AfPA - The Alliance for Patient Access

AfPA is a national network of physicians with the shared mission of ensuring and protecting patient access to approved medical treatments and therapies, including prescription pharmaceuticals, biologics, and medical devices. AfPA accomplishes this mission through educating members on policy priorities and training them to be effective patient advocates.

Specifically, AfPA recruits and trains health policy-minded physicians to be effective advocates at a local, state and federal level, and then facilitates communications between them as they promote pro-access health policy. AfPA’s policy agenda is focused on global health policy issues including: comparative effectiveness, therapeutic substitution, prescriptive authority, evidence-based medicine, bio-similar safety, and health access disparities.

Benefits of membership

Benefits of membership include:

• Invitations to Health Policy Workshops where physicians are briefed on current global health policy issues and provided advocacy training
• E-newsletters that provides updates on policy issues and spotlights success stories
• Assistance in the development of strategy and message points and compilation of data and supportive materials
• Identification of third-party healthcare policy and scientific advocates to partner with AfPA members to improve patient access to approved therapies
• Identification of influential policy decision-makers
• Help in forming a local network of physicians with the same policy concerns

Organization
AfPA is an independent not for profit, 501(c)(4) organization.

About the Chairman

David Charles, M.D.
Nashville, Tenn.

David Charles, M.D. holds several key positions at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.: Associate Professor and Vice-Chairman of Neurology and Assistant Dean for Medical School Admissions. He also serves as the Chairman of the Alliance for Patient Access, a national network of physicians whose mission is to ensure and protect patient access to approved medical treatments in the U.S.

Dr. Charles graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1986 with a B.S., cum laude, in Computer Science and Mathematics. He earned his medical degree in 1990 from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where he also completed his internship and was chief resident in neurology and a fellow in Movement Disorders and Clinical Neurophysiology. Dr. Charles joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor of neurology, at which time he was named director of the Movement Disorders Clinic. He is Board certified in neurology, and is currently an attending physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

A former health-care policy adviser for U.S. Sen. Bill Frist in Washington, Dr. Charles ran for U.S. Congress from District 6 in Tennessee in 2000 and brought attention to the state's TennCare health program by making it a key issue in the election.

David and his wife, Julia, reside in Nashville with their four sons.

AfPA Leadership

Lawrence Abramson, DO, MPH
Pontiac, Mich.

Dr. Abramson, a board-certified family physician, graduated from the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery and currently is a staff physician at POH Regional Medical Center in Pontiac, Michigan where his duties include serving as the clinical lead in clinical quality improvement and patient safety. He also holds an adjunct assistant clinical faculty appointment in the Department of Family Practice at the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. While earning his Masters in Public Health degree at the University of Michigan he developed his interest in clinical quality and population medicine with a focus on optimizing care to achieve the best patient outcomes.

Dr. Abramson has been involved in patient advocacy including participation with local chapters of the American Heart and American Stroke Associations. He currently serves as a board member on a variety of professional organizations including the Michigan Osteopathic Association, Michigan Association of Osteopathic Family Physicians, and on the Michigan Health and Hospital Association Patient Safety Organization.  

Howard Hoffberg, M.D.
Owings Mills, Md.

Dr. Hoffberg is associate medical director of Rehabilitation and Pain Managements Associates, a freestanding private practice specializing in multidisciplinary treatment (including Physical Therapy and Psychosocial Counseling) for pain located in the surburban Baltimore region. He was a former president of the Maryland Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and is currently the Highmark Medicare Part B Carrier Advisor Representative in Maryland. He has written book chapters and journal articles in the subjects of Rehabilitation and Pain, and has been involved in training residents and physician assistants.

 

Christina Mayville, M.D.
Macon, Ga.

Dr. Mayville is a board certified neurologist practicing in a dedicated single specialty group committed to providing comprehensive, high-quality care. She graduated from Mercer University School of Medicine and completed residency in Neurology and Fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her practice is the only neurological group in this geographic region to provide the required neurological education and training of medical students and residents at the Mercer University School of Medicine and the Medical Center of Central Georgia. They also remain the only group to provide volunteer staffing of the indigent neurology clinic at the Medical Center, bringing quality neurological care to those who could not otherwise afford it. Members of Neurology Associates also participate in clinical research trials, local and state medical societies and hold multiple professional society memberships.  

Peter McAllister, M.D.
Fairfield, Conn.

Dr. McAllister is a board certified neurologist and a partner at Associated Neurologists of Southern Connecticut, a large single specialty group in Fairfield Connecticut. He is the Director of Clinical Research and Founder and Director of the Headache Center at ANSC. He holds a Clinical Instructor post in the Department of Neurology at Yale University School of Medicine.

Dr. McAllister received his B.S. and M.D. degrees at the University of Connecticut. His medical internship, neurology residency and neuromuscular fellowship training were at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He also completed an externship at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Queen Square, London, England, working with the Movement Disorders group. Dr. McAllister has given numerous invited lectures, and has published in peer-reviewed journals on topics such as pharmacoeconomics, chronic pain, headache, and botulinum toxin therapy. He is member of the American Academy of Neurology, Dystonia Foundation, American Headache Society and is the Northeast Regional Chairperson of Alliance for Patient Access. He is the team neurologist for three Connecticut universities and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, a New York Islanders affiliate.  

Amie Peterson, M.D.
Portland, Ore.

Dr. Peterson is currently a movement disorders fellow at OHSU and the Portland VA. Prior to moving to Portland she completed a health policy fellowship in Washington, D.C. working for Senator Jack Reed. She completed her residency training at Brown University in Providence, R.I. She received her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia and did her undergraduate degree at Penn State. She is hoping to remain at OHSU and the VA after completion of her fellowship in July 2009 and divide her time between research and clinical practice. She continues to work on advocacy at both a local and national level serving on PRO’s advocacy committee and the legislative affairs committee of the American Academy of Neurology.

Bruce S. Rubin, M.D.
Miami, Fla.

Dr. Bruce Rubin is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine. He also currently serves as the Director of the Spasticity Clinic at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Dr. Rubin has lectured nationally and has published articles in scientific journals such as Stroke, Neurology and Archives of Family Medicine. He is a member of several professional organizations, such as the American Academy of Neurology, Dade County Medical association, American Society of Neurorehabilitation and Brain Injury Association of Florida. He also serves as the Chairman for the Florida Chapter of the Alliance for Patient Access (AfPA). Dr. Rubin received his Bachelor’s of Science degree from Hobart College and his Doctor of Medicine degree from State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse. He completed his Neurological residency at the Neurologic Institute at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York and his post-doctoral fellowship in Neurological Rehabilitation at the University Of Miami School Of Medicine.

 

Jack Schim, M.D.
Oceanside, Calif.

Dr. Schim is Voluntary Assistant Clinical Professor in the Neuroscience Department at University of California San Diego, and is on staff at the VA Medical Center in La Jolla. He has special interests in headache management, stroke prevention, acute stroke intervention, and neurologic rehabilitation.

Dr. Schim earned his medical degree from University of California San Diego (UCSD) Medical School, served as a medical intern at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and completed his neurology residency at UCSD, with special emphasis on electromyography and neuromuscular disease. He is Past President of the Association of California Neurologists and an active member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Stroke Association, and American Headache Society. Dr. Schim is Chair of the Division of Neuroscience at Scripps Hospital, Encinitas.

Dr. Schim is Board certified in Neurology, and has certification in Headache Medicine by the United Council of Neurologic Subspecialties. He has published articles in Experimental Neurology, Current Medical Research and Opinion, Pain Practice, Headache, and Neurology.