Australian Medical Students' Association

Australian Medical Students’ Association
Formation	1960
Type	Student organization, Professional organization
Purpose	Connect, Inform, Represent
Location	Australia;
Membership	17,000 medical students
Official language	English
President	Allen Xiao
Website	amsa.org.au

The Australian Medical Students' Association (AMSA) is an independent association of the 17,000 medical students in Australia. AMSA was formed in 1960 in Brisbane, as a conference organised to network medical students from Australia. It has since grown to become the peak representative body for Australia's medical students—serving a mandate to connect, inform and represent medical students in Australia. Its tri-annual Council meetings include representatives from medical societies at each of Australia's 23 medical schools.

AMSA is a member of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations.

History

In 1960, medical students from around Australia met in Brisbane for their first national conference. Never before had Australian medical students come together as one body to discuss ideas, share information and voice their opinions and concerns.^[1] Since then, the Australian Medical Students' Association has grown and evolved into one of Australia's largest student representative bodies.

Past presidents

2024: Allen Xiao, The University of Melbourne
2023: Tish Sivagnanan, James Cook University
2022: Jasmine Davis, The University of Melbourne
2021: Sophie Keen, Western Sydney University
2020: Daniel Zou, The University of Melbourne
2019: Jessica Yang, The University of Western Sydney
2018: Alex Farrell, The University of NSW
2017: Rob Thomas, The University of Queensland
2016: Elise Buisson, The University of Western Sydney
2015: James Lawler, The University of Newcastle
2014: Jessica Dean, Monash University
2013: Benjamin Veness, The University of Sydney
2012: James Churchill, The University of Melbourne
2011: Robert Marshall, The University of Western Australia
2010: Ross Roberts-Thomson, The University of Adelaide
2009: Tiffany Fulde, The University of New South Wales
2008: Michael Bonning, The University of Queensland
2007: Robert Mitchell, Monash University
2006: Teresa Cosgriff, The University of Melbourne
2005: Dror Maor, The University of Western Australia
2004: Matthew Hutchinson, The University of Adelaide
2003: Nicholas Brown, The University of Queensland

Advocacy

2020 advocacy priorities

National Advocacy Priorities are determined through a National Survey distributed around August. The survey allows medical students to provide input into the national priorities for the following year, and comment on what is most important to them. Each comment is read and national priorities created off that. At the meeting of the third National AMSA Council of each year, AMSA presents the advocacy priorities. For 2020, they are as follows;

National Priorities

Improving medical student mental health and wellbeing
Preventing increases in medical student numbers and establishment of new medical schools
Action on sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination in medicine
Increasing intake onto specialty training programs that align with workforce demand, with a particular focus on regional and rural areas
Work collaboratively to improve the health of Australia's Indigenous people (including recruitment and support of Indigenous medical students)
Improving the quality of clinical schools and placements for medical students
Increase the availability of quality internships for all medical students
Working collaboratively to minimise the health impacts of climate change through mitigation and adaptation strategies

Annual conferences

AMSA National Convention

AMSA National Convention is the largest student-run conference in the world and brings together over 800+ medical students from across Australia and New Zealand. AMSA National Convention began in 1960 to bring medical students together. Convention embodies the core values of AMSA and continues to be the highlight of the Association’s calendar every year.

National Convention is a five-day event compassing academics, socials, and convention games. The Emergency Medical Challenge (EMC) is the largest emergency medicine simulation in the country, and is held at the National Convention. The National Convention also features research presentations, poster competitions, debating and sports challenges, and unparalleled networking with the future of the health profession.

AMSA Global Health Conference

Originally known as the Developing World Conference, and established in 2005 by members of the Australian Medical Students' Association, the Global Health Conference is a meeting of medical students from around Australia that aims to fulfill the desire of medical students to discuss broader issues relevant to global health.

The inaugural conference hosted 200 delegates in Sydney, whilst the 2006 conference in Perth saw more than 250 students attend. In 2007, Adelaide hosted over 300 delegates at an event that sold out nationwide in less than 12 hours.

The academic programme is filled with speakers from many disciplines, including workers from Medecins Sans Frontieres, Health Advisors to Non-for-profit organisations, Politicians and many many more; while the social programme allows students to meet like-minded individuals from around the country.

The Global Health Conference aims to educate and empower medical students with knowledge about global health.

The next AMSA Global Health Conference will be held in Adelaide in 2024. The theme of the event 'Inception' embraces the many layers of complexity we must navigate to make change, and inspires the ability to break through them.

AMSA Rural Health Summit

Of AMSA's major conferences, the Rural Health Summit is the newest, having started in 2016. That year it was hosted in Melbourne and known as the Rural Health Colloquium, before taking on the name of Rural Health Summit from 2017 onwards. The Rural Health Summit has a focus on the health related challenges faced by Australia's rural and regional population, and illuminates the opportunities that exist for medical students to pursue a career in rural and regional areas.

Previous locations for The AMSA Rural Health Summit:

2016: Melbourne (As the AMSA Rural Health Colloquium)
2017: Wollongong
2018: Albury
2019: Cairns
2020: Armidale

AMSA National Leadership Development Seminar

AMSA's National Leadership Development Seminar (NLDS) is held each year in the nation's capital, Canberra. Running over five days and four nights, the seminar is an exclusive conference on the medical student calendar with only 80-100 students selected to attend. The seminar aims to bring together some of the brightest minds and challenge and develop their leadership and opinions.

Community engagement

Vampire Cup

The Vampire Cup is AMSA's national blood drive run in association with the Australian Red Cross. The 22 Australian medical societies compete for the prestigious cup with the society with the highest number of donations per capita being awarded victory. In 2019, there were 3461 donations nationally with Australian National University (ANUMSS) winning the Vampire Cup for the second year in a row with 79.3% of their cohort donating. James Cook University won the most total donations with a record 845 donations, the most in the history of the competition.

References

^ "History of the AMSA". Archived from the original on 26 June 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.

External links

amsa.org.au - the website of the Australian Medical Students' Association

[1] "History of the AMSA". Archived from the original on 26 June 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.

[1]