From the President’s Desk: Our first Leadership Summit

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The final day of the summit will focus on the most pressing policy issues facing pathologists and includes advocacy training for those CAP members who sign up to meet their government representatives on Hill Day. Please do not be ambivalent about becoming politically active. If legislators don’t hear from pathologists about the issues that matter to us, they will not think a proposed bill or regulation is important to us or to our patients. We are the only people who can represent the pathologists’ perspective to our elected officials. And we are their constituents.

The more CAP members who participate in Hill Day, the louder our message and the greater the chance our voice will be heard. The CAP handles the logistics of setting up these meetings for you; all you have to do is show up and share your view with your representative, senator, and their staff. Invariably, CAP fellows who go through our advocacy training and take part in Hill Day say it was a valuable experience and they would do it again. Many do. In the best cases, these meetings have laid a foundation for productive, ongoing relationships between CAP members and their government representatives, giving pathologists an open and continuing channel of communication to engage on policy matters that affect our field.

The CAP is the only organization with a political action committee dedicated to looking out for the interests of pathologists and the patients we serve. We are uniquely equipped to engage elected officials in our federal government. Hill Day is one more chance to amplify the important viewpoints we have to offer, and I hope you will join us for this critical effort.

If you’re not convinced yet, bear in mind that the skills you will learn for Hill Day will also serve you well in your state capitals and with the members of your state legislatures. Advocacy is about communication and building relationships.

Finally, I’d like to thank and congratulate Kathryn Knight, MD, speaker of the House of Delegates, and Jon Myles, MD, chair of our Council on Government and Professional Affairs. They are two of the many people who have been instrumental in putting together our inaugural Pathologists Leadership Summit and the Hill Day event. Dr. Knight and Dr. Myles have done great work, and I am looking forward to seeing the results of their efforts.

Dr. Godbey welcomes communication from CAP members. Write to him at president@cap.org.