Boston-Area Medical Students Host Social-Justice Themed BBQ to Plan Single Payer Activities

75 students from Boston-area medical schools gathered to discuss social justice issues and enjoy an outdoor barbeque on the last weekend of August. The assembled students have already planned their first pro-single payer event, a forum at Harvard on September 18, 2008 with Dr. Daniel Blumenthal and PNHP-President Elect Dr. Oliver Fein on “Health Care Reform and the Next President”.

One of the event’s coordinators was Kirsten Austad, a first year medical student at Harvard who spent a part of her summer interning for the Massachusetts’ chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. The fun five-hour event brought together students from Tufts, Boston Medical School, Harvard, and other medical schools in the northeast.

The students are looking forward to working together on a yearlong series of activities for social justice, including a regional conference with the American Medical Student Association.