Craft your advocacy message with ‘Advocacy in Action’ Presidential Plenary
April 7, 2025
Carlayne E. Jackson, MD, FAAN, capped her term as president of the AAN with an event that exemplified her energetic advocacy—the Annual Meeting’s first Advocacy Day, starting with a Presidential Lecture on the topic.
The Presidential Plenary is a mainstay of the Annual Meeting, featuring the AAN's premier lecture awards for clinically relevant research. Top researchers speak on some of the most significant neurology findings in 2025 at the plenary, which often includes high-profile members or guests.
This year, Jackson went in a new direction for her lecture: As well as a panel discussion with three of the AAN’s experienced member advocates, it included a “mini-training session” geared to help attendees craft their own message to be an advocate for themselves, their patients, or their colleagues in their community.
Watch the 2025 Presidential Plenary: Advocacy in Action
“Some of you may already be established advocates,” Jackson said at the start of her lecture. “Others may be unsure where to start. Today, we will show you some of the smallest and most tangible steps you can take to be an advocate in your community—wherever that may be.”
Jackson, whose two-year term as AAN president ends after the Annual Meeting, said she had the idea to highlight advocacy in her 2025 lecture nearly a year ago—a few months after the last Annual Meeting. She told attendees that advocacy has always been a “vital” part of what the AAN offers, and that the organization is monitoring various challenges to neurology, like Medicare patient access to neurologists, threats to neuroscience research, and the growing burden of administrative tasks that take away time from patient care.
The AAN, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, has a full-time advocacy office in the nation’s capital. Physician leaders and staff are working all year to advocate for priorities like neuroscience funding, access to care, reducing regulatory and administrative burdens, and strengthening the neurology workforce. There are many ways for members to get involved, like Neurology on the Hill, the Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Program, the Advocacy Action Center, BrainPAC, and much more.
Thousands of AAN members are involved in advocacy, but the idea can be intimidating. To share perspectives from experienced advocates, Jackson enlisted the help of panelists Hope M. O'Brien, MD, MBA, FAAN; Brett M. Kissela, MD, MS, FAAN; and Eddie L. Patton, MD, MS, MBA, FAAN. Following the thread of a high-profile issue within the medical field, prior authorization, they spoke on real-world impacts, progress so far, elevator pitches, wellness, and health equity.
Along with perspectives from the panelists, Jackson wanted attendees to walk away feeling prepared to be their own advocates. For that, she introduced Sarah Song, MD, MPH, FAAN, the editor-in-chief of and the chair of the AAN’s Advocacy Engagement Subcommittee, to lead a short training session on how to be an advocate at any level.
During the session, Song emphasized that one can be an advocate anywhere in the world, at any level—including within one's own institution.
“I would argue that advocacy is a skill that is universal,” Song said. “It’s a muscle you can work on, that you can flex, and once you start thinking of ideas, I venture you’re going to be using advocacy skills in ways you never expected.”
After the training session, Jackson concluded the lecture with a set of ways attendees could get involved that very day—Advocacy Day sessions, learning about BrainPAC, reading the AAN’s biweekly Capitol Hill Report, and responding to Action Alerts that help members contact their representatives.
“Every voice matters in neurology,” Jackson said. “Your experiences, your stories, your skills—they matter. Everyone here wants a future of brain health for all, and when we work together, we can make that happen.”