History of the American Medical Student Association

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) was founded in 1950, as the Student American Medical Association (SAMA), under the auspices of the American Medical Association (AMA). The main purpose of the organization was to provide medical students a chance to participate in organized medicine.

The late 1960's saw dramatic changes in the organization's objectives and philosophy and in 1967 SAMA cut ties from the AMA and became independent and student-governed. The organization began to take a stand on more socio-medical issues, such as civil rights, universal health care and Vietnam.

SAMA quickly became a leader in medical education reform. In 1968, the SAMA Joint Commission on Medical Education, made up of students and medical educators, proposed numerous reforms and model curricula to make medical education more responsive to community needs. SAMA also helped to introduce the original Family Practice Act of 1970 and testified in support of legislation establishing and later expanding the National Health Service Corps.

In 1975, the organization changed its name to the American Medical Student Association, in order to clarify its separation from the AMA. It also saw the election of the first woman president.

In 1977, AMSA and the AMSA Foundation, the programming arm of the organization were reorganized under the leadership of its emeritus executive director, Paul R. Wright. The same year, national president became a full-time elected position. In 1978, the organization moved the national office to Washington, D.C. and later appointed its first full-time legislative affairs director in order to strengthen their leadership in the health care field.

The AMSA HEAL Deal, introduced by the AMSA Foundation in 1986, was the first discounted Health Education Assistance Loan program available to medical students on a national basis. This led to competition for student loans and a rapid decrease in interest rates for medical students borrowing to attend school.

AMSA has long been committed to training primary care physicians. Starting with the Appalachian Health Project in the 1970's and continuing with the Generalist Physicians in Training program (GPIT) in 1992, AMSA focused on developing a community-responsive physician work force and increasing the number of medical school graduates entering primary care fields. At its peak, GPIT had more than 9,000 students participating in the program.

AMSA has developed strong international health interests as well. In the 1970's, AMSA led study tours to Cuba and China. In 1986, with the help of the Pew Memorial Trust and the "We are the World" Save Africa Rock Group effort, AMSA developed the first international consortium of medical schools for exchanging and training physicians in Nigeria, Ghana, Colombia, and Mexico.

In 1995, AMSA helped convince the National Resident Matching Program to change the Match algorithm in favor of students. In addition, AMSA succeeded in calling for full contract disclosure from residency programs before signing students on to the Match, and in calling for additional student representation on the NRMP Board of Directors.

For more than 57 years, AMSA has represented the voice of physicians-in-training in their efforts to best serve the public. There are four strategic priorities that the 68,000 AMSA members focus their activism: eliminating health disparities, advocating for diversity in medicine, transforming the culture of medicine and fighting for universal access to health care. AMSA's action committees and interest groups expose students to information on subjects not generally covered in traditional curricula.

AMSA remains a leader in the campaign for resident work hour reform-authoring the Patient and Physician Safety and Protection Act of 2005, introduced by ex-Senator Jon Corzine (S. 1297) and Representative John Conyers (H.R.1228). In 2002, AMSA launched the PharmFree Campaign to educate and train our members to professionally and ethically interact with the pharmaceutical industry. AMSA has also sponsored events around universal health care, global HIV/AIDS, medical student debt and technology in medicine.

AMSA local chapters continue to reach out to serve the health needs of their communities. Annually, local chapters contribute over one million hours of community service. The annual convention is the largest gathering of medical students and regularly draws an attendance of more than 1,700 physicians-in-training, medical educators and health policy innovators.

AMSA continues to search for new and innovative ways to improve health care, health-care delivery and medical education.