By Karen Littleton
Many BCMS members
are not fully
aware that the
Bexar County Medical
Society employs a fulltime
lobbyist who works
diligently for its members
on state and congressional
issues.
Meet Mary Nava,
Director of Legislative & External Affairs. During legislative
sessions, Nava works tirelessly in Austin and San Antonio
to ensure phy-
sician concerns are communicated to members
of the Bexar County delegation at the state Capitol.
Nava also organizes BCMS member participation in
monthly visits to the Capitol (First Tuesdays), where physicians
and BCMS Alliance members visit directly with legislators
in their offices to make their voices heard.
When the legislature is not in session, Nava stays busy coordinating
all aspects of BCMS contacts with elected officials.
With her well-established relationships with legislators and
their staff members on a local level, Nava coordinates one-onone
or small group meetings between BCMS physicians and
lawmakers.
Nava also serves as staff liaison for both the BCMS
Legislative Committee and the Socioeconomics Committee,
where she spearheads physician volunteers’ efforts to bring
priority issues for Bexar County physicians to the attention of
the Texas Medical Association, while at the same time advising
BCMS physicians on TMA’s legislative agenda.
“With the successful passage of tort reform in 2003, many
physicians became even more committed to becoming active
in the political process, and with that commitment came the
promotion of Mary Nava to lead the Society’s efforts in lobbying
elected officials on medicine’s issues,” said Stephen C.
Fitzer, BCMS executive director.
“Mary’s background in marketing and public relations,
along with her distinguished career in working with San
Antonio physicians have proven to be valuable assets for the
Society’s lobbying efforts,” Fitzer said.
Nava, a native of Victoria, Texas, holds a M.B.A. degree
from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is a 17-year
veteran in the healthcare marketing and public relations field,
with experience in the for-profit and non-profit sectors.
She joined BCMS in 2000 as Director of Communications.
Since then she has assumed a variety of increasing roles and
responsibilities, including directing the marketing, advertising
and public relations activities for the Society.
Nava lives and breathes her work. Through her seven year
tenure at BCMS, she also has assumed an increasing variety of
roles in the legislative arena, having first served as staff liaison
to the BCMS Legislative Committee back in 2000.
“It wasn’t until 2003 when I helped organize the
Proposition 12 campaign for BCMS that I felt the rush and
excitement of seeing the results of the hard work and efforts--
of not only the physicians but also their spouses, through the
BCMS Alliance. “It gives me great pleasure to see BCMS members
participate in visits to the state Capitol to meet with our
legislators,” she said.
“I cannot stress enough to the many physicians I speak
with that their voices are heard.
“The credibility physicians aligned with the Bexar County
Medical Society bring to the table in Austin helps to define for
legislators the honorable profession of medicine, the access to
care issues facing patients today, and the effect lawmakers can
have on healthcare legislation,” Nava said.
For more information, call Mary Nava at 301-4395. To register
for First Tuesdays, visit www.bcms.org.
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