Doctors for America

Doctors for America is a national organization of physicians and medical students that engages in patient advocacy and social reform at a grassroots level. In training medical students to be socially conscious agents of change, it is important for them to be exposed to diverse patient narratives that help contextualize health policy. Because it is difficult to rely on standardized medical curriculum alone to provide a voice for and contextualize patients’ stories, our goal as a student chapter of DFA at the David Geffen School of Medicine and greater UCLA community is to promote and bring diverse patient narratives to UCLA, provide opportunities for students to visit patients in their own communities, and foster a network of students interested in social change. To this end, DFA at DGSOM/UCLA will contribute to national campaigns led by the national DFA and collaborate with other DGSOM/UCLA student groups to lay the groundwork for local and national legislative change. Some of the issues we would like to highlight in this upcoming academic year are universal healthcare in California, trans* health disparities, and access-to-care issues among day laborers. Our official mission statement is as follows: Doctors for America at DGSOM/UCLA is a student chapter of the national organization whose goal is to place “patients over policy.” Here at DGSOM/UCLA, DFA seeks to: - Generate interest among doctors-in-training about the modern-day issues pertaining to the health of patients and healthcare in America by highlighting diverse patient narratives through creative means such as patient panels, performances, etc. - Contextualize patients’ stories by providing the opportunity for doctors-in-training to go into the community and meet patients in their environment. - Collaborate with other student interest groups to engage in multi-disciplinary and collaborative health advocacy within DGSOM, the local community and at the national level.

Ucladfa@gmail.com

Signatories: Grace Lee, Candice Mccaughey, and Jeff Fujimoto

Advisor: Pamela R Cysner