AMA Resident and Fellow member benefits

The American Medical Association Resident and Fellow Section (AMA-RFS), with more than 20,000 members, was formed in 1974 to focus specifically on the needs and concerns of resident and fellow physician members. AMA-RFS member benefits include the following:

General Benefits
 

• Public Health Resources – Covers a variety of important topics, including health disparities, disaster response, obesity assessment and management, infectious disease, adolescent health, dementia, geriatrics, etc. 
   
• Improving Working Conditions – Learn about duty hour guidelines, reporting duty hour violations, Graduate Medical Education funding, resident income and debt relief, physician recruiters and much more. 
   
• Contracts & Agreements - Guidelines for Resident Agreements/Contracts and the updated
  Model Annotated Employment Agreement (PDF, 449 KB) help guide you through the legal language of contracts and agreements and ensure that your rights are protected.
   
• Employment Opportunities – Locate programs seeking residents & fellows and employers seeking physicians.
   
• Career Resources – Dedicated to helping you succeed personally and professionally; learn about financial management, various legal topics, practice management/private payer issues, Medicare, etc. 
   
• Assessing Practice Setting Options – Learn about the pros and cons of solo, group, employment, and hospitalist practice before making a decision.
   
• Foreign Rotations Abroad – Ensuring appropriate health care for all individuals is a preeminent concern for all physicians.  The AMA-RFS is committed to providing its members with information about exciting opportunities for expanding their medical experience, including residency rotations overseas.
   
• Resident and Fellow Section Listserv – Stay informed of all advocacy initiatives, awards, grants, internships, and leadership opportunities. 
   
• Resident and Fellow Publications – Read up on issues that are written by and important to residents and fellows. 
   
• Receive a Free AMA Physician Recognition Award Certificate – AMA resident members who have completed one to three years of residency can receive an AMA Physician's Recognition Award (PRA) certificate at no charge as a benefit of AMA membership ($58 for nonmembers). The certificate is accepted by many state licensing boards, hospitals and other professional medical organizations as evidence of meeting continuing medical education (CME) requirements. Thirty-eight states and territories accept the PRA certificate in lieu of CME requirements for your license registration.
   
• FREIDA Online –  A database with over 8,400 graduate medical education programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and ABMS Board-approved combined specialty programs.
   
• GME e-Letter  – This free monthly e-mail newsletter, covering a wide range of issues affecting graduate medical education, is a popular source of news and information for its 14,000 readers.

Award, Grant and Internship Opportunities
 

• Legislative Awareness Internship Program – The AMA-RFS Legislative Awareness Internship Program offers residents and fellows the opportunity to participate in the political process of organized medicine at the national level. Two residents/fellows are selected to participate in a two-week internship at the AMA’s Washington, DC office. A $1,000 stipend is offered to help defray costs. 
   
• Discovery Health Internship – The AMA-RFS and Discovery Health select one resident/fellow for a communication rotation to develop health-related programming for the Discovery Channel.  A $3,000 stipend is offered to help defray costs. 
   
• Research Seed Program – The AMA Foundation is offering Research Seed Program grants of $1,500 to $2,500 to residents and medical students to help conduct small projects in applied and clinical research in areas such as adolescent health, animal use in research, arthritis/rheumatism, HIV/AIDS, cardio-pulmonary, endocrine, neoplastic, and psychiatric disease.
   
• AMA-RFS Research Poster Symposium – The Symposium is designed to give trainees the opportunity to display their original work among peers and compete for cash prizes. Abstracts may be submitted for poster presentation in one of three categories: clinical or basic research, medical education or health policy, and clinical vignettes.
   
• Seeking Public Office: AMPAC Political Education Programs Can Help – The Candidate Workshop and Campaign School, held for over 20 years, provide unmatched political training for physicians and other friends of medicine who are interested in either seeking public office themselves or in working to elect other friends of medicine.
   
• Jordan Fieldman Award – The AMA-RFS offers the Jordan Fieldman Award to a first time delegate or attendee who seeks future participation in the RFS, enthusiastically endorses the ideals of advocacy and activism as exemplified by Dr. Fieldman, and possesses meritorious qualifications and the highest level of moral character.  This award funds the awardee’s travel and attendance to the Annual and Interim Meetings.
    
• Paul Ambrose Award for Leadership Among Resident Physicians – Dr. Paul Ambrose dedicated his career to improving the health of the public and to increasing physician leadership in health policy. His dedication and commitment to medicine continue through this leadership award, which recognizes and encourages excellence in leadership development within public health by residents and fellows and serves to stimulate similar efforts by other physicians in training. This award funds the awardee’s travel and attendance to the Annual and Interim Meetings.
   
• Foundation Leadership Award – The AMA Foundation Leadership Award recognizes the leadership potential of residents and fellows, medical students, and young physicians based on their non-clinical leadership experience in medical arenas, civic organizations and community service organizations. Award recipients receive travel, hotel accommodations, and registration for the AMA's National Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC.
   
• Policy Promotion Grant Program – The program awards grants of up to $500 to residents and fellows to aid with projects and activities that promote or encourage AMA policy..

Leadership Development
 

• AMA-RFS Governing Council – The Governing Council is composed of seven residents and fellows who meet four times a year to establish the Section’s work plan, implement policy initiatives, and establish programming for the Assembly meetings.
   
• AMA-RFS Assembly Meetings – The Section has two Assembly meetings per year in which policies are debated and established. The Assembly consists of 150 resident/fellow delegates from state and specialty associations from around the country.
   
• Sectional Delegate and Alternate Delegate Positions – RFS Sectional Delegates and Alternate Delegates are given full voting privileges in the AMA House of Delegates (HOD).  Responsibilities include caucusing with your endorsing society, assisting the RFS Delegate and Alternate in representing the Resident and Fellow members of the AMA in the HOD, and reporting back to the resident and fellow section of their state or specialty endorsing society regarding the activities of the AMA HOD. There are 10 Sectional Delegate and 10 Sectional Alternate Delegate positions available.  The term is one year.
   
• Standing Committees – The RFS has several standing committees for members to join. The committees deal with issues such as membership, marketing, grassroots legislative efforts, educational initiatives, public health issues, and long range planning.
   
• Initiative to Transform Medical Education – For the past two years, the American Medical Association has been engaged in a collaborative effort titled the Initiative to Transform Medical Education (ITME).  ITME’s goal is to “promote excellence in patient care by implementing reform in the medical education and training system across the continuum, from premedical preparation and medical school admission through continuing physician professional development.”  To date, ITME has identified gaps and areas for improvement in the system of medical education and has created recommendations to address these gaps (visit http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/377/finalitme.pdf to view ITME June 2007 report).
   
• Student/Resident Lobby Day – Each year the AMA offers AMA-RFS members the opportunity to influence federal lawmakers by participating in Student/Resident Lobby Day during the National Advocacy Conference (NAC) in Washington, DC.  Students and residents meet with senators, representatives and legislative staff to discuss issues affecting medical education and the way they will practice medicine in the future.
   
• Additional Leadership Positions – The AMA-RFS Governing Council solicits nominations for more than 20 leadership positions for resident and fellow physicians, including the National Resident Matching Program, Council on Medical Education, Council on Science and Public Health, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and many more.