ASA Medical Student
Delegation: 3 Amazing Years
Emmett E. Whitaker, Immediate
Past Co-Chair
ASA Medical Student Delegation
t last October’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta,
the ASA Medical Student Delegation (MSD) convened
for its first official gathering as a part of ASA.
It could not have been more fitting that the inaugural
meeting of the ASA MSD fell on the centennial of
its parent organization. 2005 truly was an amazing
year for ASA!
When I first met then-ASA President Roger W. Litwiller,
M.D., at the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists
Postgraduate Assembly in 2003, I could not have
imagined how involved medical students could become
in ASA in such a short time. We had the unwavering
support of ASA administration, including, but not
limited to: Immediate Past President Eugene P. Sinclair,
M.D., President Orin F. Guidry, M.D., and Ronald
L. Harter, M.D., Chair, Committee on Residents and
Medical Students. We also had the dedication and
hard work of medical students across the country.
Thus a goal that seemed so abstract at that time
has become a reality. The MSD is now an official
part of ASA under the auspices of the Resident Component.
I am proud to share with you just a few of the many
things we have accomplished over the past three
years. We have:
• Recruited and retained more than 200
medical student members;
• Organized our delegation and elected our
own officers;
• Become an official, recognized, participating
part of the Resident Component;
• Written and submitted our own resolutions
and annual reports;
• Attended Annual Meetings and voted as
part of the Resident Component;
• Developed our own Web site; and
• Arranged to author an ASA-sponsored book
geared toward medical students interested in anesthesiology.
Of course just as important as what we have accomplished
to date is what we hope to accomplish in the future.
In the future, the MSD hopes to:
• Develop its own bylaws and constitution;
• Elect its officers in an open forum similar
to that conducted by the Resident Component;
• Develop a mentorship program through which
interested medical students can get information
about electives, residency and anesthesiology
practice;
• Create a community service program such
that any interested medical student has resources
to give back to the community in which they live;
• Expound upon the above program by eventually
enacting community service programs that will
have nationwide ramifications; and
• Become its own autonomous, self-governed
component within ASA.
Medical students are now involved in ASA and in
anesthesiology like never before. A few people have
been instrumental in making this happen, and as
immediate past co-chair of the MSD, I would like
to extend my sincerest gratitude to the first governing
council of the MSD:
Cheri A. Camacho, Co-Chair, University
of Rochester; Mark A. Hoeft, Chair-Elect,
University of Vermont; Mary M. Casciano,
Secretary, University of Medicine and Dentistry
of New Jersey; Paul A. Rookard,
Member-at-Large, Texas Tech University Health Sciences
Center; Alla Tauber, Alternate,
University of Buffalo; Matthew E. Ockander,
Alternate, Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine;
Robert McGraw, Alternate, Texas
Tech University Health Sciences Center; and Kent
D. Burr, D.O., Senior Advisor, Kirksville
College of Osteopathic Medicine.
This list represents eight amazing people who made
many sacrifices to see the idea of a Medical Student
Delegation come to fruition. Without their hard
work and diligence, the MSD may have remained just
that: an idea.
I look forward to seeing the MSD grow and prosper
in upcoming years. I consider it a privilege to
have had the chance to see it develop as a fledgling
organization. Helping medical students to grow and
become involved early is one of the things that
will help ASA and anesthesiology as a whole to continue
to be on the forefront of medicine.
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Emmett
E. Whitaker is in his fourth year of medical
school at the University of Rochester School
of Medicine, Rochester, New York. |
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