“Our profession today is facing a crisis; not because we don’t have the skills, nor the resources, but because politics has entered the exam room.”
– Avanthi Jayaweera, MD, Graduate Trustee
AMSA Board of Trustees
– Avanthi Jayaweera, MD, Graduate Trustee
AMSA Board of Trustees
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Fall 2024 & Winter 2025
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Ten scholarships are available to U.S. premedical and medical students who are AMSA members to present posters on abortion care related to reproductive justice, research, curriculum and training experiences, advocacy, etc. during
SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION DEADLINE
March 25, 2024, at 11:59pmPT
All project posters presented must have a US focus or context. Scholarships will cover conference registration as well provide a $600 stipend for travel and hotel. Click here for general Poster Session details, deadlines and poster abstract and size requirements.
For more information email Dr. Jeff Koetje at jkoetje@amsa.org
and Dr. Aliye Runyan at arunyan@amsa.org
AMSA’s Reproductive Health Mentorship Sprint is a program designed to match med students interested in reproductive health with their repro expert counterparts for a series of one-on-one discussions. The “sprint” is designed to connect experts to students who have an emerging interest in abortion care and reproductive health, in a format that doesn’t ask too much of two individuals with extremely busy lives.
Applications are open now for AMSA medical student members, and for reproductive health professionals willing to volunteer as mentors. Learn more here!
AMSA has a rich history with medical school scorecards. In 2007, AMSA launched the first PharmFree Scorecard to assess medical schools’ policies on conflicts of interest. This scorecard gained nationwide traction and brought awareness to the influence pharmaceutical and medical device industries have on medical trainees.
The AMSA Reproductive Health Project will assess U.S. medical schools on the presence or lack of training on reproductive health and abortion skills; including lectures, clinical skills, and elective rotations or externships offered for students wishing to pursue obstetrics and family medicine specialties. Our goal is to see this assessment project serve as a guide for medical schools to ensure trainees more experience in abortion and reproductive health. Abortion is part of reproductive health care; medical schools should provide full-spectrum reproductive health, obstetrical, and gynecological training. For more information email arunyan@amsa.org.
Program Description:
Developed in partnership between the AMSA Reproductive Health Project and the RJ Med Ed Project of the University of Michigan Medical School, this virtual elective for U.S. and international medical students (in particular, medical students pursuing family medicine or ob/gyn) will center Reproductive Justice (RJ) as a human-rights framework for exploring topics related to reproductive health and abortion care, including approaches to RJ-informed and trauma-informed patient care. The course will present reproductive health education with a focus on the interconnections of power, privilege, oppression, and resistance. Students will engage with critical social theories – including Critical Race Theory, Intersectional Feminism, and Queer Theory – to explore, interrogate, and reflect on the complex sociocultural, medico-legal, and politico-economic context of sexual and reproductive health.
The program is grounded in a pedagogy of liberatory education (Paulo Freire; bell hooks), and in a commitment to practicing an ethics of Love-centered educational care for adult learners that help us create and sustain deeper relationships within intentional communities.
This course will cover healthcare delivery including family planning and abortion care in a post-Roe reality. Even though this is a non-clinical elective, we will significantly incorporate approaches to patient care that are loving and affirmative of the universal human right to bodily autonomy, agency, and dignity, with a focus on correcting and repairing medicine’s ethical failures to honor the bodily autonomy, agency, and dignity of women and femme people generally, and especially Indigenous and Black women, and queer and trans people.
Themes & Topics:
We are excited to share we’ve designed a new format that features monthly live and on-demand sessions, advocacy & clinical skills-building, one-on-one mentoring and coaching, along with on-site special networking and action opportunities at AMSACon 2023 in Phoenix, AZ.
Calling Repro Freedom Dreamers & Doers!
The “WHY”
The late civil rights activist, Toni Cade Bambara, once said, “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” At a time when authoritarian and fascist movements in the US are organizing to reverse more than 60 years of gains in human and civil rights, we – those of us on the side of freedom, truth, and beauty – must present a compelling and irresistible vision for collective liberation, freedom, and flourishing. Too often, the side of freedom fails to convey what we are actually for, because we speak so frequently about what we are against. But merely speaking against things does not a movement make! At least, not one that is grounded in joyful community, embodied connection, and deep resolve to keep fighting for what is right and good.
This year’s Abortion Care & Reproductive Health Institute will help future physicians lead with positive values that point to a better world for us all. The Institute will be an exploration of what it means to say that “hope is not a feeling, it is a discipline” in light of the very serious and harmful attacks against reproductive health, rights, and justice that we are experiencing in the US — including the egregious reversal of the constitutional protection to the right to abortion care. For as much as it is necessary to boldly step up and say “No!” to these ongoing attacks, it is equally necessary that we tell and embody a counternarrative that invites and draws people into the vital and creative work of building the world we actually dream of.
So, if you are a future physician who is also a Reproductive Freedom Dreamer and Doer, this Institute might be for you!
READ MORE…
Claiming a deep connection to the tactic of teach-ins for racial and gender justice during the Civil Rights era and to end the Vietnam War, we are intentionally embracing education as the practice of freedom (bell hooks), and using these teach-ins as an opportunity to advance liberatory learning for future physicians.
Starting in mid-March and running through the end of May, this new online program will provide a series of topic-based teach-ins addressing abortion care and related issues within the realm of reproductive health, rights, and justice. Series topics will be focused around 3 different themes:
Each teach-in series will offer small groups of students an opportunity to engage with movement advocates, thought-leaders, and subject matter experts in dialogue that bridges knowledge and reflection with organizing and taking action for change. Students will engage in a mix of on-your-own and virtual live-group learning experiences. Group sessions will be held on Monday – Thursday evenings Eastern Time.
Registration for Spring 2024 is now closed – Sign up Here for info on upcoming programs
For more information please email rhp@amsa.org
These Career Pathways in Family Planning Teach-Ins delve into the many ways family planning can be researched and practiced, explore the impact of access to abortion care or the lack thereof, prepare students for residency with a focus on family planning, and focus on the importance of wellness during medical education and physician practice.
Stay Tuned for More! Upcoming Teach-Ins will explore:
Sign up Here for updates on future offerings
These Medical Ethics in Reproductive Health Teach-Ins are designed to engage medical students in the difficult and necessary conversations and analyses of historical and present-day reproductive injustices and ethical failures, taking a close look at these instances not merely for their historical significance, but even more importantly, for their relevance to our current context of institutional and systemic racism, sexism, and classism. Utilizing critical lenses based in the lived experiences of those who as individuals and communities have been the targets and victims of sexual and reproductive health abuse, control, violence, and dehumanization.
Stay Tuned for More! Upcoming Teach-Ins will explore:
Sign up Here for updates on future offerings
These Reproductive Justice Advocacy Teach-Ins take a deep dive into: the principles of reproductive justice, how coverage bans impact abortion access and undermine quality care, how abortion restrictions impact on maternal mortality and maternal health, how to lift your voice and take effective actions to make change, and more.
Stay Tuned for More! Upcoming Teach-Ins will explore:
Sign up Here for updates on future offerings
AMSA strives to empower physicians-in-training to effect change through education and advocacy. AMSA Scholars Programs are designed to provide medical and premed students with information not covered in traditional medical school curriculum and to foster an online learning community of future physicians.
The AMSA Reproductive Health Scholars Program addresses the “hidden curriculum” in medical school and prepare students to think critically about abortion-related and education and training opportunities. At the end of the program, participants develop a project utilizing the knowledge gained from the course. The projects are an application of their new skills, as well as a professional development opportunity in the participant’s school or community. Throughout the experience, participants gain valuable mentorship from their Course Directors, fellow Scholars, and partner organizations to enhance their projects.
Note: Students attending an international medical schools who are either U.S. citizens or intend to practice in the US may register with the understanding our program focus is on U.S. abortion policy and practice and is not designed to address policy or practice outside the U.S.
Topics this program addresses:
For more information please contact Becky Martin, AMSA Senior Manager of Education & Advocacy at rhp@amsa.org