SM
Sarah McDonald
  • Class of 2019
  • Mankato

Sarah McDonald of Leavenworth attends, presents poster at AAMC conference

2017 Dec 13

Sarah McDonald of Leavenworth and three other medical students recently represented Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine at the Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) annual meeting in Boston. The meeting, Learn Serve Lead 2017, welcomed thousands of attendees-including medical school deans, hospital CEOs, clinicians, faculty, researchers, scientists, educators, hospital and university administrators, residents and medical students-to discuss the issues affecting the academic medicine community.

The Geisinger Commonwealth students attended in their capacity as Organization of Student Representatives (OSR) members. Each medical school class at Geisinger Commonwealth elects an OSR to represent them at meetings such as the AAMC annual meeting. In addition to representing their class, the students collaborated on research on "Student Wellness at Geisinger Commonwealth" and presented their findings at the meeting.

The poster presentation detailed the students' research that found their fellow Geisinger Commonwealth students not only use the student mental health and counseling services available at the school, but also that these students find the services helpful in improving mental health and wellness. The presenters also urged sharing resources like the programs at Geisinger Commonwealth with all medical schools as a way to combat burn out and depression in medical students.

In addition to presenting their research, the Geisinger Commonwealth students learned more about other school's initiatives in regard to wellness and attended sessions on transgender equality, suicide prevention, the residency Match and team-based learning.