Conference for Students Underrepresented in Medicine to Attract a Diverse Crowd
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. About 150 medical and pre-medical students from 10 Midwest states are expected to 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.
The conference with the theme of “Medicine at the Crossroads: Finding Your Direction” will feature a series of workshops on standardized test preparation, clinical skills, global health and leadership in medicine. William Hines, MD, a 1984 graduate of the MU School of Medicine and St. Louis family practice physician, will present the opening keynote address on Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Hampton Inn & Suites. Gary Forsee, UM System President, and Robert Churchill, MD, dean of MU’s School of Medicine, will welcome students at the physician mentoring breakfast at 8 a.m. Oct. 31 in Memorial Union’s Stotler Lounge. Ellis Ingram, MD, associate professor of pathology and anatomical sciences and long-time SNMA adviser, will be the breakfast keynote speaker.
Conrad Fischer, MD, an infectious diseases specialist, chair of medicine for Kaplan Medical test preparation programs and author of the new book “Routine Miracles,” will conduct seminars that help medical students prepare for their board exams. At 10:30 a.m. Oct. 31 in Jesse Wrench Auditorium, S107, Fischer will participate in a health care reform panel alongside Lanis Hicks, PhD, MU professor of health management and informatics, and Ingrid Taylor, MD, a St. Louis family practice physician and president and CEO of Allies in Healthcare, LLC.
“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,” Ingram said. “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.”
Fourth-year MU medical student Kene Chukwuanu, 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 wilsonkleekampt@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/.
