B. Model Practices

2. Policy Advocacy: Impacting the UC System - Golden State Medical Association, James Wesley Vines Jr., MD Medical Society - Jacqueline Long, MD

Dr. Long presented a case study demonstrating the ability of an Ethnic Physician Organization to substantively change a publicly funded program to benefit disadvantaged African American students.

In 1975, the University of California, Riverside (UCR) established the Biomedical Sciences Program to prepare top students for medical school at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Over the period, 1981 - 2001, the program enrolled a total of 4,527 freshmen. Only 430 (9.5%) succeeded in completing the fourth year of the program. During the same period, the completion rate for the 95 African American enrolled freshmen was only about 5%, although many of the students who were not retained did enter and graduate from medical school. Prior to 1981, none of the African American students admitted to the Biomedical Sciences Program completed the program.

In 1995, the James Wesley Vines Jr., MD Medical Society took up this issue and formally complained to UCR administration. The J.W. Vines Medical Society appeared to meet with some initial success when UCR agreed to discuss the issues and subsequently established an Advisory Committee and promised to increase their support to minority students to increase their success rate in the program. Over time, however, the Advisory Committee was disbanded and the promised support for minority students never materialized.

After repeated efforts to address these issues with University officials, the J.W. Vines Medical Society embarked on a campaign of media and legislative advocacy. As a result, the UCR program came under increased scrutiny by African American legislators who, as part of the budget process, required UCR to generate a report to the Legislature addressing these issues. Notwithstanding the legislative scrutiny and a revised statement of the mission of the program, the Legislature ultimately determined that the UCR program, with its very low retention rate, was not a worthwhile use of state resources and the program is being phased out.

Dr. Long recounted the important lessons for physician organizations that seek to increase their effectiveness in advocacy. She underscored the importance of:

• Tenacity in the face of initial failure.
  
• Coalitions / collaborations.
  
• Data to document claims.
  
• Partnerships with business and the public sector.
  
• Access to and skillful use of media.
  
• Access to political representatives.
  
• Vigilance.

3. Building Organizational Infrastructure - Philippine Medical Society of Northern California - Lene Martinez, MD

Dr. Martinez recounted the history of the Philippine Medical Society of Northern California. She chronicled its evolution from a social organization founded in 1972 to its acquisition of non-profit status in 1984 to its formal institutionalization with the drafting of a constitution and by-laws in 1989. The objectives of the Society can be summarized as:

Promoting closer personal and professional relationships among its members.
Encouraging their professional growth and development.
Encouraging Filipino and Filipino-American students to pursue medical careers.
Providing medical assistance to elderly and indigent Filipino-Americans as well as other minority groups in the U.S. and supporting medical-surgical missions abroad.

Dr. Martinez identified a few of the major contributions the Society has made, including $36,000 in contributions for medical education scholarships and providing services to more than 72,000 patients in 2002 alone.

She identified the keys to success in the development of the Society as promoting unity through communications and a common vision, building a strong organization, and creating programs that address community needs.