The Physician as Advocate: From Clinical Excellence to Policy Impact

Are you a medical student or physician interested in health policy? Or a health policy professional interested in the role that physicians can play in policy advocacy? Please join us on September 18 to hear how physicians are leveraging their clinical experience, patient relationships, and professional networks to advocate for access to health care and public health. Come and learn how the University of Southern California is creating pathways for our students, residents, and faculty to advocate for change--especially as major shifts occur in national and global health policy.

This unique coast-to-coast event, “The Physician as Advocate: From Clinical Excellence to Policy Impact,” will take place on Thursday, September 18, at 3:00 pm EDT/12:00 pm PDT. Please join us in-person at our Capital Campus in Washington, DC or our Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles, CA. If you’re joining us in Los Angeles, we invite you to bring your own lunch.

The conversation will begin with an introduction by Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean Carolyn Meltzer, MD, and will be moderated by IIGH Director of Policy Engagement Jonathan Cohen, JD and IIGH Director of Academic Programs Taylor Burkholder, MD.

The discussion is hosted by the Keck School of Medicine of USC, USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health, and the USC Capital Campus in cooperation with the Alliance for Patient Access.

For more information about USC’s initiatives to develop physician advocates, please contact Prof. Jonathan E. Cohen at jecohen@usc.edu.

Room details will be provided upon registration.

This program is open to all eligible individuals. IIGH operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.

Speakers:

Linda Mirdamadi, MD, is an Internist and former partner with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group with over 20 years of clinical and executive leadership experience. She is proud to serve the diverse communities of Los Angeles with expertise in wellness, obesity and chronic disease prevention. She is an active member of her community, serving and advising local elected officials, and was honored to co-chair Governor Jerry Brown’s task force, “Let’s Get Healthy California,” in which she led a team to develop strategies to improve health care delivery for high- risk Californians. Currently, she is an adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and enjoys mentoring students as the faculty advisor for the Latino Medical Student Association. Mirdamadi is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) and chairs the National Policy and Advocacy Committee. As both a NHMA and National Hispanic Health Foundation Leadership (NHHF) Fellow, Mirdamadi advocates at the county, state and federal level to advance legislation that improves health outcomes in our Hispanic and other underrepresented communities.

Wes Mizutani, MD, is a rheumatologist who received his Medical Degree at UCLA School of Medicine in 1983 and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at USC/LA County Medical Center. When Talbert Medical Group became a physician owned group, he served as treasurer for five years and later as chairman of the board and member of the board of directors for seven years. Mizutani founded the Clinical Research Department at Talbert Medical Group, overseeing more than 100 clinical trials. He served as rheumatology lead at Optum Medical Group and held an appointment at UCSD School of Medicine as an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine. He has testified at legislative hearings both at the California State Capitol and Capitol Hill and is a board member of Alliance for Patient Access. He is involved with the Arthritis Foundation, serving on the National Board of Directors and National Advocacy Committee.  He currently serves as the board chairman of the Gout Support Group of America, on the Executive Leadership Council of National Association of Managed Care Physicians, and on the Medical Advisory Board of Lupus LA.

Josie Cooper serves as executive director of the Alliance for Patient Access. At AfPA, Cooper has worked in stakeholder and clinician mobilization, developing policy and educational strategies to improve patient access to care. Cooper has a background in communications, research, grassroots organization and campaign politics. Cooper has worked at the state and national level advising political campaigns and public affairs clients on supporter and stakeholder mobilization. She has worked on major races across the country, from presidential campaigns to Senate and congressional races. Prior to joining AfPA, Cooper worked for a DC-based consulting firm and for a trade association representing biotechnology companies.

Vennela Devanaboyina is currently an MS2 at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and is a passionate advocate for health policy and the role of physicians as actors of political change. She is the co-founder and President of The Policy Pulse, a USC Keck student organization created to engage health professionals in discussions on the intersection of healthcare and politics, and how they can advocate for change. Devanaboyina is one of the 2025 IIGH/USC Summer Global Health Policy Scholars, and worked with the United Nations Foundation to conduct research on global infectious disease surveillance and the importance of these systems to health outcomes.

Opening Remarks:

Dean Carolyn Meltzer, MD, began her appointment as the Dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and the John and May Hooval Dean’s Chair in Medicine, on March 1, 2022. Meltzer oversees the operations and academic affairs of the Keck School of Medicine, which is the home to 26 basic and clinical academic programs and 16 major research institutes. She serves as the academic leader of the Keck School faculty and staff, who perform biomedical research and clinical care, and train medical students, graduate students, postdoctoral trainees and undergraduates. Meltzer is an expert in neuroradiology and nuclear medicine and has conducted research to understand the brain’s structure and function during normal aging, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and psychiatric disorders in later life. Meltzer was recruited from Emory University where she served as the William P. Timmie Professor and Chair, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Emory University for 15 years.

Moderators:

Jonathan E. Cohen, JD, is Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California and Director of Policy Engagement at the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health (IIGH). He represents the Keck School of Medicine and IIGH on USC’s new Capital Campus. Cohen was previously the Public Health Program Director at the Open Society Foundations, where he oversaw grant making in the fields of access to medicines as diverse as access to essential medicines, harm reduction, HIV/AIDS, mental health, palliative care, and reproductive and sexual health. He is an emerging leader in the field of population aging and his current work seeks to equip low and middle-income countries to equitably confront the challenge and opportunity of population aging and demographic change. He holds degrees from Yale College, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Taylor Burkholder, MD, is an Associate Professor of clinical emergency medicine and the Director of Academic Programs at the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health. He received a bachelor’s in business administration from Georgetown University and his MD and MPH from Tulane University. He then trained in emergency medicine in Denver before completing a fellowship in global emergency medicine at the University of Colorado. He is a volunteer consultant for the World Health Organization’s Emergency, Trauma and Acute Care programme, and he currently researches implementation of health service delivery interventions and the governance of emergency care systems in low- and middle-income countries. Burkholder teaches courses on pre-departure training to enable ethical, equitable, and sustainable global health educational experiences.