The Importance of Committee Work
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Colleagues:
During my recent interview with the MD News Network, the reporter asked me how physicians can join MSSNY and how they can advance in leadership. Joining is easy, just tell your colleagues to click here and MSSNY will help get the ball rolling with the county and state memberships. Advancing in leadership is also easy though longer and starts with volunteering.
Coming out and participating in county legislative brunches and county meetings will quickly get you noticed. Writing letters and making phone calls to our legislators and our governor on hot button issues like the Grieving Families Act are as easy as clicking this link. The counties welcome those who volunteer for the committee work at the county level.
For a longer-term commitment, volunteering to work on any of MSSNY’s 26 state-wide committees is so rewarding and fulfilling, many of our members have been doing so for 20 years or more. MSSNY needs and values the expertise that our members have in CME, Emergency Preparedness, or IT infrastructure, just to name a few. MSSNY sent out an email recently asking for committee volunteers, and I hope many respond.
One issue about committee work has come up, and that is how to make room at the top. Committee members that would like to become Chair or Vice Chair are blocked if those positions do not open up. On the other hand, the knowledge and expertise that a long-standing Chairperson has is a valuable asset for MSSNY, and being a Chair of a MSSNY committee is a gratifying experience that most Chairpersons are reluctant to relinquish.
On the Agenda for the upcoming Council meeting in September is the approval of Charters for our committees. To be consistent with a Resolution that was passed at our last House of Delegates in April, it is being proposed that all Chairs be appointed for 1-year terms, with a maximum of 3 consecutive terms. There are no term limits for members of committees, and a past Chair can remain as a member of the committee.
To foster more women physician leadership, this year MSSNY established the Womens Physician Leadership Academy, which sponsors seminars that are open to all. Look for email invitations to these seminars later this fall.
All the best,
Jerome C. Cohen, MD
MSSNY President
