Nearly all medical and scientific disciplines have a society or association that serves to connect practitioners and researchers together with like-minded colleagues to advance their field.
They organize conferences, provide resources, foster networking opportunities, share ideas, provide scholarships, and more. Most are led by boards and executive committees made up of the best and brightest minds in the field.
Dr. Ryan Wubben, clinical professor of emergency medicine, currently serves as President of the Air Medical Physician Association (AMPA) until October 2022.
What have you seen members of your association overcome during the last few years?
Wubben: From a resiliency standpoint, our collective membership has had to navigate an ever-changing landscape from the earliest days of the pandemic. This led to quite a bit of social media and online networking as flight programs had to figure out what we could (or could not do) in the unique and challenging circumstances we found ourselves in. Even fundamental questions of how to approach certain types of patients in the back of a helicopter or aircraft were being asked in the early days.
How have you seen your members support each other?
Wubben: Our members have done a lot of mutual community building, frequently behind the scenes, that went a long way in supporting our community during what has been the most trying time for most of us in our professional careers. Just knowing that there were others out there in the same boat, that you could lean on to ask questions, meant a lot for our members.