Student wins national health activist award
On Nov. 16, 2024, Michael Massey, a fourth-year medical student, was awarded the Nicholas Skala Health Activist Award by the national organization, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), for great leadership within the organization and bringing the vision of single-payer to new constituents.
Physicians for a National Health Program, and the student-arm Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), is a national single issue advocacy organization comprised of physicians, health professionals, medical and health professional students who organize to pass a comprehensive, universal health care health care reform bill in the form of a single payer system, most akin to Medicare for All.
Michael founded and served as President for the NEOMED chapter of Students for a National Health Program in his M1 and M2 year. With his friends and classmates, Max Brockwell, James Moore, Emily Huff, Michael West, Erin Moore, Saaleha Shamsi, Alyssa Battaglia, and Brandon Petrovich, he organized the first statewide chapter of SNaHP in Ohio with students from NEOMED, Case Western, Toledo, OSU, Wright State and Cincinnati. These NEOMED students have also served on the SNaHP National Board alongside Michael for the past two years.
Michael has served on the SNaHP Executive Committee and the board of PNHP as one of 4 medical students invited to serve on their board. He has been influential in overseeing the growth and output of SNaHP nationally, facilitating national conferences and virtual Zoom activist calls and trainings, including co-facilitating a Webinar reporting on the Harms of Medicare Advantage plans with Senator Elizabeth Warren as a live speaker on the webinar.
When asked for comment on receiving this award, Michael said, "it was the honor of a lifetime to be recognized for my hard work by an organization that has meant so much to me and my identity. I first found PNHP and SNaHP online while I was shadowing a physician in undergrad shortly after admitting a young patient with Multiple Sclerosis. Seeing how a lifetime of zero health insurance and zero treatment of her condition left her permanently immobilized as a young mother (late 30s) of two made me realize that I needed to do all I can to improve health care access as a future physician, and I vowed the night I met her to form or join a chapter of SNaHP once I eventually went to medical school. I am so incredibly thankful to the staff, faculty, and classmates of mine at NEOMED for supporting my efforts to create and build our local chapter. It is crazy to me that within this national advocacy organization [SNaHP and PNHP], NEOMED is widely known and well regarded due to our success in passing a medical debt relief plan that is projected to eliminate $25 million of medical debt for families in Akron, and that many NEOMED students currently have leadership positions on the national SNaHP Board. The future of healthcare needs more health care professionals and students at the center of policy decision making, and I am thankful for the opportunities NEOMED, SNaHP, and PNHP have given me to foster my leadership and advocacy skills."
Congratulation, Michael!