More than 600 medical students from across the country formalized policy on health care issues affecting medical students and participated in various programming and networking events at the 2016 National Medical Student Meeting, held June 9-11 in Chicago.
Medical students filled the ballroom to hear keynote speaker Kevin Pho, MD, discuss making a difference in health care with social media. Students also received advice from Mark Hill, MD, professor of surgery at the Chicago Medical School, on how to impress on the wards, and guidance from Christopher Cimino, MD, chief medical officer and vice president of Kaplan, on surviving the second year of medical school. Other programs included insights on pitching a tech idea and reducing the stigma of medical student mental health.
The AMA Medical Student Section (MSS) assembly considered 32 items of business and adopted policy on a wide range of issues. Highlights include: advocating for the elimination of USMLE Step 2 CS and COMLEX level 2-PE exams, supporting the decriminalization of suicide in the military, opposing efforts to restrict public health crisis research, supporting the role spirituality plays in a patient’s health, supporting restrictions on weapons in hospitals, and supporting cultural competency training for medical school students when treating patients who are LGBT+.
This meeting represented the fifth implementation of a completely virtual testimony process. The virtual reference committee generated more than 250 posts and continues to provide all medical student members, regardless of their ability to attend the meeting, the opportunity to provide testimony on each items of business.
This meeting was the first that combined the Clinical Skills Workshop and Medical Specialty Showcase, which drew more than 200 students and provided networking and information-sharing opportunities between medical professionals and medical students.
Finalists in the AMA Healthier Innovation Challenge—which asked medical students, residents and physicians from across the country to share their innovative solutions for improving the health of the nation—pitched their concepts at a live event Saturday. Selected from more than 100 submissions, a rising fourth-year medical student won second place for his Light Line catheter! The three winning teams received a share of $50,000 in prizes, as well as access to the AMA's network of accelerator and entrepreneurship partners. Learn more about the winners and their innovations.
The AMA-MSS assembly elected the following members to its 2016-2017 governing council:
- Chair: Christopher Libby, University of Massachusetts Medical School
- Vice chair: Lee Ouyang, Eastern Virginia Medical School
- Delegate: Sarah Smith, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
- Alternate delegate: William Estes, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
- Speaker: Hunter Pattison, University of Florida College of Medicine
- Vice speaker: Theresa Phan, Texas Tech University Health Center School of Medicine
- At-large officer: Jayme Looper, University of South Carolina
Omar Maniya, Georgetown University School of Medicine, begins his term as medical student representative on the AMA Board of Trustees at the close of the 2016 AMA Annual Meeting. The AMA-MSS Government Relations Advocacy Fellow, Chris Clifford, University of Nevada School of Medicine, begins his one-year term in July.
