Sarah Kleinfeld
National Exchange Officer (NEO)
American Medical Student Association (AMSA)
International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA)

Day 3 was a busy day as well — it kicked off in the morning with another SCOPE session, regional meetings and trainings in the afternoon, followed by plenary in the evening.

Plenary is IFMSA’s version of AMSA’s House of Delegates. Each national member organization (NMO) is represented in plenary by their organization’s president or head of delegation. It’s really cool when you first experience it, because many times countries hang their flags on their table, giving it the feel of a medical student’s version of model UN. During roll call, its fun to hear all of the different countries represented, and many times students sitting in the back of the hall will do a country specific cheer when their country is called. Basically, all of IFMSA’s official business is conducted through plenaries, which are held each evening – bylaws are passed or suspended, reports and projects are approved, and candidates for IFMSA offices present their candidatures and are elected.

Some of the highlights from plenaries throughout the past few days include: presentation of an update on the status of March Meeting 2013, which is being hosted by AMSA in Washington, DC, Chile’s presentation of their candidature to host next year’s August Meeting, and, for me, the election of next year’s SCOPE director (one of the many IFMSA positions voted on). Marianne Koch (Austria), this year’s SCOPE Director has done amazing job, and I will be sad to see her go. I’m very excited for our new SCOPE Director-elect, David Arku (Ghana) — he was last year’s regional coordinator for Africa, and he has done a great job building up the exchange programs there! I’ve included a pic of plenaries below – enjoy!