply to residency this upcoming fall.

I mention all of this to emphasize how amazing of an opportunity it was to be able to attend the Family Medicine Advocacy Summit this May. I got to witness and participate in the collaboration/interaction between medical professionals and political personnel, something that I had only read about in my MPH classes months before. It was inspiring to meet other health professionals who were so incredibly passionate about effecting change to help improve our–frankly–somewhat broken healthcare system. It was also nice to see that progress to promote more quality and comprehensive medical care for all can be made by bridging the gap between medicine and politics. During this summit, I specifically learned about improving access to primary care in Medicaid, increasing behavioral health integration in primary care, and promoting preservation of telehealth access in medicine.

These are all topics that have personally affected my time in medicine, as I was a part of the class of medical students that was thrown into clinical rotations during the beginning days of the COVID-19 Pandemic. I personally conducted numerous telehealth visits during my primary care rotation (fall 2020) and found it incredibly useful in meeting patients where they are to ensure that they can be seen even if they don’t have transportation to get to the clinic or if even they are scared to leave their house due to immunocompromised status. This is just one example of how the topics of the 2022 Family Medicine Advocacy Summits spoke to my interests in health advocacy.

It was wonderful to be in the room when discussions were being had about how important behavioral health is in primary care,and be able to share personal stories of how many patients I have helped treat/screen for mental health issues in non-psychiatric settings. Ultimately, family medicines are the first point of contact many patients have to medicine, and it is important that we health professionals continue to push for increased financial, social, and political support from congress for the numerous services that primary care doctors provide. It was empowering to be a part of the Family Medicine Advocacy Summit and gave me a wonderful glimpse into the world of advocacy that I intend to be a part of as a future physician.