ECU student organization hosts pre-med conference for underrepresented, minority students
Underrepresented and minority high school, college and recently graduated college students had an opportunity to learn about medical school and the admissions process during a pre-medical conference hosted by the Brody School of Medicine’s Student National Medical Association Chapter.
The annual SNMA Pre-Medical Conference, held Nov. 16 at the Brody School of Medicine, aimed to “diversify the face of medicine” by providing access to activities and seminars that could help prepare the underrepresented and minority students for pursuing careers in medicine.
The Association of American Medical Colleges considers students from minority groups, African-American, Native American and Hispanic or Latino, “underrepresented in medicine.”
The Brody chapter of SNMA provides a support system for the current and future underrepresented minority medical students, addressing the needs of underserved communities and advancing the number of clinically excellent, culturally competent and socially conscious physicians.
The 2019 conference doubled the number of participants from the previous year who hailed from throughout North Carolina. The event featured activities and seminars including multiple simulations, college and medical student panels, mock interviews, MCAT workshops and an admissions session.
Simone Boney, vice president of Brody’s SNMA chapter, said she wanted the students to be able to “know that they can do it” and see individuals that looked like them in medicine after leaving the conference.
“One of the reasons why I became interested in medicine is because I had a health careers club at my school and I was able to learn a little bit about different health professions so for me it means a lot to be able to provide work and mentorship to kids,” said Boney, who is also the chair of the pre-medical conference’s planning committee.
Milton Bond is the director of the Brody RISE program which is a pre-college program providing “academic enrichment” and “exposure” for participants to various health care backgrounds. Bond said the event reflects the goals and values of Brody’s mission in “working to recruit underserved and underrepresented students to a career in medicine.”
Participants of the Brody School of Medicine’s Student National Medical Association Pre-medical conference participate in a simulation lab session on Nov. 16, 2019. (Photo by Janiya Winchester)
“Events like this are important because they, in relation to my job and what I do at Brody, is directly related to the pipeline work,” Bond said. “It’s important because they get to see representations of themselves in these individuals. I think it’s hugely beneficial, the pipeline, pathway and outreach work that Brody does and that SNMA does.”
First-time pre-medical conference participants, like ECU sophomore Ishani Shelat, enjoyed learning about the different parts of the body and dissection from the anatomy labs at the conference.
“I would say that before I came here I was kind of confused about what I wanted to do and I think coming here opened up a lot of different scopes of the medical field that I didn’t really know about especially rotations, how a day is in the life of student so it kind of pushed me towards medical school more than ever before,” she said.
ECU sophomore Arvind Rajan says the “sense of community” stood out the most at the conference.
“So far I’ve been able to take away a lot of knowledge just about the practical parts about medical school like the application process and the things you need to get in,” he said. “I’ve been able to see the passions of people already in the field and it is serving as what I want to be when I’m a physician or when I’m in medical school.”
-by Janiya Winchester, University Communications