2024 Richard Neubauer Advocate of the Year Award
The 2024 Richard Neubauer Advocate of the Year Award went to Elisa Choi, MD, FACP – former MA chapter governor, past chair of the ACP Board of Governors, and current ACP Board of Regent member. The Neubauer Award is presented each year during Leadership Day to recognize individuals who have made exceptional efforts in support of the College’s advocacy program.
Angie Johnson, MD, FACP (ACP BoG Chair) presents Elisa Choi, MD, FACP with the Richard Neubauer Award
Dr. Choi was selected because of her exemplary commitment to advocacy. Her contributions to ACP’s advocacy activities are both broad and deep. Soon after joining the Massachusetts ACP Governor’s Council in 2012, Dr. Choi signed up to be the Delegation Lead for the Chapter’s ACP Leadership Day delegation. Since that time, she has not missed a single ACP Leadership Day. This year was the thirteenth Leadership Day she has attended, serving as the lead or co-lead for the Chapter’s Leadership Day delegation for all thirteen of those years.
She has advocated on federal issues, including repealing the sustainable growth rate, which was ultimately successful with ACP effort, supporting increasing graduate medical education funding for primary care, reducing prescription drug pricing, and various other ACP advocacy priorities such as tort reform.
Dr. Choi has also been a strong supporter of the ACP Services PAC and has served as a PAC Board Member since 2023. Dr. Choi has provided informational talks to the MA ACP Chapter about ACP Services & the PAC, and she also leads by example as one of the PAC’s top contributors.
At the state level, Dr. Choi, with the support of the then-Governor of the MA ACP chapter, resuscitated the long-dormant Chapter Health and Public Policy Committee (HPPC) in 2015 and became an inaugural Co-Chair of this effort. In 2016, she initiated the MA Chapter’s first advocacy day at their Statehouse, which subsequently won multiple awards from ACP and has become a model for several other ACP chapters in the years since.
Dr. Choi has written articles related to health equity and public health, has testified at legislative hearings, and has promoted advocacy on these issues in statewide and national forums. She has also mentored, advised, and sponsored junior physician ACP members in her chapter. And, in 2019, Dr. Choi founded a MA ACP Chapter Award for Advocacy.
Dr. Choi epitomizes physician advocacy. Her passion inspires others to get involved and to realize the potential of advocacy to make a difference for our patients and profession.
