Medical Student Division

Leadership Elections and Committees

Voting for AMWA Student Elections is currently closed for the 2023-2024 year.

For information on Committees, please scroll to the bottom of this page or visit the committees page to learn more about specific committees and working groups. AMWA national student members may be able to join committees and working groups at any point throughout the year. You can see our current leadership here. 

The following positions are voted upon by national student members each year.

 

All e-board members: All executive board members must be in medical school during the duration of their elected term (Annual Meeting marks the duration of elected term; March 2023 -March 2024). If you change your course of medical education, you will be removed from the AMWA Student Division Position. All e-board members are responsible for some participation in social media; short promotional video clips, repost/RT important events – i.e. annual meetings. Required monthly meetings with the executive board (1hr max); only 2 excused absences are accepted. 

 

Executive Positions

President-Elect (two year position)

Your president elect year is a learning year. You will sit on the board of directors, and take on a project of your choosing. As president-elect you also run elections for the following year’s leadership.

This position is responsible for coordinating the entire AMWA Student Division. This includes organizing elections, co-running monthly calls with the student leadership boards (with President; 2nd year), and participating in monthly Board of Director calls with the entire AMWA Board. You will also be responsible for organizing committees and taking lead on various AMWA initiatives. You are required to travel to all AMWA conferences and there may be opportunities to travel to other national medical conferences to represent AMWA. Attend National Liaison meetings, which occur monthly, when able. Your second year will be your Presidential year. 

Treasurer-Elect (two year position)

Your treasurer-elect year is one of learning.

This position is responsible for maintaining the AMWA budget and for reimbursing travel expenses, and awards. You will participate in the AMWA student executive committee, and the Awards committee and will have the opportunity to help shape the direction of the AMWA Student Division. You will be required to travel to AMWA conferences. Your second year will be your Treasurer year.

Secretary

The primary responsibility of the secretary is communications within the student division. You will send out the monthly Newsflash to all students, generally published by the 5th of each month. You will also coordinate all calls with national and regional directors and be responsible for taking notes during these calls. You will also be responsible for publishing the student newsletter onto the AMWA website. You will be a part of the AMWA executive committee and have an opportunity to help shape the direction of the AMWA Student Division.


Board Positions

Advocacy Chair

This position is responsible for organizing and reviewing applications for AMWA awards. AMWA gives out many monetary awards over the course of the year and you will be in charge of sending out applications for these awards and then creating a committee to review the applications. This position’s time commitment ebbs and flows. During the awards cycle you may have to spend a few hours a week reviewing awards, but there are weeks where you will not have to spend much time on this position. There is a Student Division Awards Committee, which can help you review the applications. 

Awards Chair

You will be responsible for reviewing applications for AMWA awards. AMWA gives out many monetary awards over the course of the year and you will be in charge of sending out applications for these awards and then creating a committee to review the applications. This position’s time commitment ebbs and flows. During the awards cycle you may have to spend a few hours a week reviewing awards, but there are weeks where you will not have to spend much time on this position.

External Relations

This position is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with other organizations’ student divisions such as the AMA, SOMA, and AMSA. Additionally, this position works with companies like Kaplan, Pastest, and more to help get benefits for AMWA members (i.e. discounts on test banks, etc.). You are responsible for updating the Memorandums of Understanding with all of the organizations we work with.

Global Health Chair

This position is responsible for overseeing the student Global Health fellowships that AMWA offers. You will be in charge of disseminating and reviewing applications, as well as allocating the funds and making sure that there is appropriate follow up from fellowship recipients.

 

Mentorship Chair

This position is a part of the Mentorship Committee and will work closely with a Chair from each AMWA division (premedical, resident & physician). You’re responsible for organizing mentorship programming such as bimonthly webinars, discussion calls and activities at the annual conference. You also help members utilize the Mentorship Database so they can form mentor-mentee relationships. The committee works as a team to generate new content and connect with speakers for the webinars. The medical student chair is responsible for monitoring ongoing projects and scheduling webinars, discussions, and planning calls. If you have ideas for additional mentorship initiatives the Mentorship Committee gladly works with you to implement new ideas.

Philanthropy/Fundraising Chair

This position helps organize an annual clothing fundraiser where we sell AMWA apparel. This position also helps develop service projects for AMWA members to participate in at conferences. There is also an opportunity for developing your own service project to have AMWA members participate in. For instance, this year our Philanthropy chair led a toiletry drive where interviewing students collected toiletries to donate.

Programming Chair

This position oversees and helps develop AMWA specific programming. For example, you will be responsible for maintaining AMWA’s bed and breakfast program as well as the Mentorship Program with the premedical division. Be One, Teach One program that helps AMWA branches do outreach in local communities. This position offers tremendous room for growth and innovation. If there is a program or a cause that you are passionate about, you can use this position to try and implement a new program for AMWA.

Recruitment Chair

This position is responsible for increasing AMWA membership. You will send information out to schools that do not have branches and will be in charge of approving new branches when they submit applications. You will also help spearhead recruitment of students to join AMWA. You will also serve on the Membership Committee and have an opportunity to help shape the direction of the AMWA Student Division.

Research Chair

This position is responsible for evaluating requests for AMWA Student Division to help participate in research, whether through the distribution of surveys or other forms of participation. You will review requests: double check that the requesting student is a National Student Member, evaluate whether or not the purpose of the study is in line with the mission and values of AMWA, and evaluate whether the the participation request is a reasonable ask of AMWA members. You are also responsible for facilitating a community of research within AMWA, through at least one event per year that connects AMWA members interested in research. This could include a panel for premedical students interested in applying to combined medical and research programs, a workshop for medical students on abstract writing, a joint project with the Mentorship Chair to connect medical students within physician-scientist doctors within AMWA, or other event of your choosing.

Social Media Chair

This position is responsible for overseeing the @AMWAStudents twitter account and student content provided to the @AMWAdoctors instagram account. You will attend regular AMWA Social Media Committee meetings, and be in charge of the med student division’s social media team. This year, the social media committee expanded to support the Chair’s need; ultimately it is your decision how many committee members you would like to take on to support your role. You will also create (and/or delegate them to team members) canva graphics within the branding guidelines. You are responsible for ensuring regular engagement in our social media, in particular twitter. We are in the process of starting an  AMWA Student Division Instagram; content and engagement would fall under this role.

Conference Co-Chair (2 year position)

This position is responsible for organizing student programming at AMWA conferences. You will help organize poster sessions by reviewing abstracts as well as organizing seminars, workshops, and speaker series. You will also be in charge of allocating AMWA travel funding to students traveling to the conference. One conference co-chair will be elected each year


Regional Directors

Applicants must be from the region to apply for director.

Regional Directors (9 total; 1 per region, 1 year term): This position is responsible for overseeing all of the AMWA branches in your region. You are expected to keep an updated list of branches and have frequent contact with branch presidents about what is going on in AMWA. You will also plan a regional conference (with some funding help from AMWA) that will take place in August-December, 2023. While the conference needs to support AMWA’s mission of advancing women in medicine, you will have the opportunity to design and coordinate a conference that is meaningful to you and the other branches in your region. You may also work with the pre-med regional directors to set up mentorship and shadowing programs.  Visit this page to learn how the regions are organized, and explore Region webpages.


AMWA Committees and Task Forces

AMWA Committees are comprised of physician, resident, medical student, and pre-medical student members who are dedicated to educating and advocating about specific topics. Some committees may be led be a student chair. Committees usually meet monthly. Any national student member may join a committee at any point throughout the year, and committee membership may extend beyond one year depending on project needs and interest. For a full list of AMWA committees, please visit this page. The committees below are actively recruiting for student members:

Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) Task Force

The American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) Task Force was created to recognize the significant impact of gun violence on communities across the country, and the considerable medical repercussions of gun violence. The tolls that gun violence take on our communities need to be addressed as a public health issue using evidence-based approaches. With over 5000 women physician members and a presence in over 100 medical schools throughout the country, AMWA is uniquely positioned to work toward the following missions:
  • Listening to community needs for environmental justice: To attend listening tours across the country to support a safe and nurturing environment for all
  • Clinical education on gun violence as a public health issue: To create and deliver content for medical education on gun violence as a physical and psychiatric medical issue
  • Legislative advocacy for equitable prevention: To advocate for gun violence prevention policies and the increase in funding for research into gun violence
You can read more here. Get involved with our GVP Task Force! If you are interested in joining the task force, please email us at gunviolencesolutions@amwa-doc.org. Follow us on Twitter @AMWAGVTF, or on Facebook as the American Medical Womens Association Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.

Gender Equity Committee

The American Medical Women’s Association Gender Equity Task Force (AMWA GETF) strives to accomplish gender equity as a fact of life in society, and to engage in activities, action and collaborations pursuant to this goal, beginning with the healthcare industry of which women physicians are one component. If you are interested in learning more, please feel free to join one of our meetings on the first Tuesday of the month at 5PM PST. You can email our administrative assistant directly to be placed on the email list: admin@amwa-doc.org.