Medical Student Section (MSS) 50th Anniversary

For the last 50 years, the Medical Student Section (MSS) has been the American Medical Association’s representative body for student needs and issues, serving as a gateway to wider leadership opportunities within organized medicine for future physicians.

In 1949, the AMA funded the establishment of the Student American Medical Association (SAMA), as a separate organization. In 1972, the Student Business Section was established after a 1971 House of Delegates vote affirmed support for the creation of a special section for medical students.

Following formal changes to the bylaws in 1981, the Student Business Section became  the Medical Student Section which allowed medical students to become delegates of the HOD.

Over the past 50 years, members of the Medical Student Section (MSS) have submitted more than 1,500 resolutions at AMA Annual and Interim meetings challenging the status quo and advocating for important issues, including:

• Advocated for changes to the STEP 1 and STEP 2 exams to focus more on the development and certification of clinical skills.
• The MSS endorsed, through a Board directive, the creation of a LGBTQ+ Research IRB training model for medical institutions to better understand the collection of data on lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer populations.
• Advocated for the elimination of health disparities as well as the awareness and education of sexual orientation and gender identity health issues in medical education.
• The MSS advocated for the adoption of police reform and the recognition of police brutality as a manifestation of structural racism which disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.
• Advocated for the adoption by the HOD of racism as a public health threat policy, which acknowledges that racism and unconscious bias within medical research and health care delivery have caused and continue to cause harm to marginalized communities and society as a whole.

Visit the MSS policymaking page for information on how to submit a resolution, comment on policy proposals and submit an action item.

Visit the MSS leadership opportunities page and apply for a local or national role.

Visit the MSS meetings & events page for opportunities to network and enact policy.

Section Involvement Grant: For AMA medical school section initiatives

What you need to know to get started as a medical student leader

AMA Research Challenge: National, multi-specialty research event