This year's Advocacy Day in Ohio featured an exciting new group of attendees - first-year medical students from Ohio State University. The day's focus was on tobacco prevention and cessation funding, and long-time advocate, Dr. Rob Crane, encouraged his class of first-year medical students to join in the process.

The students participated with other advocates in a morning training to learn more about tobacco issues, as well as an overview of what to expect in legislative meetings. A rally and press conference, featuring the students, followed the training. One student, Nick Nwabueze, spoke to the group about the negative medical impact of tobacco use as well as the importance of physicians learning that they too can be part of the legislative process.

After attending meetings with other advocates throughout the day, the students shared that they hadn't realized how their medical knowledge could really be a resource to legislators. In addition, advocates felt having the perspective of a medical professional in their meetings was invaluable.

AHA staff are very appreciative that the students were active participants in the day and that we had the opportunity to introduce them to the legislative process. As part of our new Next Generation initiative, we are continuing this partnership with Ohio State University to engage medical students and other healthcare, political science, and public policy students in our advocacy activities and hope to begin similar partnerships in our other states as well!