Dr. Rupin Thakkar practices primary-care pediatrics at the Children’s Clinic of South Snohomish County. He is one of our young physician members, only completing his residency four years ago. However, he has been actively engaged in health policy and legislative advocacy since beginning his medical training. During medical school, he served as the Health Policy Chair of the American Medical Student Association. During his residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital, he served as the national Pediatric Resident Representative to the Association of American Medical Colleges, and he was also a resident representative to our chapter. After entering practice, Dr. Thakkar was elected to our Board of Trustees. He also served on the planning committee of the newly created Advocacy Pathway for the UW pediatric residency program, and he has been a guest facilitator for the UW Medical School Medicine, Health, & Society course. Most recently, he was appointed to the Workforce Advisory Group of the state legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Health Care Reform Implementation.
Dr. Thakkar’s advocacy efforts largely focus on legislation both in Olympia and in Washington, DC. He is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Washington Coalition for Prescribing Integrity, a large coalition of organizations that works to combat inappropriate marketing techniques employed by the pharmaceutical industry. Over the past year he participated in a number of activities in support of passage of federal healthcare reform with the Heatlhcare For America Now! Coalition, including being a featured speaker at the Healthcare For the Holidays Rally in Everett. Dr. Thakkar also organizes at the national level with other specialties as a founding member of the National Physicians Alliance.