SIU medical students Alexandria Wellman, Matthew Riley and Leighton Kraft traveled to Washington, DC, to advocate for policies on behalf of Southern Illinois University as a part of the AMA MSS Medical Advocacy and Region Conference on March 7-9. At the Capitol they met with legislative aids from Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Darren LaHood’s offices to promote policies to improve health care in the regions of central and southern Illinois. Their advocacy efforts included: protection and expansion of GME funding through support of the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2019