As a busy medical student, sometimes it’s hard to dedicate time to attend the AMA’s Annual and Interim meetings, especially if they’re far away. Check out your AMA Medical Student Section (MSS) Region Meeting to experience a more locally-focused program, learn more about the medical profession and connect with your peers.
Over the next three months, the seven AMA-MSS regions will bring together medical students from across the country to cover key topics catered to local interests. The meetings are either free or very low-cost. Christina Kratschmer, a fourth-year medical student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, said she especially encourages students to attend their region meeting if they’re unsure about how involved they would like to be in the AMA.
“Region meetings are less of a financial burden than the AMA Annual or Interim meetings,” she said. “The region meetings are a really warm, welcoming environment. Nearly all of the students in my region will carpool to the meeting and once there, we stay with students at the host school. It’s a great opportunity to make connections with students in your region that you might not otherwise have gotten to know.”
Second-year medical student Daniel Ebner, who attends the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said he finds the atmosphere welcoming as well.
“The Annual and Interim meetings operate at a breakneck speed,” he said. “The region meeting provides a much smaller and almost intimate environment where you can meet students who are nearby and establish connections before heading off to one of the AMA’s bigger events. These are often the people you’ll be drafting policy recommendations and working with across the lifetime of your involvement with the AMA.”
Besides meeting new people and forging connections, each region meeting focuses on specific themes, such as health care technology innovation and career development. “The programming is fantastic,” Kratschmer said. “It’s geared locally so we can really focus on issues of interest to students in our states.”
Find your region on the AMA-MSS Web page then check the list below to see when your region meeting is and what the theme will be:
- The Region I meeting will be held from Feb. 6-8 at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine with a focus on engagement in the changing landscape of health care policy.
- The Region II meeting will be held from Feb. 27-28 at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, with a focus on the 10-year forecast for the future of medicine and medical education.
- The Region III meeting will be held from March 27-28 at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, with a focus on addressing changing patient demographics.
- The Region IV meeting will be held from Feb. 20-22 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, with a focus on health care disparities.
- The Region V meeting will be held from Jan. 30-31 at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, with a focus on leadership and innovation at the crossroads of medicine.
- The Region VI meeting will be held from March 6-7 at Georgetown University School of Medicine, with a focus on patient-centered outcome improvement.
- The Region VII meeting will be held from Feb. 7-8 at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, with a focus on medical practice and advocacy in the 21st century.
“If you’re interested in helping with meeting planning, or have an idea for a presentation, the region meetings offer a good opportunity to step up,” Kratschmer said. “It’s much easier to get involved with the planning and presentation than it is with national meetings,” she added. “It’s a great professional development opportunity, and often a stepping stone to other AMA activities.”
Look for details on your region meeting on the AMA-MSS Web page.
Tell us: Are you planning to attend your AMA-MSS region meeting? What do you hope to see there? Tell us in a comment below or on the AMA-MSS Facebook page.
