Medical Student Section Summer and Fall Activities

Executive Council Initiatives  |  Advocacy  |  Membership  |  Meetings  |  Awards  |  National Leadership  |  MSS Chapters  |  New Executive Council

Executive Council Initiatives
The 2005-2006 Executive Council set several goals this past year, one of which was to improve communication among medical students in the state. Consequently, the Executive Council conceived and designed Texas Student Doctor (TSD), the official e-newsletter of the Texas Medical Association Medical Student Section. Once a month, all TMA-MSS members receive an easy-to-navigate newsletter with TMA and American Medical Association news, meeting announcements, information about leadership opportunities, and member benefits, and much more! Overall, TSD has proven to be an enormous success for the section and fills the gap in communication experienced in previous years.

In addition to TSD, this year the TMA-MSS has been given the opportunity to have bi-monthly columns in Texas Medicine. Edited by TMA-MSS reporter Chirag Patel, the column has included guest columnists such as Brad Lancaster (on his thoughts on being the first voting member on the Board of Trustees), Scott Chaiet (on his experience in the American Medical Association Government Relations Internship Program), and Chirag Patel (on the medical student response to Hurricane Katrina) discussing issues of importance to medical students. Texas Medicine has served as a great tool to increase the profile of the Medical Student Section.

Advocacy
On the heels of a phenomenal student effort in support of Proposition 12 in 2003, Texas medical students turned their attention in 2005 to the issue of graduate medical education and the prospects of diminished funding for residency slots in the state. With the support of TEXPAC, approximately 100 medical students from across Texas converged in Austin on April 5, 2005, for First Tuesdays, an event sponsored by TEXPAC, specifically for medical students and residents. One medical school, Texas A&M College of Medicine, managed to bring a large portion of its first year class (60 students) to Austin for the event. First Tuesdays was a valuable experience in the art of lobbying and a great example of medical students taking the future of their profession into their own hands.

Membership
The 2005 TMA recruitment season proved to be a success for the Medical Student Section as medical student membership reached an all-time high in the state. As of Jan. 27, 2006, student membership in the Texas Medical Association was 4,494, a 130 student increase over the same time period in 2005. The Executive Council credits these numbers to effective recruitment drives by the various MSS chapters, including orientation week mixers with county medical societies.

With medical student membership in TMA doing well, attention turned this year to improving medical student membership in TEXPAC. Last fall, all chapter officers and TMA board, council, and committee representatives were sent letters co-signed by Jay Widmer, TEXPAC Executive Committee representative and Prateek Chaudhary, TMA-MSS chair encouraging them to join TEXPAC. TEXPAC also was invited to the Legislative Task Force at Winter Conference and hosted a student mixer afterwards.

Meetings
TMA Fall Summit 2005 brought over 70 students to the MSS business meeting, a record for the summit. The meeting also heralded introduction of the "MSS Issue Brief," new programming designed to educate medical students about current issues in health policy. The inaugural issue brief featured Ron Bassanger, MD, past president of California Medical Association and current member of the AMA Council on Medical Service. Dr. Bassanger graciously re-tooled his Dawn Duster session on Pay for Performance to the level of medical students and explained the implications of PFP on our future practices.

After a two year absence, Fall Summit saw the return of our MSS community service project. Under the leadership of TMA-MSS vice chair Marte Martinez, MSS participated in the American Heart Association Walk in downtown Austin and also passed out information on childhood obesity.

While TMA Winter Conference 2006 was dominated by Executive Council elections, one resolution calling for medical student voting privileges was passed as MSS policy and forwarded to the TMA House of Delegates at TexMed 2006.

Awards
At TMA Winter Conference 2006, the Executive Council chose The University of Texas Medical School at Houston as Chapter of the Year and Robert Bour, chapter president of Texas A&M College of Medicine, as Student of the Year. Bohn D. Allen, MD, also was selected recipient of the C. Frank Webber, MD, award. These awards will be officially presented at the TMA Annual Session at TexMed 2006.

National Leadership
The TMA-MSS continued its strong tradition of leadership at the national level. Scott Chaiet (Baylor College of Medicine) served as co-chair of the AMA-MSS Committee on Legislation and Advocacy. Scott also became the third Texas medical student in five years to serve a GRIP intern in the Washington, DC, office of the American Medical Association. Jason Etheridge (Texas A&M) served as co-chair of the AMA-MSS Ad Hoc Committee on Medical Education.

Other Texas members of AMA-MSS standing committees include: Macy Whitley (UNTHSC/TCOM) and HelenMari Williams (UNTHSC/TCOM), Community Service Committee; Lindsay Botsford (Baylor) and Chirag Patel (UT Houston), Committee on Long Range Planning; Gwendolyn Hoben (Baylor) and June Yowtak (UTMB), Committee on Scientific Issues; Rene Colorado (UT Houston), International Health Policy Committee; and Travis Bias (UNTHSC/TCOM), Committee on Medical Ethics.

With the AMA-MSS Interim Meeting in Dallas, several Texas medical students chose to play an active role in the conference by serving on AMA-MSS convention committees. Four Texas medical students were honored as part of the AMA-MSS Fourth Annual Research Poster Award: biochemistry/cell biology - Sriram Eleswarapu, Baylor College of Medicine; clinical/epidemiological/health care- Tanvir Hussain, Baylor College of Medicine; radiology/imaging - Neil Mascarenhas, Baylor College of Medicine; Surgery- Paul Dahm, UTSHC Medical School at Houston.

In Washington, DC, U.S. Rep. Michael C Burgess, MD, welcomed UT Southwestern medical student Jessica Nguyen Trong as his 2005-2006 health care congressional fellow. Jessica also will be the sole Texas recipient of the AMA Foundation Leadership Award in March 2006. 2005 winners from Texas included Prateek Chaudhary (UNTHSC/TCOM), Amit Nanavati (Texas A&M), and Chirag Patel (UT Houston).

MSS Chapters
The increased MSS budget has played a large role in improving programming at all eight Texas medical schools. Highlights include establishment of an economics of health care elective class at Texas A&M College of Medicine, organized by the TMA-MSS Chapter, and a cultural humility in medicine elective course at UT Houston. Several medical schools participated in the Texas Medical Association Foundation program Hard Hats for Little Heads and played an active role in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

New Executive Council
New Executive Council members were elected for 2006-2007 at Winter Conference 2006: Robert Bour (Texas A&M), chair; T.J. Seiter (UT Houston), vice chair; Andrew Hsu (UT San Antonio), reporter; Jessica Nguyen Trong (UT Southwestern) and Tim Trojan (UT Southwestern), TMA delegate co-leaders; Travis Bias (UNTHSC/TCOM) and Brad Faglie (A&M), AMA delegate co-leaders. The Executive Council chose Jason Etheredge (A&M) as AMA alternate delegate, Texas Delegation to the AMA, and Lindsay Botsford (Baylor) as the special appointee to the TMA Board of Trustees.

TMA House of Delegates: TexMed 2006