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This is an electronic update for members and friends of the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP). We plan to issue it from time to time, whenever several items of interest come to our attention.
Please send items of interest for the E-News -- and any other feedback -- to AAPHP's Secretary, Dave Cundiff, MD, MPH <cundiff@reachone.com>. Thanks!
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1) AAPHP Annual Meeting 2005-06-18:
Twenty-four AAPHP members and friends joined us for the General Membership Meeting in Chicago on Saturday evening, June 18, 2005. This was our first meeting in many years to be held in conjunction with the AMA Annual Meeting.
John Nelson, MD, MPH, AMA's President, addressed our meeting. He discussed the need for universal access to health care, and the cost savings that would result from universal health insurance coverage. He also appealed for AAPHP's continued support of AMA's work to eliminate health care disparities.
Edward Hill, MD, AMA's President-Elect, spoke about the AMA's Public Health agenda, including a commitment to healthy lifestyles and to comprehensive school health education. Dr. Hill stated his intention that "every doctor in America should think about Public Health as his second specialty."
A package of bylaws revisions was discussed and passed as amended.
AAPHP's new bylaws are on the web at
http://www.aaphp.org/bylaws/bylaws2005.htm.
Dr. Dave Cundiff was elected to a full term as Secretary, 2005-2008; Dr. Peter Rumm was elected to a second full term as Trustee, 2005-2008; and Dr. Art Liang was elected to fill an unexpired term as Trustee, 2005-2007.
We discussed membership recruitment and AMA resolutions, and heard other reports from AAPHP officers.
Draft minutes are available to any AAPHP member, on request to the secretary at cundiff@reachone.com. Minutes will be posted on the Web site at <http://www.aaphp.org> after final approval.
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2) AAPHP/ACPM Job Market Initiative (JMI):
A recent increase in volunteer hours has allowed us to resume the abstraction of ads on the JMI web page http://www.aaphp.org/JobMarket/PHP_positions.asp. We now have 27 full-page ads and 77 abstracted positions.
As usual, most jobs that require Public Health and Preventive Medicine skills are not explicitly described that way. It's unusual to see a stated preference for MPH training, and it's very rare to see a preference for Board-Certified Preventive Medicine applicants. We hope to change that in time; for now, we do the best we can to help match applicants and employers.
We need your help! First, when your organization is hiring, consider specifying a preference for Public Health and Preventive Medicine physician credentials. Second, let the JMI know at jln@jln-md.com or cundiff@reachone.com when you become aware of positions involving public health and population medicine skills.
Third, consider volunteering your time as an abstractor. In this role, you would review one or more publications that you receive regularly, or Web sites that interest you. You would identify ads that involve Preventive Medicine skills (we'll share the criteria that we use), check whether each job is already in the JMI listings; and use an easy Web-based interface to enter or update data. This takes about 6-8 minutes for each job abstracted.
You will be making a big contribution!
Contact Joel Nitzkin jln@jln-md.com or Dave Cundiff cundiff@reachone.com for more information, or to volunteer.
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3) Notes in a Bottle:
AAPHP's friend Donald W. MacCorquodale, MD, MSPH shares periodic observations on Public Health research and practice in his on-line column, "Notes Washed Up in a Bottle". The latest issue of "Notes" is at http://www.aaphp.org/bottle/2005/july23.htm. Archives are at http://www.aaphp.org/bottle/allnotes.htm.
Topics of the 2005-07-23 issue include "Health Innovation in Developing Countries", "Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals as Potential Causes of Illness", and "Health of School-Aged Children Born with Extremely Low Birth Weight".
We appreciate Dr. MacCorquodale's contributions and we hope you find them useful.
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4) AAPHP Member Running for AMA President:
Longtime AAPHP member Ronald M. Davis, MD, MA was elected to a second term on the AMA Board of Trustees, with support from AAPHP and several other medical associations. Shortly after his re-election, he declared his candidacy for the AMA presidency. This election will take place in June 2006, and the winner will serve as AMA's President in 2007-2008.
Reaction across the AMA seems to be very positive, and (as of this
writing) I'm not aware of any other announced candidates for this election cycle. Dr. Davis has held steadily more responsible positions in the AMA for many years, and has always worked hard on Public Health issues. AAPHP is proud to be part of Dr. Davis' base of support.
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5) AAPHP Prepares Federal Contract Application:
In response to a Request for Applications from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AAPHP is preparing a proposal to develop a one-day modular seminar/workshop for presentation at state and national meetings of sister national organizations. If funded, these seminars will introduce public health and administrative skills, currently relatively unknown in health care delivery, to enhance the implementation, delivery, and evaluation of preventive services and quality assurance services. We expect that our approach will enhance the prospects for active partnerships among healthcare providers, public health agencies, and community constituencies.
Joel L. Nitzkin, MD, MPH, DPA, a Past President of AAPHP, will be the Principal Investigator on this contract. The AAPHP Board of Trustees will be the governing board.
We seek AAPHP members with diverse backgrounds and experiences to serve on an Advisory Committee that will meet by E-mail and by telephone conferencing. Please contact Dr. Nitzkin at jln@jln-md.com if interested.
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6) New/Renewing AAPHP Members
Thanks to Paul Effler, MD, MPH; Gary Goldbaum, MD, MPH; Cynthia D.
Goodman, MD, MS; Ashwani K. Garg, MD; John D. Muir, MD; and Bonita J.
Sorensen, MD, MBA. Each of them has joined or renewed AAPHP membership since the last E-news. Best wishes to all!
Renewal information is available at http://www.aaphp.org, or call Rob Rader at (202) 207-0709.
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7) Making the E-News More Useful:
We'd like to provide as much useful, interesting information as we can
-- and we'd like to serve as many public health physicians as we can. This includes public health physicians who may not have joined AAPHP yet, as well as AAPHP members who haven't yet decided to join this electronic list.
Right now we are only reaching a small fraction of public health physicians. Feel free to forward this to any colleague who may benefit.
Let us know at cundiff@reachone.com of anyone who would like to receive the E-News regularly (we'll confirm with them first).
Feedback has been mostly positive so far, but we need more. Please let us know when we've helped you and when we haven't. Send responses -- all public health physicians' contributions are welcome. Let us know when you see something interesting that other public health physicians can use.
In the next E-news, we hope to report briefly on more AMA House of Delegates actions; update you on current tobacco litigation; and share some resources on Health Inequalities. Please keep us in touch!
Dave Cundiff, MD, MPH
AAPHP Secretary
cundiff@reachone.com