Welcome to the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) premedical website! At this point, you have taken the first step towards enriching your journey to medical school, and beyond.
Please allow me to introduce myself: My name is Amanda Barbeau, and I am your premedical trustee for 2009-2010. This position carries with it dual responsibilities. As your premedical trustee, I work with the premed regional directors (PRD’s) to ensure you are staying plugged in to AMSA and all of its spectacular opportunities; I’m here to provide you with the support you need to see your projects/goals come to fruition, cultivate networking, and address any questions/concerns you may have regarding AMSA. Furthermore, I serve on the Board of Trustees (BOT) – AMSA’s governing body – representing the AMSA premedical caucus.
Outside of my involvement with national AMSA, I graduated from the University of California, Davis (UCD) with a double major in neurobiology/physiology/& behavior, and psychology. I became involved with AMSA my freshman year, and continued on at the local level as a chapter officer. Additionally, I’ve been involved with research at the UCD Emergency Department, and the UC Davis M.I.N. D. Institute. Throughout my time as an undergraduate, I worked as a behavioral therapist, implementing techniques rooted in Applied Behavior Analysis, discrete trials, and incidental teaching for children with Autism. Currently, I am pursuing my Masters in Public Health at Boston University. Here in Boston, I continue my work with AMSA and its strategic priorities as premedical trustee, as I enjoy my full time coursework and prepare for medical school.
As a premedical student, I challenge you to look past the never ending black and white words of your textbooks, past the denaturing-gradient gel electrophoresis and multiplex genomic DNA amplification of bench research, and beyond the daunting yet inevitable preparation for the MCAT. I challenge you to peer forward into the human experience of medicine. I challenge you to prepare yourself to be a physician that doesn’t just treat the disease, but also treats the patient; a physician not just confronting the pathology, but confronting the system within which we operate, and it’s efficacy for patient care.
AMSA is much more than its strategic priorities – it’s patient safety with our Health Justice Fellow; it’s leadership development through the AMSA academy; it’s social activism through our action committee projects; it’s using your political rights to speak out against injustices by lobbying on capitol hill; it’s international experience and connection through the International Federation of Medical Student Associations; and, it’s you! AMSA and its 62,000 members across the nation provide a collectivist approach to medicine and health. AMSA is governed for students, by students. You are what has made, and will continue to make AMSA what it is today. Join me in setting the course for AMSA’s future, today.