ASCP Resident Council Representatives Advocate for Residents’ Needs at AMA Meeting

Representation of pathology on the national stage is critical in times of rapid change in healthcare policy. ASCP Resident Council members Anne Chen, MD, and Liron Slonim, MD, recently attended the 2019 American Medical Association (AMA) Interim Meeting in San Diego, Calif., where they served as delegates of the Resident-Fellow Section (RFS).

Discussion focused on issues affecting resident and fellows, such as disposition of residents during a hospital closure, resident and fellow access to fertility preservation, parental leave during graduate medical education, and wellness policies. Dr. Slonim spoke eloquently about parental leave during residency during floor debate in the RFS meeting.

The two also provided pathology-specific viewpoints, such as removing sex designation from the public portion of a birth certificate, e-cigarettes and vaping-associated illness and breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. In addition, Dr. Chen served on the RFS Credentials Committee, attended RFS caucus meetings as an Alternate Sectional Delegate and was re-elected in this position for the 2020 annual meeting.

Dr. Chen and Slonim also followed up on a resolution drafted by previous ASCP delegates regarding changing the pathology content of medical school curriculum. Specifically, they learned that the AMA-RFS has a precedent of not accepting direct educational mandates from societies. For future AMA meetings, additional brainstorming will be needed to submit resolutions designed to improve pathology medical education from a different angle.