Accolades took the form of a basketball when William Pearce was presented with the USF Bulls’ game ball Dec. 15 during a timeout for the Bulls taking on Georgia Southern in the Sun Dome.

Pearce, a third-year medical student in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, was presented with the ball – autographed by Bulls basketball coach Orlando Antigua – because of his national efforts to improve medical education and health care, for representing USF in the national spotlight, and, most recently, for being elected chair of the Medical Student Section of the American Medical Association (AMA), presiding over more than 50,000 fellow students from across the country. He takes the helm June of 2015.

On center court, Pearce was presented with the game ball by Barry Clements, deputy director of USF Athletics, and Joann Strobbe, associate vice president and chief financial officer for USF Health and associate dean for Business Affairs and Technology for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

From left, Barry Clements, William Pearce and Joann Strobbe.

In earning the game ball, Pearce comfortably shifted the focus from him to the bigger picture.

“Getting the game ball means I have the support of one of the best universities in the country, as well as physicians, mentors, and friends in the Tampa community,” he said. “With that, I doubt there’s much that we can’t accomplish.”

USF President Judy Genshaft congratulates William Pearce.

Building a national push

Pearce has spent the better part of the past two years taking the national stage to promote and advocate for issues affecting medicine, meeting with elected officials and pushing the concerns of medical students into the national conversation.

In 2012-13, he was vice chair of the Florida Medical Association Medical Student Section, coordinating legislative affairs, serving as USF student delegate to the FMA, and leading the FMA’s medical student recruiting efforts at USF.  The Hillsborough County Medical Association awarded him an annual scholarship for outstanding service in organized medicine.

In 2013, he earned the Government Relations Advocacy Fellowship from the AMA, a designation of medical advocacy that goes to only one student nationally each year. Pearce was the 10^th in the country, and the first from USF, to serve in the fellowship.

In that role, he spent a year in Washington, DC, working fulltime for a year as a paid member of the AMA’s federal advocacy team, meeting with politicians, AMA leaders and medical students to advance the association’s legislative agenda and policies on behalf of patients, physicians and medical students.

“The Government Relations position with the AMA was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “I was exposed to the inner workings of government and got to learn how the sausage is really made, so to speak. Furthermore, I was able to work and form relationships with U.S. Senators, Representatives, and officials in all branches of government. I remain grateful to the medical students, residents, and physicians of the AMA for trusting to me to serve.”

While in DC, Pearce launched several initiatives with the advocacy team, including the first Save GME Action Week, during which the group launched a campaign to raise awareness about the impending crisis for access to patient care because physician residencies are not growing at the same rate as the demand for doctors or by the number of doctors graduating from medical school.

“America is staring down an unprecedented physician shortage over the next decade, and yet the number of residency positions (the only means to create new doctors) remains capped,” Pearce said. “During the first Save GME Action Week last August, we were able to rally more than 50 medical schools to meet with their national Representatives and Senators during a congressional recess. In this one week, medical students sent more than 7,000 letters to Congress and made countless phone calls to advocate for graduate medical education (GME) and lifting the residency cap.”

Pearce was also instrumental in organizing the AMA Medical Student Advocacy Day in March, when hundreds of medical students flew to DC from across the county to meet with their elected officials.

“Despite the snowstorm, this event was a great success,” he said. “By the time it was all said and done, medical students had sent nearly 30,000 letters to Congress to advocate for graduate medical education.”

Changing the national conversation

Come June, when he begins his one-year term as chair of the AMA Student Section, Pearce will set out to increase medical student influence on the issues of health care.

“As the future of America’s health care, our medical student members possess considerable influence that we have yet to wield effectively,” he said. “Growing our influence is not a goal that can be achieved overnight. It will require years of momentum and relationship building to get this snowball rolling. And I’m hoping to kick that snowball off the top of the mountain.”

Professional photographer Bill Pearce gets the shot of his son William on center court.

Photos by Bill Pearce, wlpearce.com

Taking active roles on a national stage earned several high-profile awards for students at the  USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, including showcasing the comprehensive range of involvement by the USF chapter of the American Medical Association’s Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS).

At the AMA’s recent national meeting in Chicago, USF was named AMA-MSS School of the Year.

In addition, the USF chapter’s recent Fitness Bootcamp earned Event of the Year.

“Many other schools applied to be considered for these awards, so it was a huge feat to win both simultaneously,” said Phillip Zegelbone, a second-year student and chair of the USF AMA-MSS. “We’re extremely proud to have received two of the highest possible honors a medical school in the AMA-MSS can achieve.”

Applicants for the School of the Year were judged in several areas, including membership, community service, advocacy, innovation and collaboration.  USF won a $500 grant to be used toward the local medical student section’s activities.  For more on the USF AMA section’s achievements over the past year in the various award categories, click here.

The student-run Fitness Bootcamp  promoted teamwork and exercise in health professions students across disciplines, which made the event stand out among competitors, Zegelbone said. “We believe the bootcamp’s interprofessional nature boosted its popularity with the AMA.”

Some USF AMA Section members show off their recent high-profile awards. Kneeling: Elise Diamond, MS2. Front row, l to r: Jessica Deslauriers, MS4; Jennifer Chevinsky, MS3; Kanchi Batra, MS3; and Monique Konstantinovic, MS2. Back row, l to r: Aresh Ramin, MS3; Cameron Paterson, MS2; R. David Graham, MS4; and Phillip Zegelbone, MS2.

Several USF medical students were also elected to national and regional AMA positions at the national meeting:

• R. David Graham (Class of 2014) was elected Speaker of the national medical student section
• Jessica Deslauriers (Class of 2014) was elected At Large Officer
• Zegelbone (Class of 2016) was elected Regional Community Service Chair.

Winning another nationally-competitive honor was medical student Chelsea Frost (Class of 2016), who was selected as a 2013 Orthopaedic Summer Intern,  a program co-sponsored by both Nth Dimensions and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery. Frost is one of 15 medical students selected nationwide to be Nth Dimensions/AAOS scholars. She was selected among 65 applicants nationally.

Jennifer Chevinsky

And continuing with the news of USF medical student involvement on national platforms, Jennifer Chevinsky (Class of 2015) edited the June issue of the Virtual Mentor, AMA’s online ethics journal. Each issue of Virtual Mentor has a theme—a medical specialty field or topic of concern or debate in medical ethics. Invited medical students and residents apply to serve as theme issue editors and for the June issue Chevinksy offered a slate of articles on team-based learning, including the lead article called “Redefining Leadership and Medical Teams”. There are several articles by USF Health faculty, as well as a podcast of an interview with Dr. Stephen Klasko produced by Chevinsky.

By Sarah A. Worth, USF Health Communications

University of South Florida medical student William Pearce has been selected to fill the American Medical Association’s 2013-14 Government Relations Advocacy Fellowship (GRAF). 

Only one student is chosen from applicants nationwide each year for this prestigious medical advocacy position – and Pearce is the first from USF’s medical school.  He will be the tenth of a select group of medical students who have served as GRAF fellows since the program began.

Starting this July, Pearce, a second-year medical student at USF, will work full-time for one year in Washington, DC, as a paid member of the AMA’s federal advocacy team.  He will meet with politicians, AMA leaders and medical students to advance the association’s legislative agenda and policies on behalf of patients, physicians and medical students.

USF second-year medical student William Pearce attended the American Medical Association’s Medical Student Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill last month. Next year, as USF’s first AMA Government Relations Advocacy Fellow he will be organizing the annual event.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to use this fellowship to inspire medical students and give them a stronger voice,” Pearce said, “because, what happens in Washington, DC, and Tallahassee, FL, directly impacts healthcare policies shaping the future of medicine and the best interests of our patients.”

Pearce has been gaining experience in the practical aspects of advocating for medicine since attending his first AMA Medical Student Section Interim Meeting as a new medical student in 2011.  He was the primary author of an AMA resolution aimed at tying further advanced directives to driver’s licenses.

As 2012-13 vice chair of the Florida Medical Association Medical Student Section, he coordinated legislative affairs, served as USF student delegate to the FMA, and led the FMA’s medical student recruiting efforts at USF.  The Hillsborough Medical Association recently awarded him an annual scholarship for outstanding service in organized medicine.

William Pearce, Class of 2015

One issue Pearce feels strongly about is the growing shortage of residency spots where medical students who have completed MD degrees conduct their specialty training, or graduate medical education. This fall, he spoke at a GME Summit, convened at USF Health CAMLS by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and State University System Chancellor Frank Brogan, to address the particularly severe shortage of residency positions in Florida.  Last month, he was among a group of USF students who traveled to Capitol Hill to push for greater funding of graduate medical education.

Because most residents practice where they train, Pearce said, “Florida is investing in the education of medical students, and then exporting much of that intellectual capital out of state to work as physicians.”

A native of Jacksonville, Pearce holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Florida, where he won a full athletic scholarship and served as UNF track and cross-country team captain for three years.  He helped build UNF’s track program into a highly competitive team that won conference championship titles, and was recognized by the NCAA as a Student Athlete of the Year in 2011.

Pearce, a four-time NCAA conference champion in track/cross country (1500 meter and 3000 meter) as an undergraduate, is shown here on the winner’s platform at the Atlantic Sun Indoor Track Championship. “I had just gotten into medical school at USF two days before that win, and was on a super high,” he said.

As he looks ahead to a career in surgery and leadership role in medicine, Pearce recalls the words of his former head track coach:  “For me it was a defining moment… He said ‘to be a great leader, you’ll have to make those who follow believe, not just in what we’re doing, but why we’re doing it.’”

As a GRAF fellow, Pearce said, he wants to help the AMA do just that.  “We must convince our team of medical students that the common cause is greater than any individual agenda.”

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A Children’s Garden of Verses came to life earlier this month when USF medical students helped young students at the USF Patel Partnership Elementary School plant Earth Box gardens filled with edible delights.

USF Medical students Mia Djulbegovic, Tom Fowler (and April Pearson in background) with students and one of their completed gardens.

 The project, coordinated by Morsani College of Medicine students and co-sponsored by the USF student chapter of the American Medical Association, The Wellness Council, and the Student Physicians for Social Responsibility, provided a tangible product for the content the kindergartners, first- and second-graders are learning in the classroom, said Alexandra Printz, a second-year medical student who helped organize the event and a parent of one of the first graders at USF Patel Partnership Elementary.

“They have been studying nutrition, making healthy choices, and the origin of our food, so these gardens help bring that content to life for them,” Printz said. “And conversations on these same topics could likely continue long after this morning’s work.”

Sean Spence guides a group of students.

 The morning-long project included lots of helping hands and donated materials from Home Depot and Bonnie Plants, along with critical advice from experts at the USF Botanical Garden.

Medical students Sean Spence (standing), Trisha Dinh, Elizabeth Ciaravine, and Danya Loutfi prepare the take-home plants.

 Large containers, usually associated with storage, were filled with soil and lined up under shade trees. Small gloved hands held trowels to carefully pry young plants out from their small crates and plant them in the prepared containers, which are actually two containers: a smaller one nested in a larger one. This set-up allows for a water reservoir in the bottom container that continually nourishes the plants and needs little maintenance, providing a sustainable, hydroponic planter.

First-grader Ari Printz prepares to build a garden.

 “I have a garden at home,” one first grader announced as she waited for her turn to plant some collards, one of the more popular choices made by the young students for their planters.

Other plants included peas, red lettuce, Bibb lettuce, broccoli, crookneck squash, arugula lettuce, cabbage, jalapeno, green bell pepper, and string beans.

 The medical students took the lead for the project, relieving the teachers from adding more to their already full plates.

“We didn’t’ want to burden the teachers at all with this project so no teacher had to do anything other than bring their class to the playground,” Printz said. “And the project helped the teachers to have conversations with their students about nutrition and making healthy choices.”

“The project has opened up a whole new world for the students,” said Patricia Shields, a first-grade teacher at USF Patel Partnership Elementary. “On a daily basis they are eager and enthusiastic to see the changes the plants are making. We are all so very grateful to have had the USF medical students take such a great lead of this project.”

First-year med student Danya Loutfi takes the lead for prepping the take-home plants with Alexandra Printz (standing).

 The project also benefitted the medical students aiming to serve the community, said Sean Spence, a second-year medical student who helped organize the day.

“Our aim was to identify a need and to have an impact, and this project was perfect for that,” Spence said. “From idea and concept to planning and grant writing to going to the school and getting our own hands dirty, this project was a great success. And our work will continue, as they build the project into their health and science curriculum, we will continue to volunteer.”

In addition to the planting supplies, Home Depot also donated another hands-on project for the young students: a mini whiteboard. Home Depot volunteers, medical students, and even the school principal, Keith Laycock, guided the students along as they built the whiteboard using hammers, brads, and screwdrivers.

Patel Elementary Principal Keith Laycock guides a student building her white board.

 The container gardens remain at the school so that the students can track their growth, keep them watered, watch for insects and stake the climbing green beans. As a prize for their hard work on this planting day, each student was able to take home a single plant of their choice, a gesture that bridged their project from school to home and continues the conversation about healthy choices.

“The idea is to keep them thinking about making healthy choices throughout their day,” Printz said. “And the hope is that healthy choices will become second nature to them.”