Don’t delay! Registration for the Indiana State Medical Association’s newest leadership program, ISMA Advocacy Bootcamp, closes at the end of the month!

This is an opportunity for ALL ISMA members looking to grow their advocacy and leadership skills. The program will run from July through November 2023 and consist of Zoom and in-person sessions led by ISMA’s Government Relations (GR) team and other subject-matter experts. There will be three one-hour Zoom sessions (July, August, October) and two in-person sessions (September, November). If you cannot attend one of the live sessions due to a schedule conflict, ISMA staff will work with you to make it up.

ISMA aims to foster and sustain physician advocacy champions who become effective and active health policy advocates. The program, which costs $300, is open to all ISMA members, and 25 registrants will be accepted. 

A pilot run of the bootcamp concluded on May 21, with 23 ISMA members participating. Physicians ranging in age and advocacy experience attended the sessions and have given the program high praise in their written feedback and verbally during recent district meetings statewide.

ISMA Board of Trustees member Jane Bridges, MD, a diabetologist in Vincennes for the past 31 years, has been an ISMA member since 1987 and has been involved in physician wellness advocacy since 2018. Bridges, also an ISMA Commission on Physician Assistance member, said she went into the bootcamp hoping to learn more about being a better advocate, whether at the state level or working on the BOT.

“If you are at that stage in your career where you would like to understand the workings of our state legislature better and develop confidence in advocacy for Indiana physicians, consider taking this course,” 
Bridges said.
 
Bridges added that she enjoyed learning about how a bill becomes a law; what happens at the Statehouse; how to use the IN.gov website; her strengths as an advocate; and how to communicate with legislators.
  
“I found it to be an overall positive experience and appreciated the opportunity to participate in the program,” Bridges said.

The deadline for registration is June 30, 2023. Sign up and read a full course description at www.ismanet.org/2023AdvocacyBootcamp



A pilot program of the ISMA Advocacy Bootcamp concluded in May. Twenty-three physicians participated in the first cohort.