What to Expect at a Dinner Hosted By a Local Medical Society
Yesterday, my wife and I attended a dinner invitation from the Medical Association of Atlanta (MAA) that was sent to all members. I joined the MAA in April/May after moving here and falling in love with the city. I wanted to network more with people to increase my chances of matching in Atlanta because I could see myself staying and practicing here, and desire the prospect of raising my family in such a great location. Also, I thought this would be a great way to meet people outside of the Ross-affiliated system through which I am doing my clinical rotations. I enjoyed last nights event, however I did not know what to expect from my first congregation of medical doctors for an event. I wanted to write this quick blog post to help others with possible things to consider when preparing for attending a fancy soirée for a medical association or society.
The Event
The event was a "Joint Meeting with Cobb Medical Society - Speaker Tom Price, M.D." where I had to register myself and my plus one via a link that was sent to members. I signed up about one month before the event, and received a reminder email once a week that the event was coming up. The last email I received to remind me was one with the event date, time, and a simple address: Cobb Galleria Centre, 2 Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, Georgia 30339. I did not know who Dr. Tom Price was nor where the Cobb Galleria Centre looked like. However, my wife and I planned to dress professionally and make the most of the event as a chance to prepare for what to expect when meeting new people at the OBGYN conference I am going to in October. I figured this was a chance to start small before being overwhelmed at the conference. When we got to the Galleria, it was not clear where to go until we started to see professionally dressed people making their way to a specific area of what ended up being a convention center.
The Layout
So, we checked in and received our name tags. It was nice to see the way my name tag was labeled as a "Med Student" where others where either labeled as a resident or without anything other than the "M.D." following the name. After checking in, we mingled in the lobby area outside of the ballrooms. There were multiple bar set ups where you could get wine, beer, soda, or water. As a member of MAA, I was given two beverage tickets at check-in and used the first one for a glass of wine. I figured if I was using a Sunday night for a medicine event then I was going to enjoy myself. My wife used the opportunity to get ideas for what other women appeared to wear to these types of events while I was enjoying the different people present and trying to guess their specialties based on body language.... I was not able to figure out a correlation but I think I'm getting closer to creating a code.
The Speaker
Dr. Tom Price is the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). This man was appointed by our president to run the part of government responsible for Medicaid, Medicare, Head Start, Mental Health Services, and other health-related concerns monitored by our government. Dr. Price is from Georgia, and practiced orthopedic surgery at Emory. He moved onto being a Georgia state senator, and now the Secretary of HHS. I was about to have dinner in the same room as this man. I was inspired by his journey through medicine and politics being someone who has really enjoyed student government, and I enjoy the idea of helping changing healthcare by affecting policy...but first I want to get the degree and enjoy learning more clinical medicine.
His speech detailed some of the projects that the HSS has been involved in that benefit Americans via the positive outcomes on medicine that these projects have afforded. One thing I found interesting was his recount of the hurricanes Harvey and Irma where the President's declaration of states of emergency early in the course of the hurricane really allowed other adjuncts of government to mobilize and allocate resources in a way that is more proactive than the HSS has been able to do previously.
Dr. Price also named three topics addressing our society that he charged the room with focusing on ways to mitigate how these things afflict our society. These items are: the opiate epidemic, mental health services, and childhood obesity. No one would argue that these three areas definitely have room for improvement, and Dr. Price even went as far to say that the one unifying theme for these three items is how the United States is failing its citizens in these three areas. I respected the way Dr. Price articulated himself, and look forward to seeing some changes in these areas that do benefit our society. The fact that more people die each year from opiate overdoses than the total number of losses during 15 years of the Vietnam war. Wow. And when 80% of people abusing opiates were initially prescribed them for medically-appropriate conditions is also eye-opening.
The Dinner
The dinner was nice as it was really well coordinated. We started off with a nice salad, had an entree of stuffed chicken, and for dessert was this interesting chocolate cake with a passionfruit puree base. I hate passionfruit, but everything was great honestly. We were all sat at tables with room for 10 people, but we were at the table with the fewest number of people.
My wife and I were joined by a married couple who both practiced plastic surgery. It was interesting talking to them about their practice in Georgia, and their focus on reconstructive surgeries after patients battle with cancer. We talked about my interest in OBGYN, and they advised me to go for it if it's what I truly love regardless of the horror stories of bad call hours and litigations making the field less appealing. It was interesting to see their outlook on the specialty choice I was debating entering, and how they did not make me feel judged for having gone to a Caribbean school. There is this shame that seems to accompany being a US IMG because so many people through around pejoratives phrases relating going to a US medical school as being more prestigious or elite than going to a foreign school. Funny thing, my experience so far with American doctors is that none of them seem to care where I go to school. I have also not heard of a patient asking his or her doctor where the doctor went to medical school...but I digress.
Closing Remarks
Overall, I enjoyed going to the dinner and having my wife by my side. We were able to get some good intel that we believe will prepare us for future soirées. I also had a great time listening to our U.S. Secretary of HSS that makes me look forward to the progress he intends of the coming years, and also has me encouraged to be more cognizant of the items charged as being the focus for healthcare in our country at present.
Currently, Dominica is being hit with Hurricane Maria and is a category 5. Please keep not only the students at RUSM in your prayers, but the many inhabitants of the islands who have a lot less than what you would expect you would for someone to be able to survive category 5 conditions.
Also, I would like to thank my wife for joining me at this event yesterday, and want to give a special shout out today for her birthday. I could not imagine a better person to have by my side, and I definitely feel like the luckiest man in the world. Thank you for always being such a willing participant in some of the things I get us into and for being more graceful than I am at some of these shindigs.