HOSA hosts 13th Annual Washington Leadership Academy

Todd Parchman – keynote speaker

Todd Parchman – keynote speaker

SOUTHLAKE, TX, October 3, 2019–HOSA-Future Health Professionals (HOSA) hosted their 13th annual Washington Leadership Academy (WLA) in historic Washington, D.C on September 19-24, 2019. This capstone leadership conference allowed HOSA leaders the opportunity to network and build many connections from a multitude of states, Canada and China and develop the skills and mindset needed to learn, lead, serve, and innovate in all aspects of HOSA-Future Health Professionals.

 This experience additionally provided opportunities to meet with Congressional Representatives and Senators on Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of HOSA to promote health science education and career and technical education. Attendees also participated in health industry tours at the Children’s National, Washington, DC, the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science, the University Of Maryland School Of Public Health, National Association for Community and City Health Organization and Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health, the National Institutes of Health and the National Museum of Natural History.

 Throughout WLA, HOSA members had the opportunity to gain insights from the keynote speakers:

Todd Parchman, a partner with Parchman, Vaughan, and Company, shared a meaningful message about his personal experience with health professionals and how "it takes a confluence of human capital and financial capital to have a successful healthcare result or healthcare system." Parchman also shared that in his 40 years in investment banking, he observed "servant leadership is the most successful and long-enduring leadership... and the healthcare business is all about serving others."

Jack Andraka, a Stanford student, who at age 15 invented an inexpensive and sensitive dipstick-like sensor for the rapid and early detection of pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers. After a close family friend died of pancreatic cancer, he proposed a new plan for a rapid, low-cost early screening method and contacted about 200 research professionals at universities and the National Institutes of Health about his plan. He received 199 rejection letters and then finally got an acceptance at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The diagnostic method he developed is more than 90 percent accurate in detecting the presence of pancreatic cancer's biomarker protein called mesothelin and earned him the grand prize $75,000 Gordon E. Moore Award -- named for Intel's co-founder -- after competing with 1,500 other young scientists from 70 countries.  Jack Andraka’s message inspired HOSA members to never give up, even in the face of adversity or rejection.  

 HOSA-Future Health Professionals, Inc. (HOSA) is an international student organization recognized by the US Department of Education and the Health Science Education (HSE) Division of ACTE.  HOSA's two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people. HOSA provides a unique program of leadership development, motivation, and recognition exclusively for secondary, postsecondary, adult, and collegiate students enrolled in health science education and biomedical science programs or have interests in pursuing careers in health professions. HOSA is 100% health care. Since it's inception in 1976, HOSA has steadily grown reaching over 250,000 members with chartered HOSA associations in the US and internationally.

Contact:
Kimberly Spivey, HOSA-Future Health Professionals

kimberly.spivey@hosa.org
972-874-0062