AMSA, the American Medical Student Association, is a national organization that aims to represent and address the concerns of physicians in training. Completely student-governed, the organization is organized into chapters of premedical students.
The American Medical Student Association was formally established nearly 50 years ago in 1950. Today, it continues to recognize that there are pressures involved in pursing a medical school degree or career. The organization believes that peer support is a fundamental key to success.
The Lawrence University chapter of AMSA has been active for a couple years now. Said co-president and freshman Tej Mehta, “We are a group of pre-med students and we collectively try to help each other with getting into med school. Usually, it’s the older students who have gone through the paces that try to help out the younger students.” Mehta co-leads the group with junior Yagmur Esemen.
During AMSA’s weekly meetings, members discuss issues relevant to the medical profession and being a physician in the context of today’s world. Specifically, the group holds round table discussions focused on news articles relating to the medical field.
They also work to plan volunteer events in the Appleton community. Said Mehta, “We get involved with the CADY days to show kids science experiments and then we have the kids design their own experiments. We are also co-hosting intramural soccer to get donations to help out a local emergency shelter.”
“I think [AMSA ] definitely is an important addition to the Lawrence community,” Mehta shared. “It really is there for pre med students and its number one goal is to help people who are interested in a medical profession and getting into medical school. But everyone is welcome.”
For the remainder of this academic year, the Lawrence AMSA chapter is working towards breaking the Lawrence bubble to increase their involvement with service projects in the Appleton community. They are hoping to also put a blood drive together and continue fundraising efforts for the local emergency shelter.
AMSA meetings are held on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. meetings on the fourth floor of the Warch Campus Center.