October 2026: Advocacy Month
Advocacy Month empowers APAMSA members to turn their experiences and ideas into action. Throughout October, join us for workshops, educational events, civic engagement initiatives, and opportunities to elevate AANHPI voices and advocate for healthier, more equitable communities.
October 1-31, 2026
APAMSA is excited to launch LOTUSES: Linking Our Tales, Uniting Student Experiences and Stories, an Advocacy Month essay contest highlighting the experiences of medical students with patient care, healthcare access, and medical education.
Share a personal story or reflection about patient care, barriers to healthcare access, discrimination in medical education, or another experience that has shaped your perspective as a medical student and future physician. Through LOTUSES, we hope to elevate student and patient experiences and demonstrate how storytelling can help inform advocacy for better healthcare and medical education.
🏆 Top essay: $500 scholarship
🎟️ Receive a free HEAL Summit ticket with your submission!
🗓️ Deadline: October 31
October 5-9, 2026
National Voter Education Week is here! Start the week by making sure that you’re ready to participate. Check your voter registration status, review important deadlines in your state, and make sure your information is up to date.
Civic engagement starts with being prepared. Take a few minutes today to check your registration and encourage your friends, classmates, and community to do the same.
October 8, 2026
Have an issue you care about but aren’t sure how to put it in writing? Join APAMSA’s Advocacy Branch for a Policy & Op-Ed Workshop focused on transforming ideas and experiences into effective written advocacy! Learn to identify an advocacy goal, support your argument, and begin developing policy-focused writing or an Op-Ed.
Whether you’re new to writing or already working on something, come to learn, brainstorm, and write!
Date: October 8, 2026
Time: 5PM PT | 8PM ET
October 13, 2026
What does it mean to become a physician advocate? Join APAMSA for a conversation with Kelly Cheung, MD (@kellytakesmedicine), UCLA Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Fellow, as she shares her path to medicine and what inspired her advocacy for geriatrics and palliative care. Hear how advocacy has shaped her journey through medical school, residency, and fellowship, and learn how pre-health and medical students can begin finding their own voices as advocates
Kelly Cheung, MD
UCLA Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Fellow
Date: October 13, 2026
Time: 5PM PT | 8PM ET
October 20, 2026
Interested in turning the issues you care about into effective advocacy? Join APAMSA’s Advocacy Branch for our second Policy & Op-Ed Workshop of Advocacy Month. Learn how to develop and strengthen policy-focused writing, build evidence-based arguments, and communicate issues affecting our patients and communities.
Date: October 20, 2026
Time: 5PM PT | 8PM ET
October 29, 2026
Have a resolution you’ve been stuck on? Drop into the APAMSA Advocacy Policy Office Hours to connect with members of the Advocacy Branch, ask questions, brainstorm and get feedback on your work!
Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking for the finishing touches, stop by for some support and an opportunity to push your project further!
Date: October 29, 2026
Time: 5PM PT | 8PM ET