MU School of Medicine to Host Fall Conference for Underrepresented Medical Students
Student National Medical Association invites others from a 10-state region
The University of Missouri School of Medicine chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) will host the organization’s regional conference from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 2009. Medical and pre-medical students from 10 states will attend. The SNMA is the nation’s oldest and largest independent student organization dedicated to students underrepresented in medicine. More than 8,000 medical students, pre-medical students and physicians nationwide are members.
“To have pre-medical and medical students here from all the states in our region invited to a conference hosted by our SNMA chapter is incredible,” said Ellis Ingram, MD, associate professor of pathology and anatomical sciences and long-time SNMA adviser. “It’s going to be a huge boost to our recruitment efforts, not just at the medical school, but throughout the University of Missouri Health System.”
Members of the MU SNMA chapter, with the support of the medical school, have been planning the conference for over a year, said fourth-year medical student Kene Chukwuanu. The conference will offer mentoring opportunities, clinical skills workshops, seminars on topics such as health reform, leadership in medicine, and global health, as well as concurrent sessions to appeal to the unique interests of medical and pre-medical students.
click play button to start
Chukwuanu, also the SNMA director over the region, said he hopes the conference will offer students on a larger scale what he has received from the organization over the years – valuable information, mentorship and camaraderie.
“We’re viewing these students as potential doctors to contribute to medicine in Missouri and beyond,” said Traci Wilson-Kleekamp, diversity coordinator for medical education at MU. “The physician shortage demonstrates we need more doctors, but we also need more doctors that represent the people they’re treating.”
Missouri is one of 10 member states in SNMA Region II. Students interested in medical careers from the other regional member states – Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming – are welcomed to attend the fall conference. For more information, please contact Wilson-Kleekamp at (573) 884-2472 or kleekampt@health.missouri.edu.
The SNMA was established in 1964 by medical students from Howard University College of Medicine and Meharry Medical School. For more information about the SNMA, visit http://www.snma.org/.
