DUAL BENEFITS

OUMSA members encourage you to join them – and AMSA

The Oceania University of Medicine Student Association (OUMSA) is an international chapter of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA). But don’t let the name fool you. While the organization may have originally represented the concerns of medical students in the US and Canada when it was founded in 1950, today OUMSA is one of more than 70 international chapters of AMSA which now bring together 33,000 physicians-in-training.

The current OUMSA officers encourage you to join AMSA, which automatically makes you a member of the OUM chapter. In addition to giving you the opportunity to guide and offer your voice in OUMSA activities and vote in elections, AMSA members are helped through their medical education journey by gaining a wide range of benefits ranging from discounts on study materials and travel arrangements to resources for international volunteer opportunities, advocacy, and networking.

“I joined OUMSA when I first enrolled at OUM to feel more connected to other students and to the wider medical student community through AMSA,” says Leigh Cattin, current OUMSA president. “I think it is important for all medical students to have a voice and to be part of positive change for their own medical school experience and for future students.”

OUMSA meetings are held the last Friday/Saturday of each month and all students are encouraged to attend, even before they officially join. Joining AMSA/OUMSA is a one-time payment of US$75 which provides membership in both organizations throughout the entirety of one’s medical education. For more information or to join, visit www.amsa.org or www.oumsaglobal.org.