2019 HOSA Washington Leadership Academy Highlights

Washington, D.C. September 19-24, 2019

2019 WLA ThinkBack Video

HOSA-Future Health Professionals’ 13th Annual Washington Leadership Academy (WLA) is a capstone leadership experience for HOSA officers and members providing unique experiences through experiential learning, real world applicability and networking.

This year’s theme focused on the importance of HOSA leaders becoming positive influential leaders.  To be a successful leader, it is important to not only understand the concepts of why and how leaders influence others, but also to practice the qualities, skills, and abilities needed to become a positive influential leader

2019 Washington Leadership Academy Learning Objectives

  • To recognize the importance in being a person of influence and the characteristics and behaviors of what makes a positive influential leader.
  • To examine and understand how increasing an individual’s ability to lead and positively influence others correlates with a highly functioning HOSA officer team and HOSA chartered association.
  • To explore ten specific qualities, characteristics, and behaviors leaders need in order to become an effective positive influencer for their team and HOSA members.
  • To identify and generate specific techniques and action steps participants can use to improve and increase their level of positive influence to create and inspire action within their own HOSA chartered association, and among members and affiliates.

This capstone leadership conference, held in historic Washington, D.C., provided both local and state leaders the knowledge and confidence needed to be an influential leader with a competitive advantage to enter the health profession.

WLA provided additional opportunities to meet with Congressional Representatives and Senators on Capitol Hill, and to visit health industry tours at the Children’s National, Washington, DC, the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science, the University of Maryland School of Public Health, National Association for Community and City Health Organization and Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health, the National Institutes of Health and the National Museum of Natural History.

The Washington, D.C. Twilight Tour is always an exciting part of the Washington Leadership Academy! HOSA members had the opportunity to witness the beauty of the nation’s beloved capital city and visited various monuments and memorials, including the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam/Korean War Memorials, the FDR Memorial, and the MLK Memorial, to name a few. Moreover, members visited several museums the National Mall prides itself upon, including the Air and Space Museum and the Museum of American History!

On Tuesday, HOSA leaders were on Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of HOSA-Future Health Professionals to promote health science education and career and technical education. A special thanks to Jerrica Mathis, Director, Government Affairs, Crowell & Moring, and Sara Brown, Director, Governmental Affairs, Prevent Blindness, who offered advice to attendees on how to advocate for HOSA and Health Science Education on Capitol Hill.

HOSA leaders also had the opportunity to hear from Tony Sgro, Founder and CEO of EdVenture Partners (EVP), about an upcoming Peer-to-Peer Challenge program and partnership for HOSA members on the prevention of high school violence.  EVP builds industry-education partnerships for economic and societal challenges by connecting students, educators and industry leaders. Tony has more than 40 years of experience in marketing, advertising and promotion. Tony and his organization created and manage the P2P: Challenging Extremism program, a global university initiative to counter hate and extremism sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Facebook currently on 95+ universities in 30 countries.

Throughout Washington Leadership Academy, HOSA members additionally had the opportunity to gain insights from various keynote speakers, including:

  • Jack Andraka, a Stanford student, who at age 15 invented an inexpensive and sensitive dipstick-like sensor for the rapid and early detection of pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers. After a close family friend died of pancreatic cancer, he proposed a new plan for a rapid, low-cost early screening method and contacted about 200 research professionals at universities and the National Institutes of Health about his plan. He received 199 rejection letters and then finally got an acceptance at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The diagnostic method he developed is more than 90 percent accurate in detecting the presence of pancreatic cancer’s biomarker protein called mesothelin and earned him the grand prize $75,000 Gordon E. Moore Award — named for Intel’s co-founder — after competing with 1,500 other young scientists from 70 countries.  Jack Andraka’s message inspired HOSA-Future Health Professional members to never give up, even in the face of adversity or rejection.  View the Opening Session.
  • HOSA was pleased to welcome Todd Parchman, MBA, a partner with Parchman, Vaughan, and Company, who shared a meaningful message about his personal experience with health professionals and how “it takes a confluence of human capital and financial capital to have a successful healthcare result or healthcare system.” Parchman also shared that in his 40 years in finance banking, he observed “servant leadership is the most successful and long-enduring leadership… and the healthcare business is all about serving others.” View the Closing Session.

The 13th Annual Washington Leadership Academy allowed HOSA leaders the opportunity to network and build many connections from a multitude of states all over the nation. Led by the 2019-2020 HOSA Executive Council, HOSA leaders developed the skills and mindset needed to learn, lead, serve, and innovate in all aspects of HOSA-Future Health Professionals.