Physicians Organizing Committee: Fighting for a Healthcare System Based on Patient Care

Physicians Organizing Committee (POC) is an all-volunteer medical advocacy group that works with doctors to fight for a healthcare system based on patient care instead of profit. They focus on fighting insurance denials, budget cuts, and closure of essential services by organizing doctors together with the community they serve, with the goal of building a healthcare system where doctors can actually serve their patients, not the bottom line. POC will be discussing some of the current issues they are fighting in the healthcare system, past victories like stopping the closure of the stroke, STEMI, and trauma department in East San Jose Hospital, current fights like the corporate takeover and subsequent under-staffing in Fresno, and what you can do to help.

Sydney Ragsdale-Cronin is a full-time organizer and the Education Director at POC. She has been a volunteer since 2020. She grew up in the Unitarian Universalist church in Monterey (UUCMP), and moved to SF to study Biology at SF State before transitioning into organizing with POC.

Angus Hamilton is an undergraduate Physiology student and researcher at SF State, and plans to go to medical school in the future. He has been a volunteer with POC since early 2025 and is the Speaking Engagement Coordinator.Dr. Naveen Reddy is a Neurologist at UCSF who is working to integrate newly approved technologies into the Veterans Health Administration. He grew up in Los Angeles and got completed his undergrad in neuroscience at UCLA. He went to

Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine in Connecticut for Medical school and UC San Diego for his residency. Currently, he researches emerging pharmaceuticals attempting to treat Alzheimer’s, Migraines, and ALS and does clinical work at the San Francisco VA.