Network Director

APAMSA’s Guide to Diversity, a booklet of events suggestions that spans South Asian events as well as East Asian events.

Below are lists of events that chapters have done in the past. A compilation of past events based on monthly chapter capture submissions can be found below. If you have any questions, feel free to contact your Regional Directors!

• Dumpling Making Socials

• Lunar New Year Potlucks

• Diwali Celebrations

• Holi Festival

• Eid al-Fitr Celebrations

• Welcome Week Barbeques

• Boba and Buns Fundraisers

• Potluck Dinner and Movie

• Inter-school mixer (other APAMSA chapters as well as APA students in law school, business school, etc.)

• Eating out at an Asian Restaurant (for smaller groups)

• Night on the Town (for larger groups and schools near cities)

• Talent Show: poetry, singing, dancing, comedy

  • Sample performances: RWJ 2007; Tulane 2013; WashU 2015 (Choreiform, Tinikling, Mamma Mia, I Got A Boy), Neomed 2016

• Alternative Medicine: All Asian ethnic groups have some history of alternative healing practices whether it be acupuncture, aryuvedic, herbalistic, or spiritual. Increasing numbers of non-Asians are interested in this topic as well. A speaker not only can educate APA students about their heritage and history of healing, it can also clarify widely held misconceptions as well. Some schools have also created displays on alternative healing methods (herbs, instruments, healers) in conjunction with the talk.

• Bone Marrow Drives: This is a well-established APAMSA project. APA bone marrow registrants are severely underrepresented in the National Bone Marrow registry. Join our national effort to save lives. Contact the APAMSA bone marrow chair for more info, at marrow@apamsa.org

• Hepatitis B Screenings – APAMSA’s Fight to Break the Hep B Cycle: Hepatitis B is a devastating illness that affects millions of APAs. Asians have the highest rate of hepatitis B infection of all ethnic groups. One out of 4 people with chronic hepatitis B virus infection who became chronically infected during childhood will die of HBV-related liver cancer or cirrhosis. That’s 100 million of the 400 million chronic HBV infected people in the world. Hepatitis B is a completely preventable disease through vigorous education, screenings, and immunizations. Join us in our quest to break the Hepatitis B Cycle by participating in APAMSA’s Fight in your community! Contact the APAMSA Hepatitis B Chair for more information: hepatitis@apamsa.org

• Community Health Fairs: APAMSA health fairs are the trademark event at most of our local chapters. This is where you can utilize your cultural understanding and medical knowledge to offer free cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure, vision, hearing, and lead screening of the APA community. Some schools also have assisted recent immigrants from Asian countries as well as other uninsured members of the community to find primary care physicians. In addition, health fairs serve as an important mechanism to disseminate health information regarding cancer, smoking, domestic violence, and many more topics through brochures and counseling services, which we are able to offer in multiple different languages. Take an active role in health care access in your community. Location is key so do some research about where you might be able to reach the most people. Contact the APAMSA Community Outreach representatives at outreach@apamsa.org

• Local BP/BMI Screenings: Contact the APAMSA Community Outreach representatives at outreach@apamsa.org

• Mental Health Discussions: For more information on how you can create an event incorporating this silent issue, contact the APAMSA Mental Health Chair: mentalhealth@apamsa.org

• Volunteering w/ the American Cancer Society: For more information, contact the APAMSA Cancer Initiative Director – cancer@apamsa.org

• Fundraisers for natural disaster victims: APAMSA chapters have been instrumental in raising money for the Tsunami victims, the Hurricane disasters, the South Asian earthquake victims, orphanages in China, and much more. For more information, contact APAMSA’s Global Health Director at globalhealth@apamsa.org

• Volunteering at your local hospital: doesn’t have to be fancy – play a board game, play some cards, read a book to kids. This is a great idea for those who don’t have a lot of time to commit.

• Medical Mandarin Courses

• Teaching High School Students

• Big Sib: 2nd years mentoring 1st years, 1st years mentoring premeds, premeds mentoring high schoolers

• APA Faculty Student Dinners

• Diversity/AAPI in Medicine Talks: There are innumerable topics that can be addressed including hepatitis B, mental health, domestic violence, etc. within the Asian American community. Speakers can be local resources or from neighboring cities. Often these events can be cosponsored with other groups to ease the cost of funding.

• Organize a mock exam: Be a resource to your classmates with old exam questions, review books, texts, etc. or by serving as standardized patients for others to practice interviewing, physical diagnosis, etc.

• Student Panels – Boards and Wards: Pivotal transitions occur at the end of 2nd year when students begin to think about the national boards and adjusting to life in the hospital. Upper-class students, especially fourth years who have gone through the process including matching are invaluable resources. Invite the upper-class students to your meetings to share their experiences.

• Organize a Conference: This is an ambitious project that can supplement your medical school’s training of future physicians. APAMSA conferences are some of the most effective mechanisms to bring together medical students, physicians, and health care professionals to learn about issues APA health. This is an opportunity to really enhance your school’s curriculum and further APAMSA’s mission statement. Contact membership@apamsa.org if your chapter is interested in hosting an APAMSA conference. It is important to bid early for hosting the national or regional conferences.

• Submit Resolutions to National APAMSA

• Host Discussions on Advocacy in Medicine

• AAPI Culture Fairs

• Voter Registration Drives: There are numerous ways to obtain registration forms: volunteer services in the hospital, undergraduate political parties and local elections office (in the phone book).

• Immigration Forums: Not since 1965 have there been such dramatic legislative change in the arena of immigration. Ranging from restrictions on social services to immigrants to financial aid for non-citizen students, these bills will have a significant impact on the US. These forums can be informative only or can serve as the basis for a debate on the issues immigration reform raises, especially the role of the physician-to-be in serving as the “gate-keeper” to access to health care.

• Affirmative Action Forums: Perhaps no other issue divides APA medical students as much as affirmative action. For many years, APA students in all forums of higher education have felt a quota or glass ceiling placed on their admissions, especially in medicine. Some schools have successfully gathered information on admissions or have engaged their deans/directors of admissions on this issue. This forum can be an opportunity to present some of the data to the community and to raise some important issues such as admissions stereotypes of the APA applicant. It can also serve as a springboard for a broader discussion of Affirmative Action. (This can be a particularly divisive issue)

• Discrimination in Academic Medicine: As more and more APA medical students become interested in academic medicine as a career, the overt and subtle barriers to tenure are apparent. A panel of faculty members at various stages of the tenure track progress and in different fields (clinical vs. basic science) can address this issue.