STUDENT NEWS OHSU Medical Students Take to Salem for Children and Skin Cancer Prevention By Jennifer Smith, OHSU School of Medicine Communications Office WHEN CHILDREN IN OREGON went back to school this fall, their backpacks may have contained a bottle of sunscreen or a piece of sun-protective clothing—and that’s something to celebrate. A group of OHSU School of Medicine students helped give parents, students and school officials across the state clarity on the issue of sunscreen in Oregon schools. It all began with a strange technicality. Because most commercial sunscreen lotions contain an active ingredient, they were largely considered medication. Medications require a doctor’s note and are subject to other restrictions before they can be administered at schools. This didn’t seem right to a group of medical students in the OHSU Health Policy Interest Group. Motivated by their interest in health policy and their own experience as parents and students, they helped spawn the idea for Oregon House Bill 3041, which allows students to apply and use nonprescription sunscreen and sun protective clothing during school hours and at school-sponsored activities. Leading the effort were OHSU students Michelle Beam, Annie Buckmaster (cochair), Ishak Elkhal, Suzy Funkhouser (co-chair), Claire Groth, Larissa Guran, Mallori Jirikovic, Justin Lee, Kim McKenna, Brianna Muller, Mariah Peterson, Sylvia Peterson-Perry (co-chair), Leah Savitsky, Liz Sokolowski, Nikki Steinsiek and Karl Tjerandsen. They didn’t have to look far for data to support their cause. Oregon has the fifth highest incidence rate of melanoma— and the fourth highest death rate from melanoma—in the country. This is startling to many people in a state known for its OHSU medical students (left to right) Suzy Funkhouser, Larissa Guran, Elizabeth Sokolowski, Sylvia Peterson-Perry, Annie Buckmaster and Ishak Elkhal celebrate the passage of HB 3041. rain and clouds. Furthermore, childhood over-exposure to UV radiation is a leading cause of skin cancer. The underlying message in HB 3041 was simple: Schools need to be sun-safe places to reduce children’s exposure to UV radiation. Working with the government relations teams at OHSU and OMA, the students prepared to take their cause to Salem. They teamed up with faculty member experts, including Sancy Leachman, MD, PhD, professor and chair of dermatology in the OHSU School of Medicine, and Brian Druker, MD, director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, to provide testimony during legislative hearings around HB 3041. Coupled with testimony of melanoma survivors, the bill quickly gained support within the legislature. After passing unanimously in the state Senate and House, the bill was signed by Gov. Kate Brown on June 1. The new law took effect July 1. “This project has been an amazing opportunity to see how we, as students and citizens, can be involved in the legislative process, affect change, and be civically engaged as medical students and, ultimately, as physicians,” said Buckmaster. “The success of our bill inspires me to stay engaged and involved and I foresee maintaining that kind of involvement with policy and government throughout my training and career as a physician.” The experience of shepherding a proposal through the legislative process was a realworld example of how OHSU prepares students to be leaders in a rapidly changing health system. Like so many of their predecessors, these students will inevitably put their policy knowledge to good use in their future practice as physicians. “My advice for fellow students interested in the legislative process is to jump in and get involved,” said Sokolowski. “There is no other activity in medical school that provides the opportunity to make a difference on such a large scale.” 10 Medicine in Oregon www.TheOMA.org
OMA Medicine in Oregon Fall 2015
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