Lately...

Hey everyone,

Hope you are all well. I am enjoying the beautiful cooler weather (in the 70s and super sunny, no humidity...girl can get used to that!) and spending more time in DC this weekend. Things are definitely picking up at work...I've even stayed late a couple days this week to finish up assignments I couldn't finish during the day. Hence, I haven't had as much time for blogging, etc.

On Monday, I met with staff members of Texas Congressmen and women - Senator John Cornyn, Rep. John Culberson and Rep. Ron Paul (Galveston County) - to discuss increasing financial aid to preventive medicine residencies. That was interesting and I think our points were well taken. I don't think it will make too much of an impact, however, on what happens in the legislature, but you never know. On Wed, I joined a national conference call put on by the CDC on the Flu virus, which was interesting and yesterday, I went and heard a briefing on children's health insurance coverage put on by the Human and Health Services (HHS) Department. The head of the Department, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (up there with the Surgeon General), spoke along with the Secretary of Education, Arnold Duncan, the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the President of the United Way. The room was filled with people involved in health care reform and children's health advocacy (as well as press and a plethora of photographers). It was very exciting to see what is being done all over the country to ensure that America's children get the health coverage they deserve!

This week, I also began working on a project with the former director of Preventive Medicine residencies at Emery, Dr. Erica Frank. She now works in Canada and I will be working with her to finish up internet-based Adolescent Medicine, Preventive Medicine and eventually, Cancer Prevention, curricula to be used by health care professionals all over the world to improve upon their credentials. After completion of the internet course, people qualify for a certificate in a particular area. This is a pretty big deal, especially for people in rural areas who have limited access to educational resources, and I look forward to working with Dr. Frank to increase the knowledge base of health care professionals everywhere.

In other news, I have officially applied for a 3-4 year cancer prevention fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) here in the DC area to start next August. NCI is the largest branch of the NIH, with millions of research dollars funneled through it yearly...so it would be an excellent opportunity for me in that it will allow me to explore the research world for a while. Will let you know what happens with it as things progress :)

I've also added www.drashleymaltz.com to my list of websites/blogs and hope you will use this website as an access point through which to follow me.

Have an incredible and restful Labor Day weekend and I hope to talk with you all soon! Don't forget to email me with questions or recommendations...I'm all ears!

Until next time,
Ashley