Medical School Life

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

. 4 MIN READ
By
Brendan Murphy , Senior News Writer

AMA News Wire

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

Aug 19, 2024

Medical students have a place in shaping the future of medicine through the AMA. For medical students looking to hone their leadership skills, the AMA offers the chance to distinguish yourself through more than 1,000 leadership opportunities and skill building through online training modules, project-based learning and more.

Two resident physician AMA members who made their mark as advocates in the AMA Medical Student Section spoke of their experiences with the section and how it shaped them as leaders. Here are their insights for medical students hoping to hone their leadership skill set and boost their medical student CVs.

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The AMA offers local and national leadership opportunities to help medical students develop their leadership skills and advocate for patients and the profession.

There’s a certain calling to leadership that goes beyond the academic and clinical realm, said Swetha Maddipudi, MD, MPH.

Now a third-year family medicine resident at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, Dr. Maddipudi said in medical school she “spent so much time working with organized medicine.” Over her time working with the section, she worked on issues such as trauma-informed care for children.

“All of it started with my mentor saying, ‘Hey, you seem to like policy work and advocacy work. The AMA is something you should be looking at,’” Dr. Maddipudi said. “My chapter was where it all started for me.”

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Medical school can often be about textbooks and tests. Advocacy work is a break from that, Pauline Huynh, MD, found.

Now the Immediate Past Chair of the AMA Resident & Fellow Section Governing Council, Dr. Huynh spoke of how eye-opening her first AMA meeting was in 2017.

“For me, it was the people that kept me coming back,” said Dr. Huynh, a third-year head-and-neck surgery resident at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center. “We have all been in a med school environment that can be very test-focused or very study-focused. In 2017, there were a lot of public health concerns about defunding of certain institutions. ... There were like-minded individuals [at that meeting] who said we could do something” to protect patients.

Attending that meeting “left me feeling like there is something beyond my textbook or my exam or the one patient I may see that day to practice a physical exam on,” Dr. Huynh said.

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The next generation of physicians needs voices in leadership roles. Dr. Maddipudi said her AMA experiences came up frequently in residency interviews.

“All of my AMA involvement was well received,” she said. “Pretty much in every interview, my advocacy work or my AMA work specifically was brought up in the context of how it has shaped the way I want to practice or how it has shaped my career choice. Given the events of the past few years, a lot of interviewers are realizing how important advocacy is within our communities.”

The AMA Medical Student Leadership Learning Series offers practical education to help medical students lead effectively. These 20-minute, interactive modules offer advice, realistic scenarios and printable resources to help medical students become skilled in core competencies of leadership. This series is an AMA members-only resource.

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Whether it’s with the AMA or another organization, find the advocacy or leadership opportunity that resonates with you and pursue it.

“There’s an abundance of opportunities,” Maddipudi said. “Pick the ones that make your heart sing and that you are excited about. There’s no need to say yes to things that aren’t exciting. You should enjoy the things that you are doing and there will be plenty of them.”

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