Available at most medical schools and across most physician specialties, specialty-interest groups offer medical students the opportunity to gain deeper insights into a field of interest. These organizations are a useful tool to help guide physician specialty choice, but their value extends to the leadership realm.
Now a first-year general surgery resident at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Maya Hammoud, MD, was active in Scrubs—the University of Michigan Medical School’s surgical interest group—during her time in medical school.
“These groups are great exposure,” said Dr. Hammoud, an AMA member whose aunt—an ob-gyn MD also named Maya Hammoud—is a consultant for the AMA’s medical education unit. “With Scrubs, we tried to immerse students in surgery. We got them suturing, working with attendings and got them involved in panel discussions.”
In looking back on her experience, Dr. Hammoud, who worked in a leadership position with Scrubs as an M4, offered insight on how the group helped improve her leadership skills and bolster her residency application.
Hands-on experience
A large part of Dr. Hammoud’s involvement with Scrubs was working as the point person for the Surgery Olympics. Surgery Olympics is a 14-week program during which first-year medical students are paired with fourth-year students and surgical attendings to work on surgical research projects and learn basic surgical skills such as suturing. The program culminates in students presenting their research at Grand Rounds and competing in a surgical skills competition at the end of the 14 weeks.
As an M4, Dr. Hammoud took on a significant role in organizing the event, handling scheduling, programming and ensuring its smooth execution.
“It really made me sit down and think about: What do we need to happen?” Dr. Hammoud said. “When should events be taking place? It helped me feel comfortable taking on more responsibility and showed me I’m capable of leading an event with over 100 people involved.”
Her leadership role in Scrubs gave Dr. Hammoud an item to highlight on both her residency application and in interviews.
In interviews “it came up in most interviews,” she said. “People would ask about leadership skills or for me to tell them about a time when I was in charge of something. Talking about SCRUBS was a great way of demonstrating my leadership skills by pointing to what I have done, rather than just talking about theoretical leadership qualities.”
An opportunity for autonomy
Specialty interest groups are generally student-run. That means, as Dr. Hammoud said, “you get out of it what you put into it.”
“One thing I learned in terms of leadership was that if you want something done, you have to think about every little detail and make sure that it gets done,” Dr. Hammoud said. “There's not going be someone else making sure what you're doing is right, you have to hold yourself accountable.”
Dr. Hammoud found that the skills related to accountability and detail-orientedness “really can apply to clinical practice. When working with patients you’re always making sure you’re not missing anything and considering all possibilities.”
A chance to mentor
Prior to her role in helming the Surgery Olympics, Dr. Hammoud was a participant as an M1. She found the experience to be helpful in her ultimately committing to general surgery as a specialty. That inspired her to help lead the event as an M4 and allowed her to develop relationships with younger students.
“It’s been great to see some students who know they want to do surgery talk to me and ask about my experience applying,” Dr. Hammoud said. “We developed a mentor-mentee relationship through SCRUBS.”
Early experience
Dr. Hammoud’s leadership involvement with Scrubs was as a fourth-year medical student, but she said that specialty-interest groups give younger medical students a chance to gain leadership experience early on in training.
“We've had great M1s who dedicated their time, created templates and guides for future leaders, and really exemplified leadership and organizational skills,” she said. “Starting as an M1 gives you the opportunity for more leadership opportunities and to make connections with faculty and start networking early."
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