Advocacy Training Grantees

Faculty & Resident: Megan Tracy, MD & Omoadoni Emeagui, MD

Goal: Educate residents on Early Intervention and the larger issues facing the community by highlighting the work of community partners and improving resident skills in advocating for their patients.

Key Components:

• Quarterly workshops will focus on health inequities in early childhood development.
• Create opportunities for residents to participate in community meetings with community-based organizations.
• Provide opportunities for residents to attend the Advocacy Day in 2026

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Residents will get hands-on advocacy practice through the Kids Can’t Wait Advocacy Toolkit and by developing an advocacy project.
• Improve resident knowledge and skills to address disparities in early childhood development.

Faculty & Resident: Beth Ebel, MD & Rachel Yang, MD

Goal: Improve confidence in legislative advocacy in our residents by empowering them to become leaders who work to shape policies that improve the health and well-being of underserved pediatric populations.

Key Components:

• Protected teaching time to allow for participation in advocacy skills sessions.
• Panel discussions at noon conferences with faculty and community member to discuss their experiences in legislative advocacy.
• Organize two events focused on community-building and networking centered around the WCAAP Advocacy Day.

Anticipated Outcomes:

• A sustainable advocacy curriculum for resident trainees in collaboration with the AAP Chapter
• By addressing local health issues residents will be able to witness how advocacy can influence policy and improve health outcomes.

Faculty & Resident: Kristin Rager, MD & Stephanie Ng, MD

Goal: Increase residents’ comfort level with advocacy at state and national level by providing an overview of the legislative process and how it is tied to advocacy and improve skills in related tools to encourage residents to become more involved in advocating for their patients.

Key Components:

• The educational project will be based on relevant bills the state chapter is advocating for.
• Create skill-based training sessions on a variety of advocacy topics (i.e. building relationships with elected officials, writing Op-eds, media outreach, etc.).

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Sustainability in the update to the advocacy curriculum by tying it to the annual areas of focus by the state chapter.
• Increase confidence of residents to become more involved in advocacy efforts in their future careers.

Faculty & Resident: Hailey Nelson, MD & Enjuli Chhaniara, DO

Goal: Implement a longitudinal and collaborative advocacy curriculum to allow residents to learn about a topic from a medical, public health, and legislative standpoint while gaining the skills to advocate through various modalities.

Key Components:

• Create opportunities for second year residents to have a community outreach and advocacy rotation through the creation of a longitudinal curriculum.
• Increase advocacy curriculum to include utilizing media as a communication strategy to advocacy for patients.
• Create a health policy workshop to help residents understand the legislation pertaining to the focus area.

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Residents will learn a variety of tools for digital communication.
• Residents will develop community partnerships with community-based organizations and the AAP chapter.
• Residents will develop and present a Health Campaign Capstone Project

Faculty & Resident: Alexandra Leader, MD and Cassandra Stegall, MD

Goal: Design and implement a comprehensive, dynamic, multi-modality, multidisciplinary pediatric advocacy curriculum.

Key components:

• Establish an advocacy elective as a part of the residency curriculum.
• Identify faculty interested in serving as mentors in this new program.
• Help set up residents for future advocacy opportunities (i.e. CATCH grants, present at Grand Rounds, etc.).

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Identify and strengthen community partnerships to foster the development and implementation of the curriculum.
• Implement a Community Orientation Day during Intern Orientation that includes a tour of local communities and guest lectures from community leaders.
• Provide residents with skills necessary to identify local resources to advocate for patient needs.

Faculty & Resident: Amy Buczkowski, MD and Julia Oppenheimer, MD

Goal: Increase pediatric and internal medicine-pediatric resident confidence in legislative advocacy and ability to identify and address pediatric health equity issues through skills-building workshops and meetings with legislative partners.

Key Components:

• Skill sessions on strengthening Maine’s public policies by introducing bills and/or writing testimony.
• Collaboration with State AAP Chapter and State Legislators.
• Educate residents on health disparities and foster interest in diverse advocacy topics that impact children’s health.

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Increase resident confidence in legislative advocacy skills.
• Increase resident knowledge and understanding of pediatric health-related disparities across Maine.
• Create advocacy skill-building workshops for residents that incorporate pediatric faculty, the Maine AAP Chapter, and state legislators.

Faculty & Resident: Melissa Wood-Katz, MD and Katie Stahler, MD

Goal: Increase resident exposure to community resources through an immersive volunteer experience and comfort level with policy advocacy via writing letters to legislators pertaining to policies inspired by their respective community outreach.

Key Components:

• Residency Outreach Day.
• Residents will volunteer with community-based organizations.
• Exposure to community organizations and their programs.

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Increase the number of residents who are comfortable referring patients to community outreach programs.
• Increase resident comfort level in talking to or writing to legislators.

Faculty & Resident: Josephine Sun, MD and Anjali Agrawal, MD

Goal: Institute an annual Advocacy Day at UNLV Pediatric Residency Program in collaboration with Nevada AAP Chapter to establish strong community relationships and empower pediatric residents to lead legislative advocacy initiatives specific to Nevada children.

Key Components:

• Project involves collaboration of residents, members of the Nevada Chapter of AAP, and UNLV Faculty Mentors working to broaden impact and collaboration of Advocacy Day.
• Enhance resident advocacy curriculum through structured lectures and workshops.

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Increase the participation rate of residents in legislative advocacy initiatives.
• Equip residents with the tools and knowledge to actively engage in legislative advocacy throughout their careers.

Faculty & Resident: Molly Krager, MD and Andrew Donaldson, MD

Goal: Create a longitudinal legislative advocacy curriculum integrated across Y weeks in our new X+Y curriculum to empower residents to advocate for children’s health at the local, state, and federal levels. 

Key components:

• Conduct needs assessment with senior residents who have already completed the advocacy program to evaluate gaps and seek feedback on curriculum improvement.
• First year residency will focus on local policy under new curriculum then accompany staff to a local meeting learn about public policy initiatives.
• In year two advocacy will be broadened with exposure to state advocacy issues and coordinate with local AAP Chapter to use skills to meet with their legislators. 
  Anticipated Outcomes:
• Develop series of case-based discussions based on the Missouri AAP Blueprint for Children Agenda.
• Residents will attend both local and state advocacy sessions to learn how child health can impact public policy.
• Participate in child health advocacy experiences. 

Faculty & Resident: Yonit Lax, MD and Farah Jooma, MD

Goal: Educate and empower pediatric residents to advocate for patients and families to prevent the accidental ingestion of cannabis products by children and the over-consumption of marijuana by adolescents and parents of young children.

Key Components:

• Residents distribute educational material.
• Residents will practice engaging in difficult conversations with simulated patient encounters.
• Work with multiple community partners to increase spread of educational materials.
• Engage in connecting with legislators through op-eds and statewide Advocacy Day.

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Increase resident knowledge on advocacy topic after pre and posttests.
• Increase resident comfort in having difficult conversations.
• Create partnerships with community organizations to spread knowledge.
• Empower residents to participate in legislative change by using their physician voice with legislators. 

Faculty and Resident: Rinet Fernandes, MD and Nadia Shaikh, MD

Goal: To increase comfort and competence of residents to address and be a legislative advocate for specific needs and issues facing immigrant and refugee patient populations.

Key Components:  

• Introductory session to advocacy topic area.
• Legislative advocacy workshop.
• Residents will practice engaging in difficult conversations with simulated patient encounters.
• Learn how to connect patients to existing resources.  
  Anticipated Outcomes:
• Increase level of comfort and competence in pediatric residents on advocacy issues in patient encounters.
• Increase legislative advocacy skills
• Add curricula elements to the advocacy rotation around advocacy topic areas
• Host educational consortium and strengthen partnerships with NJPRAC and NJAAP 

Faculty and Resident: Carolina Guitierrez, MD and Jonathan Taylor-Fishwick, MD

Goal: Design and implement a sustainable longitudinal curriculum within the University of Colorado Medicine-Pediatrics program which utilizes partnerships with the Colorado chapter of the AAP to identify and understand key advocacy issues for child health, empowers residents to address the critical problems locally and nationally, and build foundational skills and practices for life-long advocacy.

Key Components:  

• Conduct yearly survey to identify residents' areas of interest specific to advocacy and to identify key issues specific to Colorado.
• Provide early exposure to avenues for advocacy, integrating structured advocacy education focused on skill building, creating mentorship for residents passionate in advocacy.
• Year one of the curriculum will address current gaps in the categorical program’s advocacy curriculum. Year two will focus more on residents’ interest areas as well as key topics being discussed by the Colorado AAP and relevant to Coloradans. 
  Anticipated Outcomes:
• Orientation for residents to understand key components of healthcare in Colorado including local, state, and national advocacy issues.
• Bi-monthly advocate meetings to support and empower residents.
• Quarterly hand-on educational series focusing on advocacy topics.