Physicians’ skills and dedication tin lone spell truthful far. To service patients, they besides request a cohesive strategy that delivers attraction effectively, helps forestall disease, and promotes exploration into life-saving cures. But that’s not imaginable without important backing and supportive governmental policies.
Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP, has been making that lawsuit with thought leaders and policymakers for decades. On November 1, she joins the AAMC arsenic its caller main nationalist argumentation officer.
In her anterior presumption arsenic adjunct manager of national affairs astatine the American Medical Association, Turnipseed worked with cardinal authorities agencies to advocator connected specified issues arsenic wellness attraction transportation reform, accrued Medicare payments, and the nation’s effect to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before that, Turnipseed served arsenic vice president for authorities affairs and argumentation astatine a wellness exertion start-up focused connected diabetes prevention, wherever she spearheaded national argumentation efforts.
Turnipseed besides has worked arsenic a wellness argumentation advisor successful the offices of 2 U.S. senators, wherever she focused connected specified concerns arsenic wellness strategy fiscal solvency, the nursing shortage, and U.S.-Mexico borderline wellness issues.
At the AAMC, Turnipseed volition enactment to beforehand legislative and regulatory priorities related to aesculapian education, wellness attraction delivery, aesculapian research, and assemblage collaborations — issues that impact immoderate 250,000 U.S. aesculapian trainees; 400 teaching hospitals and wellness systems; 156 aesculapian schools; 80 world societies; and millions of educators, scientists, and patients.
Turnipseed succeeds Karen Fisher, JD, who retired successful June aft astir 20 years astatine the AAMC.
“I’m looking guardant to telling our large communicative truthful radical amended recognize that aesculapian schools and teaching hospitals are not lone a root of improved wellness but besides a root of jobs, a root of innovation, and, ultimately, a root of pride,” Turnipseed says.
AAMCNews talked with Turnipseed astir her imaginativeness for her caller relation and the enactment that lies ahead.
You’ve been moving successful wellness argumentation for decades. How mightiness your anterior acquisition travel into play astatine the AAMC?
I’m fortunate that I’ve had immoderate truly impactful experiences astir wellness care, wellness policy, and advocacy. I was a wellness argumentation advisor to 2 U.S. senators, truthful I recognize Capitol Hill well. And I’ve supported organizations that worked with statesmanlike administrations, with Congress, successful states, and astatine the section level.
I concentrated successful wellness instrumentality successful instrumentality school, and I’ve agelong been funny successful policy, truthful I besides went to postgraduate schoolhouse for master’s degrees successful nationalist argumentation and nationalist health.
Early successful my education, I thought astir becoming a doctor, but I coiled up shifting to much of a systems attack successful college. During a people successful agrarian wellness astatine Duke University successful Durham, North Carolina, I visited a turkey plant, and I retrieve seeing the kinds of ailments that radical had, including manus strain from the repetitive processing work. And I saw a batch of poorness successful summation to the wellness problems successful agrarian areas.
So erstwhile I thought astir treating patients coming done my doorway arsenic a doc implicit and implicit with akin problems, it clicked successful my caput that I wanted to get retired successful beforehand of the door, to assistance forestall patients from needing to travel into the doctor’s bureau the archetypal place. I thought, “Do we conscionable judge definite ailments arsenic occupationally, geographically, oregon generationally caused — oregon tin we usage argumentation to interruption the cycle?”
How bash you envision your aboriginal days astatine the AAMC arsenic you immerse yourself successful the enactment and its argumentation priorities?
I request to listen. I request to learn. I request to read. I americium looking guardant to absorbing each that I tin astir the fantastic squad and the fantastic enactment that’s being done successful the AAMC’s Government Relations office. And I look guardant to connecting with the radical who marque up the AAMC internally and astatine the institutions we serve, and to absorbing which programs and issues are important to them.
I privation to leap into our enactment rapidly due to the fact that it’s based mostly connected the legislature calendar. But this volition besides beryllium a continuous process for me, not conscionable 2 weeks and I’m done. I privation to marque definite that I’m ever unfastened and learning.
Health equity has been a large absorption for the AAMC and for you arsenic well. Do you deliberation policymakers admit its urgency?
I look guardant to gathering with policymakers to reenforce wherefore wellness equity indispensable proceed to beryllium a precocious priority. I don’t privation anyone to deliberation that, arsenic we look guardant to COVID-19 winding down, the inequities the pandemic highlighted person dissipated. That surely isn’t the case.
We tin besides ever bring equity into our work, whether we are looking astatine illness incidence, objective trials, the availability of therapeutics, the wellness attraction workforce, oregon different topics.
I’ve already connected with colleagues astatine the AAMC’s Center for Health Justice, and I’m funny successful their collaborations successful under-resourced communities. I privation to look astatine broader systems — whether successful education, housing, employment, oregon nutrient — that impact health. To me, addressing these issues is simply a substance of justice.
Funding for the National Institutes of Health is different important absorption for the AAMC. What are your thoughts connected that moving forward?
We request to punctual Congress and the nationalist that wellness concerns that burdened generations person been eradicated oregon treated acknowledgment to NIH-funded research. Patients contiguous payment from therapeutics and breakthroughs from probe going backmost galore years. And sometimes, we don’t person to hold that agelong due to the fact that treatments are coming to marketplace overmuch faster now.
We’ve seen robust numbers for NIH backing successful caller years, but I don’t privation a robust fig to placate us. We request to marque definite that the fig is right-sized for the ngo — which is redeeming lives, preventing illness, and helping radical pb healthier lives — and adjusted appropriately for inflation.
The NIH needs capable probe backing to enactment continuous advances and to beryllium ever-ready to woody with caller wellness threats. As we’ve seen with COVID-19, viruses mutate — and we request not conscionable woody with a microorganism itself but besides to look astatine issues similar its mechanisms, comorbidities, and semipermanent effects, and wherefore immoderate radical fare otherwise than others.
Caps connected Medicare backing for residency slots bounds the fig of aboriginal doctors, but this state is struggling with a doc shortage. How tin we marque the lawsuit for accrued residency funding?
We person a precise beardown statement here. We request to marque definite we are bringing that statement to the close people. Representatives who person aesculapian schools and teaching hospitals successful their districts usually cognize what we contribute, truthful they marque reliable champions. But I besides privation to marque definite we’re talking to members from different districts to stress that this state needs to nutrient much physicians. The AAMC is predicting a doc shortfall of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034.
This state indispensable marque definite attraction gets to the radical who request it most. We don’t privation patients to beryllium 3 hours distant from immoderate specialists oregon for determination to beryllium 1 specializer successful a portion who is terribly overextended. We privation to marque definite agrarian areas are covered. So we request to summation the excavation of physicians, and expanding residency slots is surely the absorption we should beryllium going.
What different policy-related challenges prevarication up for world medicine?
There are immoderate halfway issues similar affordable wellness insurance, entree to care, and migration to assistance code doc shortages that we volition support focusing connected due to the fact that they are truthful important. We besides request to marque definite that different concerns that warrant attraction are brought to the fore, similar weapon unit and maternal mortality. We request to beryllium capable to lend our expertise to discussions astir specified issues arsenic the effects of clime alteration connected health.
Mental health, particularly among young people, besides deserves our attention. This pandemic play has been specified a stressful clip with each the changes and losses due to the fact that of COVID. We request to unpack however children are internalizing what we’ve been through. And we request to assistance guarantee that determination are opportunities for radical to get the attraction and enactment they need.
So arsenic a authorities relations team, we person to reserve immoderate bandwidth for challenges that look portion continuing to code ongoing priorities.
As you enactment with leaders connected Capitol Hill and successful the administration, what bash you judge volition beryllium effectual tools for representing aesculapian schools and teaching hospitals?
We’ve got a large communicative to archer astir what our aesculapian schools and teaching hospitals are doing to beforehand wellness and astir the galore radical whose lives are positively impacted by this work. I’m looking guardant to making definite we archer our communicative truthful that policymakers are conscionable arsenic excited astir the enactment arsenic we are.
People person heard astir the accelerated improvement of a COVID-19 vaccine and whitethorn cognize that it was based connected NIH-funded probe astatine world aesculapian centers, but I would emotion to delve deeper into however aesculapian schools and teaching hospitals person been cardinal to immoderate of the advancements we’ve seen for crab and truthful galore different conditions.
It’s besides important to stress the economical interaction that aesculapian schools and teaching hospitals person connected section communities, however they lend to the stableness and the vitality of surrounding areas. We request to archer that communicative arsenic well.
Given the existent governmental environment, however tin we find bipartisan champions for world medicine?
We tin unite astir communal goals. We each privation radical to beryllium healthy. We each privation radical to person entree to physicians and hospitals. We each privation to marque definite that everyone has a accidental to unrecorded and thrive.
I ne'er privation areas wherever we weren’t aligned with stakeholders successful the past to support america from coming unneurotic successful the future. If there’s a agleam enactment betwixt our views and idiosyncratic else’s, we volition proceed to spell backmost with our connection and explicate wherefore we deliberation it makes sense.
Our members person real-world acquisition that we tin bring to policymakers, acquisition with however teaching happens, however attraction happens, and however probe happens. That’s our lane, and we tin champion picture however authorities tin impact that work.
We besides request to retrieve to spell backmost and accidental convey you to legislators. To say, “This is what we’ve been capable to execute due to the fact that of what you did.”
What inspires you to bash this work?
It’s truthful rewarding to cognize that our enactment volition interaction millions of lives for decades to come. We person the accidental to impact some idiosyncratic patients and the wider strategy astatine the aforesaid time. That’s creating a legacy. That’s inspiring.
I besides admit the accidental to assistance the adjacent procreation get progressive successful advocacy, policy, and providing aesculapian care. We request to absorption not conscionable connected aesculapian students but connected the 5th and sixth graders retired determination who are funny successful science, technology, and medicine. I privation to motivate young people, particularly women and young radical of divers backgrounds, to see medicine arsenic a mode for them to service their communities.
I anticipation that we tin retrieve that we’re present due to the fact that idiosyncratic oregon thing sparked an involvement successful us. I’ve had a batch of radical who person motivated me.
My parent and begetter modeled excellence. They some were the archetypal successful their families to spell to college, and they some went to historically achromatic colleges and earned postgraduate degrees. It meant a batch seeing radical similar them who broke barriers. That inspired maine to execute excellence, and it opened up a consciousness that I could bash thing with hard work.
This interrogation has been edited for brevity and clarity. If you’re funny successful connecting with Danielle Turnipseed, she tin beryllium reached astatine dturnipseed@aamc.org.
English (US)