Throughout this academic year, The Rider will explore the student organizations at UTRGV. This is the 11th in our series. The Rider interviewed Felipe Diaz, president of the American Medical Student Association, for information.
President: Felipe Diaz
Vice President: Alondra Ledezma
Secretary: Tabitha Abraham
Treasurer: Alessa Ramirez
Fundraising Coordinator: Karla Petrovich-Mar
National Liaison: Pavani Manam
Public Relations Officer: Anais Mendiola
Adviser: Lecturer II Marguerite Dewitt and Dr. Gustavo Stern, director of Office of Health Professions Careers
What does your organization do? “It’s a national organization and the chapter here is a pre-med one. … [It’s] more geared towards providing volunteer opportunities for the students. And, we’re trying to get them scholarships through Kaplan so that they can have better test prep materials, but for the most part we’re all really big about community. … Two of the bigger events we do that we’re trying to do again this semester is the Autism Awareness Day and the health fair. … We also help out with the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. We help out with nursing homes. … We also bring in guest speakers … to speak about their medical practice experience.”
What are the requirements? “It’s a pre-med chapter, I would say it’s more geared to health care professions, not exactly pre-med. … To be a national member, you have to pay a $75 fee to be registered with AMSA National. To participate here in UTRGV, we don’t really make them pay, but we won’t keep track of their volunteer hours at all. … And, you can’t say you’re part of AMSA on your résumé or medical school application, unless you pay that fee.”
Meetings: Biweekly, 2 to 3 p.m. Fridays in BMSLC 1.111
Email: amsa.utrgv@gmail.com
–Compiled by Jorge Abundiz
