UCF College of Medicine M.D. students are making their mark in activities and organizations nationally and locally.
M-2 students Sarina Amin, Ashley Curry and Brittany Moscato were competitively selected to attend the American Medical Student Association’s (AMSA) Global Health Institute meeting in San Francisco January 7 to 9.
The AMSA has a 50-year history of medical student activism and is the oldest and largest independent association for physicians-in-training in the United States.
“I know that Sarina, Ashley and Brittany will be excellent ambassadors for the UCF College of Medicine at this national meeting,” said Dr. Marcy Verduin, associate dean for students.
Four M.D. students also served as Organization of Student Representatives at the recent American Association of Medical Colleges Nation Conference earlier this month.
Sarina, Jennifer Bazemore, Paul Mahle and Elona Rrapo participated in a variety of meetings on subjects such as technology in medical education, the transition from medical school to residency, and innovative programs like the one at the University of Massachusetts that pairs a medical student with a chronically ill child to help young doctors see patients as people first.
Meanwhile, the UCF College of Medicine’s American Medical Association/Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS) has also been active as well. The group held an organ donation drive in October at the medical education building. Students talked to classmates, faculty and staff members about the importance of organ donation and handed out more than 100 organ donor cards to interested people.
During the weekend of Nov. 5-7, three of the chapter’s M-1 students — Racha Khalaf, Deepthi Sudhakar, and Michelle Lipton – attended the organization’s meeting in San Diego, CA, where they represented the College of Medicine in legislative sessions and conferences.
The group also held its first Succeeding in Medical School (SIMS) event Nov. 9 and brought in two third-year medical students and one fourth-year student from Florida State University to talk about the later use of MD training. “Since we don’t have any upperclassmen of our own, it was very valuable for our students to have the opportunity to ask questions and get advice from people who have traveled farther down the road of medical education,” said M-2 student Briana Gapsis.
And in the spirit of the holiday season, the AMA-MSS has teamed up with the Salvation Army to help provide gifts to underprivileged children in our community. The student organization has been provided stockings to fill with gifts that will be distributed to local children ages 7-12. Their goal is that the College of Medicine donate 101 stuffed stockings as a symbol of the college enrollment. Stockings can be picked up in the 1st floor atrium and in the student lounge. Please label the stocking according to the appropriate gender for the gifts (“boy, girl” or “unisex) and return the stocking to the drop off box in the same locations by Dec. 14.