Creating impact through young physician leadership: areas of action

Young physicians can play a pivotal role in improving health systems. This is the key message from 'Creating impact through young physician leadership: areas of action', a session of the 2021 World Health Summit that took place on 26 October and featured some of the members of the IAP Young Physician Leaders (YPL) Alumni Steering Committee.

After an introduction by IAP Coordinator, PeterMcGrath, Biljana Gjoneska presented the IAP YPL programme, highlighting that in 10 years the programme trained over 200 medical professionals under the age of 40 from around the globe.

Subsequently, Jaifred Christian F. Lopez presented on ‘Leadership in Education’, Atiya Mosam discussed ‘Leadership and the Social Impact’ and Dipendra Khatiwad presented on ‘Leadership in Public Health’.

The session was attended by 90 unique participants from 33 countries (including many of the 2021 YPLs), and a lively Q&A session was moderated by Suraj Bhattarai.

A key takeaway from the session, as reflected by the IAP YPL Alumni Steering Committee Chair Atiya Mosam, is that “leadership is a deeply personal journey and physicians are expected to be leaders in so many facets of their personal and professional lives.”

Young leaders therefore need a range of knowledge, skills and supports (including mentors and peer mentors) to ensure that they are equipped for their formal and informal roles as leaders. This is one of the aims of the YPL programme and definitely the focus of the Alumni committee in ensuring continuous engagement and mentorship.

You can download the slides here watch the recording of this session here: