Dear doctors,

Three months ago, our lives changed. As our hospitals filled with patients on ventilators and our outpatient practices shut their doors, we ran towards the problem, caring for the growing numbers of sick and working to understand this new disease. We came together in ways that were inspiring and unprecedented. We were reminded of the power of our voices to advocate for both the patient under our direct care, and also for the public health. And, we asserted our influence on the national stage, recognizing that a government without us could not protect us.

In November 2019, before the first case of a novel coronavirus was reported, I launched my campaign for Congress. My message was simple: in 2020, we have the chance to elect leaders who will fulfill the fundamental promise that healthcare is a human right. I could not have predicted what would happen over the next six months - how our campaign would suspend all in-person events, how I would be called to serve in the hospital in new wards created to care for the growing number of patients, how my training as an infectious disease doctor would of course require that all hours of the day were dedicated to the COVID-19 response -- and how all of this would confirm the importance of getting more doctors into Congress.

Physicians, largely, stay away from politics. But our duty to our patients means that we have an even greater responsibility to be politically-engaged citizens. We have a unique perspective and understand the intersection of medicine and public policy that dictates whether our patients can fill the prescriptions we write, access the healthy food we recommend, make their next appointment on public transportation, and meet so many other basic needs in order to be healthy. We all know that there is no magic pill that can solve the problems of homelessness that lead to chronic medical complications. The trauma that results from gun violence is deeper than what can be fixed in the operating room. Access to healthcare is about more than just an insurance card in someone's pocket. Social determinants of health and medical illness are - and have always been - inextricably intertwined.

At some point, we will reopen our clinics, our hospitals, and our society in the wake of COVID-19, and it is our responsibility to ensure a meaningful reconstruction. Shame on us if our goal is to go back to what we had before - a health care system that too often puts profits above people,  where physicians were valued in the hospital but excluded from the public discourse of our government. Instead, we must build a system where physician voices are heard in the halls of Congress and state legislatures across this country. As we all grapple with how we can be a part of the COVID-19 recovery effort, we must consider how we use our privilege - social and financial - to come together to lift up and amplify those fighting for fundamental change. 

Elections, under normal circumstances, are tough work. Every day in this campaign is intern year all over again: long lists with checkboxes, learning new skills and adapting to an ever changing environment, putting out one fire while watching the next ignite, making sure each person you meet gets the time they deserve and their story is heard. COVID-19 has added new challenges. But elections, like medicine, are a team effort. Together we are stronger than any one individual.

I am a physician running for Congress in 2020. I believe that this country will be better if more health care professionals who share an inclusive vision for America have a voice in government. I want to be a part of the effort that will make sure a pandemic never catches us unprepared  ever again. I need your help to succeed. 

Will you join me?

Robbie 

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Robert Goldstein, MD, PhD

Harvard Medical School

Massachusetts General Hospital