Why I Got Involved with Organized Medicine: A Medical Student's Prospective

Hendrik Stegall, Medical Student

Howdy! I’m Hendrik Stegall, an MS4 at Ohio State, and I’m planning to apply into Family Medicine. I have been involved in the American Medical Association and Ohio State Medical Association since 2020, and the Columbus Medical Association since earlier this year. I first developed an interest in organized medicine during my second year of med school after learning about resolution writing for the AMA and OSMA. I had been feeling a frustrated by the speed and manner that large groups, be they hospitals, medical societies, or the entire government, would move when facing issues that I felt were important. One of the reasons I want to do Family Medicine is an interest in disease prevention and wellness, which comes from my belief that many chronic diseases can be mitigated—even avoided entirely—with a good, healthy lifestyle. The caveat, of course, is that most of the components of a healthy lifestyle happen outside of the healthcare setting and are very dependent on a person’s lived environment and available resources, often termed the “social determinants of health.”  I had been grappling, emotionally and conceptually, with how to address some of these determinants—wealth and healthcare inequality, climate change, systemic racism—and felt impotent in how I could try to affect change.

At these early AMA/OSMA meetings, the student section’s board members and veterans discussed the value of resolution writing; how we could propose policy, based on research, that was important to us, how our resolutions could be accepted as the official stance of these medical societies and direct efforts like research and lobbying, and how politicians and others would use the policies that societies had created to shape platforms and direct legislation. I heard all this and felt like this would be a good way to apply my feelings and abilities to affect change, and I have since been able to work with other motivated medical students on resolutions with a variety of topics, from climate change, to policing, to weight stigma, to food access, many of which have been accepted as official policy in either the AMA or OSMA.

While resolution writing was my initial exposure to organized medicine, there have been many other opportunities that my participation in the AMA, OSMA, and now CMA, have created. The people who join medical societies tend to share a few core interests, which include fostering community, advocacy, and mentorship. As such, joining these various medical associations has allowed me to meet other students, residents, and physicians who are invested in the success of their fellow members, future physicians, and their patients. By working with the CMA, I can help other students connect with these great people, as well as connect them to many of the other resources that the CMA, OSMA, and AMA provide, often free of charge. In addition, introducing students to these organizations and the work that they do can help students find an outlet for their beliefs; it can help fan the flames of passion, flames that may be eddying and stifled in the face of issues that seem insurmountable.