Your RFS Section Newsletter

Meet Your New RFS Chair

Glen McClain, MD

Hello! It's an honor to serve as Chair of the Resident Fellow Section this year. As a brief introduction, I am a PGY-1 in anesthesiology at University Hospitals/Case Western and an MD/JD with a longstanding commitment to advocacy, health policy, and organized medicine.

This year, my primary goal is to increase both membership and meaningful engagement within the RFS. I hope to activate residents and fellows across Ohio to engage in advocacy in a real, tangible way. Legislative and regulatory decisions being made now will directly impact our patients, our training, and the future of our profession.

We are already seeing this play out in real time. Prior authorization requirements continue to delay care and create administrative burdens that pull us away from patients. Scope of practice expansion is raising important questions about patient safety and team-based care. And issues like vaccine hesitancy and Medicaid funding are shaping the health of our communities before patients arrive at the hospital.

This year, I hope to continue the work of my predecessors to build a structure to make it easy to get involved, whether that's opportunities for in-person and virtual legislative and regulatory testimony, coordinated phone banking, rapid-response letter writing campaigns, or direct collaboration with OSMA’s lobbying team. Regardless of your prior experience, there will be a clear pathway to participation and, most importantly, a direct line between your voice and the policies shaping the practice of medicine in Ohio.

Your voice matters, and it carries a lot of weight right now. If you have ever considered getting involved in advocacy, this is the year to do it, and the RFS is here to help you take that first step.

Your Additional RFS Leadership

2026 Annual Meeting Highlights

At this year’s OSMA Annual Meeting, the RFS contributed to important discussions and resolutions impacting both trainees and patient care. We heard resident and fellow testimony on issues from evidence-based vaccine schedules to exclusion of medical debt in consumer credit reports. In a major win for public health policy, our OSMA House of Delegates voted to publicly endorse the American Academy of Pediatrics vaccine schedule for the 2026 calendar year.

Emerging Physician Leaders

This was an inaugural year for the Surekha & Deepak Kumar, MD, Endowed Fund for Emerging Physician Leaders. These generous grants will equip their recipients to lead, influence policy, and help shape the systems that impact patient care.

Congratulations to this year's recipients:

• Lauren Ashley Forbes, MD, MPH – Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellow, The Ohio State University

• Engy Habashy, MD – Urologist, Columbus VA

• Jonathan Markle, MD – Internal Medicine Resident, Wright State University

Additional Recognition

I would also like to congratulate RFS member and former chair, Brandon Francis, MD, on his election as Alternate Delegate to the AMA for a term beginning now through 2027. His election reflects the strength of resident and fellow leadership within the OSMA, and I am proud to see RFS representation at the national level.

Looking Ahead...

In addition to advocacy efforts, I would like to explore opportunities to build community among residents and fellows, including potential virtual networking events and topic-based discussions. I welcome ideas and feedback from members as RFS leadership develops programming for the year.

I look forward to working together,

Glen McClain, MD
Chair of the OSMA Resident/Fellow Section