Emmett E. Whitaker
Committee on Residents and Medical Students

Cheri A. Camachoe

ood news! The ASA Medical Student Delegation (MSD) has been officially adopted by ASA. Our organization was voted upon last October by the House of Delegates at the 2004 ASA Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was unanimously approved! As a division of the Resident Component, we will have resident mentors and a structure after which we can model ourselves. We have increased our membership to more than 80 medical students from across the country, and we have elected five officer delegates (see below) who will represent our organization at ASA meetings. Much has happened since our last ASA NEWSLETTER communication in August 2004, so we would like to bring you up to speed on our efforts this year.

Cheri A. Camacho and Emmett E. Whitaker, right, with ASA President Eugene P. Sinclair, M.D., at the 2004 Postgraduate Assembly. Photo courtesy of Melissa Whitenack.

December 2003: Second-year medical student Emmett E. Whitaker of the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, meets with 2004 ASA President Roger W. Litwiller, M.D., and suggests more involvement and resources for medical students interested in anesthesiology. Dr. Litwiller supports the idea fully and recruits University of Rochester Chair of Anesthesiology, James L. Robotham, M.D., to sponsor the movement, which is based out of Rochester. Dr. Robotham also enthusiastically supports the idea and suggests the involvement of University of Rochester Anesthesiology Interest Group Founder and President, Cheri A. Camacho, who also is a second-year medical student at Rochester.

January 2004: Emmett and Cheri collaborate to draw up a proposal to ASA to institute a Medical Student Delegation in ASA. The proposal is based on the existing Medical Student Section within the Emergency Medicine Residents Association, which is well developed and effective. The proposal is sent to ASA.

June 2004: Resolutions are drawn up by ASA to include a Medical Student Delegation in ASA on an official basis. At the Interim Meeting of the ASA Board of Directors, a resolution is drawn up to include a Medical Student Delegation within the ASA Resident Component. The resolution is included in the minutes and is set to be voted upon at the October 2004 ASA Annual Meeting.

July 2004: Letters are mailed out to all 125 allopathic medical schools announcing the formation of the MSD. A floppy disk is included in the envelope with a copy of our announcement. This brings in many new members.

August 2004: Emmett and Cheri are invited to write a column for the monthly ASA NEWSLETTER “Residents’ Review,” announcing the acceptance of a Medical Student Delegation. The column introduces the delegation and is an official call for members.

October 2004: With a growing membership, Emmett and Cheri attend the ASA 2004 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Other medical students attend, and the first official meeting of the ASA MSD is held. It is decided that the five medical student representatives also will hold offices within the ASA MSD, including Co-chairs, Chair-Elect, Secretary and Member-at-Large. A decision is made to solicit applications from the existing ASA MSD members to form this committee.

Most important, the resolution to add the MSD is voted upon and unanimously approved by the House of Delegates. In an amazing turn of events, it also is decided that the five medical student delegates will be able to vote! This is an amazing development and a huge victory as medical students had never been so profoundly involved in ASA.

November 2004: E-mails are sent out to the more than 50 members of the ASA MSD to call for applications for leadership positions. More than 30 applications are received, and the 2005 MSD Officers are selected:

Delegates

Co-Chair: Emmett E. Whitaker, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York;

Co-Chair: Cheri A. Camacho, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York;

Chair-Elect: Mark A. Hoeft, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont;

Secretary: Mary M. Casciano, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey;

Member-at-Large: Robert McGraw, Texas Tech Health Sciences University, Lubbock, Texas.

Alternates

Matthew E. Ockander, Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, Glendale, Arizona;

Paul A. Rookard, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas;

Alla Tauber, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York;

Senior Advisor: Kent D. Burr, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, Kirksville, Missouri.

In addition, ASA MSD Co-Chair Emmett Whitaker is selected to be the first medical student member to serve on an ASA committee, the Committee on Residents and Medical Students.

December 2004: Cheri and Emmett attend the 2004 Postgraduate Assembly in New York City once again and are included in the Medical Student Program as representatives of the MSD. There is significant interest, and they recruit more than 20 new members.

At this point, we are still trying to establish as broad a membership as possible. Our outreach efforts have been extensive; you may have even received an e-mail from us at your own school. We still need members, however, and we will not be satisfied until all medical students are aware of the opportunities presented by ASA and the MSD. You can help by telling medical students at you institution about us.

We currently have five representatives to the ASA Resident Component. If we continue to develop as we have this year, we hope to have 50 representatives on the council representing each state. Additionally we continue to plan for the future. We look forward to fulfilling the rest of our mission, including developing resources for medical students and anesthesiology interest groups and giving back to our communities.

As always, if this is the first time you have heard of the ASA MSD, please feel free to visit us on the Web at <www.urmcaig.org>, or e-mail us at <aiginfo@urmc.rochester.edu>. We look forward to hearing from you!

Emmett E. Whitaker is in his third year of medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.

Cheri A. Camacho is in her third year of medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.