House Calls: Activism Is All in a Day's Work (Getting Your Voice Heard‪)‬

John MacKeigan, MD, rises before dawn to catch the 6 a.m. flight from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Washington, D.C., a midweek pilgrimage he makes five times each year. He dons soft sole shoes for what he knows will be an intense 10-hour day of pavement pounding to offices of U.S. senators and representatives. The 62 year-old, colorectal surgeon is vice president of medical affairs for Michigan Medical, P.C., a 200-physician, multispecialty practice. He is also a consummate political activist who believes it is his unpaid duty to make medicine's viewpoint known at the highest levels of government.