The Observer, September 7, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 2
AMSA ready for fall with lecture series, med school fair
The Case pre-medical chapter of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) will be helping students prepare for medical school and get involved in issues related to medicine with a series of events that they are hosting or helping to host this semester.
AMSA is an international organization that supports medical and pre-medical students. It focuses on many topics relevant to those within and entering the medical field, such as global health, diversity, and access to health care. This year's theme for the organization's events is universal access to prescription medications.
On Oct. 6, AMSA, along with several other health organizations on campus, is helping to sponsor teams in the annual Dr. John Carey Memorial AIDS Walk in University Circle.
"We're setting up a competition between all the student organizations on campus," said Natasha Dolgin, vice president of AMSA. "We've got a law school team, a med school team, Amnesty International team, etc." The teams are competing to raise the most money for the walk; the winning team will have a UPB-sponsored T-shirt night to create team shirts for the walk.
Also planned is AMSA's second medical school fair, to be held on Oct. 12 in Thwing Ballroom. While only seven schools sent representatives to the last fair held in the spring, over 20 are committed to attending this fair, providing information on programs in osteopathic, dental, podiatric, and veterinary medicine as well as traditional medical school.
Working closely with Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC), AMSA will be co-sponsoring several informational events designed to spread awareness of AIDS and other global issues.
One of these events will be a lecture series involving three speakers. The first speaker will be Dr. Michael Lederman, Director of the Case/University Hospitals Center for AIDS Research, who conducts National Institutes of Health-sponsored research in microbicides and will be speaking about their potential. Lederman will speak on Sept. 21. Dr. Christopher Whalen, Director of the Department of Epidemiology, is the second speaker, and will talk about the "promise and perils of the current influx of medication into Africa," according to Dolgin. The last speaker, Dr. Mark Votruba, is an assistant professor of economics and will speak on the economic issues of health care development.
Also, to spread awareness of AIDS, SGAC and AMSA will be holding a World AIDS Day benefit, with the Executive Director of SGAC, Dr. Paul Zeitz, speaking. More details can be found on the organization's website.
"AMSA is not just talking about medical school but being active in the kinds of things you'll deal with as a doctor," said Dolgin.
Individuals interested in joining AMSA or Student Global AIDS Campaign can visit http://www.caseamsa.org or http://www.fightglobalaids.org.
