Medical Student Groups

The American Medical Women’s Association is an organization that functions at the local, national, and international level to advance women in medicine and improve women’s health.

The UC Irvine chapter of the American Medical Women's Association is dedicated to:

• Building a strong network of physicians, residents and medical students who provide a supportive environment for professional growth
• Advancing women in medicine and improving women’s health by addressing recurring issues in female advancement in the professional setting
• Raising awareness of health disparities in the female population
• Providing and developing leadership, advocacy, education and mentoring among our members

Our past events include "Women in Medicine" panel events and workshops on "How to Succeed During Rotations."

Join us

Are you interested in advocating for women against gender discrimination in the workplace? Are you passionate about women's health and raising awareness of health disparities and disease prevention? Are you seeking a mentor to guide you through this crazy journey we call medical school? Are you interested in networking and creating lasting friendships with inspiring female physicians and fellow medical students within the School of Medicine? If so, this is the group for you!

To join the national AMWA organization, you must register in August or September at https://www.amwa-doc.org/students/#. The cost is $50 for all four years of medical school.

Membership benefits include:

• Scholarships and grants
• Global health opportunities
• National board member positions
• Networking opportunities and mentorships
• AMWA national conference presentations
• Advocacy initiatives
• A bed-and-breakfast program for traveling during conferences
• Residency interviews
• A free Kaplan eBook of your choosing through Kaplan, plus 15 percent off Kaplan materials

Questions?

For more information, email Jamie Temko at jtemko@uci.edu or Savannah Gonzales at savannmg@uci.edu. 

The Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association (APAMSA) is a national organization of medical and pre-med students who are committed to addressing the unique health challenges of Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) communities.

APAMSA serves as a forum for student leaders to engage in studying these health issues and developing initiatives and projects to address those needs. Local, regional and national activities of APAMSA aim to promote the health of the APIA community and help healthcare workers understand how to care for APIA patients in a culturally sensitive manner.

We offer an important venue for medical students to meet, exchange experiences and develop personally and professionally through leadership and service.

Community outreach

We are associated with Asian Pacific Liver Center, a nonprofit organization that conducts hepatitis B screenings among various APIA populations across Southern California.

We are hosting the first annual Community Health Fair in collaboration with Filipino Americans in Medicine, with a goal of providing free health screenings and follow-up care for underserved Filipino communities in Southern California.

We have also conducted various health fairs for the Vietnamese community and organized professional development opportunities, such as panels and mentorship programs, for undergraduate campus organizations that include Alpha Epsilon Delta and the undergraduate chapter of APAMSA.

Questions?

For more information, email Brandon Chin at bschin@uci.edu  or Lily Hui at lhui2@uci.edu. 

The mission of Doctors for Diversity (D4D) is to make an impact in the lives of underserved youth by being positive role models who teach age-appropriate human biology, promote higher education and strive to spark curiosity about the world of medicine.

We are an outreach group working under the UC Irvine School of Medicine’s chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA).

Since 2008, members of D4D have worked closely with students at Bryant Elementary School in Long Beach. Now we are launching a pipeline program with a second school, Jefferson Leadership Academies, a neighboring middle school in Long Beach.

Questions?

For more information, please email Danielle Brabender at dbrabend@uci.edu or Hyder Said at saidh1@uci.edu. 

eQuality is a medical student group whose mission is to provide support, clinical and leadership opportunities for students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA), as well as to reach out to these underserved communities.

We have incorporated LGBTQIA panels as part of the mandatory curriculum for Clinical Foundations in the first and second years of medical school. We have organized clinic opportunities for medical students to shadow physicians at the Metamorphosis Transgender Clinic, which provides hormone therapy and other healthcare services for the transgender community.

We also have taken a leadership role as part of the planning committee for the annual Southern California LGBT Health Conference, which is organized each year by the region's LGBTQIA medical students.

Each quarter, we also organize socials with faculty members to encourage mentorship and networking with LGBTQIA physicians, as well as socials with organizations from other campus professional schools, such as OutLaw in the UC Irvine School of Law.

Questions?

For more information, please email Anders Waalen at awaalen@uci.edu. 

Filipino Americans in Medicine (FAIM) is an organization of Filipino-American medical students, undergraduate students and healthcare providers affiliated with UC Irvine.

Our mission is to provide mentorship to pre-med undergraduate students in the UC Irvine Pilipino Pre-health Undergraduate Student Organization (PUSO) and Kababayan. We also aim to educate ourselves and our medical student peers about culturally sensitive healthcare issues affecting the Filipino community, to provide health services to the Filipino community in Irvine and the greater Southern California region, and to establish a strong network of physicians, residents, medical students and undergraduates who will provide support and guidance throughout their professional careers.

We work in partnership with various community-based organizations, including the Filipino Migrant Center, Filipino American Health Workers Association, Seafood City Supermarket, Jollibee and the Filipino American Community of Orange County.

Our faculty mentor is Dr. Cherry Uy, a specialist in neonatal/perinatal medicine at UC Irvine Medical Center. Our research mentor is Lorraine Evangelista, PhD, RN, professor in the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing.

FAIM has presented research on "Evaluating the Association between Obesity and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Filipinos" at various conferences, including the Network of Ethnic Physicians Organization Building Healthy Community Summit 2016 and the national APAMSA conference.

FAIM also has:

• Conducted medical student panels for various Fil-Am undergrad organizations in the region, including UCI PUSO and UCLA PCH
• Coordinated annual health fairs for the Filipino community
• Hosted guest speakers to talk about healthcare issues relevant to Filipinos in the United States and abroad
• Provided medical school application workshops for PUSO's annual pre-health conference, which is open to all undergraduate student organizations across Southern California

In partnership with American Heart Association, FAIM also has launched bimonthly health screenings at local Seafood City Supermarkets, screening customers for hypertension, obesity and risk for cardiovascular disease.

For more information, contact Patrick Penalosa at ppenalos@uci.edu or Chrisleen Casem at ccasem@uci.edu.

The Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) is a network of students, alumni and health professionals whose mission is to recruit and support individuals in the healthcare professions who will strive to improve the access and delivery of healthcare to Latinos and medically underserved populations.

We achieve these goals by mentoring and encouraging the next generation of healthcare professionals so that they can succeed in their journey, and by living and leading by example to best serve our communities.

The UC Irvine School of Medicine chapter of LMSA holds mentorship sessions for pre-medical students, undergraduates, high school, middle school and elementary school students. We also host a Pre-Medical Conference each November, which draws hundreds of students and healthcare providers from across Southern California to share experiences, learn and make one another stronger.

We also actively promote:

• The development of a communication network for medical, pre-medical and health professional students who are interested in serving the medically underserved
• Interests of medical, pre-medical and health professional students that will lead to improving healthcare for underserved communities
• Healthcare policy education that affects underserved communities
• Educational enrichment programs for the recruitment of medical school applicants
• Collaborations with other organizations committed to the improvement of healthcare delivery for underserved communities
• The academic success and support of students dedicated to improving healthcare services to underserved populations

For more information, contact Marlene Torres at mstorres@uci.edu or Carina Mireles-Romo at cmireles@uci.edu.

The Orange County Needle Exchange Program is a nonprofit operation founded and run by UC Irvine medical students.

The program, which won certification by the state Department of Public Health, is operated solely by volunteers to provide clean needles in exchange for dirty ones once a week in downtown Santa Ana. The goal is to reduce the spread of HIV, hepatitis C and other diseases that can be transmitted when injection drug users share needles.

Program volunteers, who include UC Irvine medical students and undergraduate students, provide:

• Access to clean syringes
• Disposal of used syringes
• On-site HIV and hepatitis C testing
• Referrals to health, housing and treatment services, if requested
• Other harm reduction and safer-sex supplies and information

View the program website ›

For more information, please contact Kyle Barbour at kyle.barbour@uci.edu, Miriam McQuade at mcquadem@uci.edu or Kelley Butler at kabutler@uci.edu.

The UC Irvine School of Medicine chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is committed to supporting current and future underrepresented minority medical students, addressing the needs of underserved communities and increasing the number of clinically excellent, culturally competent and socially conscious physicians.

SNMA chapters based at allopathic and osteopathic medical schools throughout the nation — and some colleges — implement programs and activities locally that are designed to serve the health needs of underserved communities and communities of color.

In addition, SNMA is dedicated to ensuring that medical education and services are culturally sensitive to the needs of diverse populations as well as to increasing the number of African-American, Latino and other students of color who enter and complete medical school.

Our goals

SNMA strives to:

• Serve as a credible, accurate source of information relevant to minority issues in the field of medical education
• Encourage and foster the development of minority faculty in order to increase the presence of minority mentors and biomedical researchers in academic health centers
• Evaluate and cultivate necessary measures to eradicate practices in the field of health profession education that compromise the goal of providing quality education to minorities and women

For more information, contact Manmeet "Monty" Sehdev at sehdevm@uci.edu or Kelley Butler at kabutler@uci.edu.