Timothy Fernandez and Kathie HiersThe UAB School of Medicine hosted medical students from 4 states Feb. 20-22 for the American Medical Association-Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS) Region IV meeting.The conference theme “Healthcare Disparities and Cultural Competency,” called for medical students to recognize the myriad barriers individuals across different ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups can face in accessing medical care.
“The Liaison Committee on Medical Education has called attention to the shortage of medical curricula addressing health disparities, so we planned this year’s theme and activities to raise awareness and invoke ideas in the medical students that will help eliminate inequities in health care quality,” said Timothy Fernandez, vice chair for the AMA-MSS Southeast Region and second-year medical student at UAB. “We wanted to bring those health disparities into light and hope the students who came to this conference can apply what they learned into their outside curricula and their lives as future physicians.”
The event’s keynote speaker was Kathie Hiers, CEO of AIDS Alabama and leading public policy advocate for individuals with HIV and AIDS. Other speakers in Saturday morning’s session included Paul O’Leary, M.D., chair of the Young Physicians Section of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama; Samuel Mackenzie, a medical student member of the AMA Board of Trustees; and Nicole Redmond, M.D., MPH, assistant professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine at UAB.
The afternoon included sutchering and ultrasound workshops hosted by the students from South Carolina; a session about student loans; and a breakout session on LGBTQ cultural competencies led by Nicholas Van Wagoner, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases. Fernandez said the students also partnered with Equal Access Birmingham for a community service project, providing health screenings for homeless and uninsured individuals at Alethia House in Birmingham.Approximately 50 students from medical schools in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida attended the region meeting. Fernandez said winter weather in Tennessee and North Carolina left students from those states unable to attend.
The AMA-MSS is dedicated to representing medical students, improving medical education, developing leadership and promoting activism for the health of America. The student AMA chapter at the School of Medicine has between 200-300 members, with student members representing the school at the regional, state and national levels.