Pre-med group holds meeting on campus

In an effort to provide more opportunities to pre-medical school students, the University's pre-med chapter of the American Medical Student Association met Wednesday night to discuss local volunteer efforts and the establishment of a series of AMSA task forces. The meeting, which was held in the Smith-Penniman room of Houston Hall, began with medical students from area medical schools describing their volunteer community out-reach programs. The medical students from the University, Thomas Jefferson University and Temple University said they needed help from pre-med volunteers in areas such as health clinics at Philadelphia soup kitchens, teaching AIDS awareness and "Adopt-a-Grandparent" programs. Students said they welcome these types of opportunities. "The medical students have so much energy and enthusiasm about getting pre-meds involved in activities," said Engineering senior Judy Chou. "[There were] a lot of opportunities I never would of thought about," said College junior Priti Bhansali. The other program beginning this year creates 12 "task forces," each coordinated by University students, to promote awareness of health related issues. The task forces will work toward bringing speakers to campus, setting up booths for the homeless and developing position papers for use in congressional lobbying. These two programs were designed to give opportunities to University undergraduates not previously offered, AMSA officials said. "[The programs] give people the opportunity to learn more about health care issues rather than just volunteering at HUP," Chou said. Coordinator of Community Health Task Force Christine Boulos, a College freshman, said she likes how the new programs focus on community involvement. "[The programs] are good because I can mix community service and the medical association." The University's 260 member pre-med AMSA chapter was created just last year by College of General Studies student Anu Sharma. "I went to the AMSA conference in Boston and it was very inspiring," she said. "I basically said, 'Gosh, as a pre-med you can really learn a lot,' So I started this chapter." Sharma said she is very excited because the Student Activities Council has recently decided to fund the chapter. "It gives pre-med students the chance to get to know medical students, get involved in projects and learn about things going on across the country," she added.

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