President's Page: Empowering and Organizing Physicians to Lead December 17, 2024 From the President It is my honor to serve as your ACCMA President for the coming year. When I joined the ACCMA in 2014 as a newly trained general surgeon, my practice kindly covered my membership dues, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I discovered, however, was far beyond what I imagined. The ACCMA offered me knowledge, a strong sense of community and unwavering support. Today, I remain a proud ACCMA member, not because my practice still covers my dues, but because of the immense value the ACCMA continues to offer its members. During these times of uncertainty, I am reminded of why the ACCMA exists and what purpose it continues to serve for our membership: empowering and organizing physicians to lead and improve the practice of medicine to better patients' lives and the community's health. As physicians, we are deeply skilled in the science and art of medicine, but the complex and constantly evolving landscape of healthcare presents ongoing challenges that increasingly influence how we deliver patient care. As physicians, we must adapt, and more importantly, we must lead. Organized medicine is essential because it gives us a collective voice to advocate for our profession, our patients, and our communities. With policies and legislation increasingly working against us, now is the time for action. We must raise our voices, push for meaningful change, and ensure that the future of medicine reflects the needs of both our profession and the communities we serve. Over the past year, under the leadership of my predecessor, Doctor Albert Brooks, the ACCMA accomplished a lot, including relocating our headquarters to Lafayette; continuing our Physician Leadership Program and developing a new health equity-focused leadership course; providing more opportunities for members to connect and build community through social events. We continued to advocate on a wide range of issues impacting our profession and our patients, and we succeeded in passing Proposition 35, bringing in billions of new dollars into the Medi-Cal program. This is the power of physicians coming together through the medical association. If we continue to stick together and advocate for what is best for our patients and our profession, we will accomplish so much more.