ASCP Puts Residents' Voices Front and Center at AMA Annual Meeting

January 12, 2021

Anne Chen, MD, a hematopathology fellow at Washington University in  St. Louis, Missouri, recently represented the ASCP Resident Council at the American Medical Association meeting, which was held virtually.  Learn about the topics concerning residents that were discussed at the meeting.

“In our field, we don’t see patients much and we are not thought of immediately as being on the front line of patient care,” she said, adding, “So it’s important to showcase our perspective in front of physician colleagues on a national level.”

As a participant in the AMA meeting, she was involved in the Resident-Fellow Section. A key concern brought up pertained to the closure of the Hahnemann School last year.  There was a proposal brought before the AMA’s House of Representatives to encourage hospitals that sponsor residency programs to disclose their financial situations so residents could make an accurate judgment about whether to attend there.

Term limits of delegates to the Resident-Fellow Section were also discussed. The concern was that some residents have longer residency programs than others, thereby allowing them more years to serve. The benefit of shorter term limits, Dr. Chen said, is to allow more residents a chance to participate.  

For Dr. Chen, this was her last AMA meeting as an ASCP Resident Council representative, since her term on the council has now expired. “It’s been a great experience being able to represent pathology on a national level.”

 

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