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	Happy Thanksgiving! Table of Contents 1. The NPA Welcomes its First Executive Director 2. Expansion of the NPA Board and Working Committees Yields New Leadership Opportunities ©Mahaba al Saleh 3. Paul Farmer and Sanjay Gupta to Keynote at the NPA's Annual Meeting 4. Interested in Local Organizing? 5. Meds, Ads, and Videotape 6. Honor Someone for the Holidays ******** 1. The NPA Appoints its First Executive Director This month the National Physicians Alliance has appointed its first executive director, Dr. Jean Silver-Isenstadt. As a longstanding member of the NPA's executive committee, Jean has been closely involved with the organization's growth and development to date. Her professional background includes a doctorate in the history and sociology of medicine from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is the author of Shameless: The Visionary Life of Mary Gove Nichols (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), the first biography of a scandalous 19th-century health reformer whose influence persists today. ****** 2. Expansion of the NPA Board and Working Committees Yields New Leadership Opportunities At the Annual Meeting, the NPA will seat a new and expanded Board of Directors, as well as grow the working committees. This is an historic chance to become involved in shaping the direction of our young organization. Learn more about available positions and submit your application on-line. ******** 3. Paul Farmer and Sanjay Gupta to Keynote at the NPA's Annual Meeting REGISTER TODAY for the NPA's 2nd Annual Meeting, Making Medicine Ours Again: Patients and Doctors United for Health, March 10-12, 2007 in the Washington, D.C. area. Featured speakers include Sanjay Gupta, MD, senior medical correspondent for the health and medical unit at CNN; Rudolph Mueller, MD, author of the widely read As Sick As It Gets ; Ron Pollack, founding executive director of Families USA , a leading health advocacy organization; David Hilfiker, MD, author of Urban Injustice and Not All of Us Are Saints ; and Peter Beilenson, MD, MPH, former health commissioner of Baltimore. Attendees are also invited to a special presentation by Paul Farmer, MD, PhD. DON'T MISS the special early bird registration discounts being offered right now as low as $39 for residents and fellows and $89 for practicing physicians! Register today! ******** 4. Interested in Local Organizing? It's one thing to keep updated to your virtual community, but it's even better to build friendships face-to-face. NPA local action groups are sprouting around the country and we are looking for people to help nourish these new communities. If you are interested in planning interesting speaker series, book clubs, discussion sections, field trips, houseparties, volunteer events, movie nights, kayaking trips--you name it!--then join our local action planning group and let's have some fun. Just drop a note to npa@npalliance.org and we'll get you on board. ****** 5. Meds, Ads, and Videotape Stay tuned! In the coming weeks the NPA will be launching its first video and flash-animation contest, offering excellent cash prizes for winning submissions related to our new campaign to protect physician prescribing data. More detail is coming soon, but background on this important issue can be found here . Check it out and plan to audition your actors soon! ****** 6. Honor Someone for the Holidays Publicly recognize a professional mentor or loved one in your life by making a donation to the NPA in honor of that person. We will notify the recipient and include his or her name beside your own on our supporters page. It's a sure way to let someone know the meaning of their influence on you. ******** HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING! And before you leave for the holiday, take a minute to share our wonderful introductory film with your friends and colleagues. It runs 11 inspiring minutes. Again, thank you for doing your part to help make medicine ours again. We're looking forward to keeping you posted on our accomplishments, needs, and questions. Please send any thoughts about this newsletter, or about what the NPA is doing, to npa@npalliance.org. Cheers! Your Executive Committee, Dave Evans, MD Dave Grande, MD, MPA Alexa Oster, MD Kavita Patel, MD, MSHS Steve Smith, MD, MPH Lydia Vaias, MD, MPH P.S.- To unsubscribe from this list, drop a line to npa@npalliance.org.