May 15, 2019

UAB Student National Medical Association chapter celebrates several group and individual achievements

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The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is the oldest and largest independent, student-run organization focused on the needs and concerns of black medical students in the United States. Five members from UAB’s SNMA chapter recently attended the 55th Annual Medical Education Conference (AMEC) April 17-21 in Philadelphia, PA. For the second year in a row, the chapter returned to UAB with several honors, including being selected as the Region IV Chapter of the Year. Region IV is currently the largest region in the country with 36 chapters and growing. Additionally, current president of UAB’s chapter, rising MS4 Alana C. Nichols, was selected to receive the National Clinical Sciences Member Scholarship and was also elected as the Regional Treasurer for the 2019-20 academic year.

“I’m extremely honored to be a recipient of one of SNMA’s national scholarships, and I’m really proud of all that our chapter has achieved,” said Nichols, who is currently and MS-2 and MSTP student about to enter her graduate school training. “I hope that the chapter continues to be successful in the future.”

Also for the second year in a row, UAB’s SNMA chapter received a UAB Student Excellence Award. This year’s honor came under the Outstanding Community Service Project category. The chapter’s Birmingham Healthcare Access Movement (BHAM) community project, led by director of community service Justin Bailey, was a one-day, free health screening initiative held in January of this year. The group provided health screenings to more than 300 members of the local community and organized a group of about 100 volunteers – physicians, fellows, and students from local medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing and PA schools – to participate in the project. The project was a partnership with the Student National Pharmacy Association at Samford University and spanned across 15 sites located throughout Birmingham.

“The past two years have been remarkable for UAB’s SNMA,” said Alana Jones, vice president of the chapter. “Service has always been our priority, and we intentionally focused on communities that are often forgotten or have little access to healthcare. For our work to be recognized, means that those communities are a little more visible, too. As I transition into my next stage of training, I’m excited for the impact that the new leaders of SNMA Birmingham will have.”