By Rachel Konieczny
Assistant News Editor
A new club, the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), is available for students interested in pursuing a health related career.
Seniors biology majors Alex Gu and Aayushi Sardana brought AMSA to campus with the approval of faculty advisor and biology professor Douglas Guarnieri. Gu and Sardana passed leadership on to Bianca Georgakopoulos, sophomore health and human nature interdisciplinary major and club president.
Gu said he wanted to ensure a club for students interested in pre-health and medicine would be available for future classes.
“Aayushi and I thought that it would have been beneficial to have an organization that would help the [undergraduate] pre-med students,” Gu said. “Once we got our formal acceptance into George Washington Medical School, we joined AMSA.”
Guarnieri said he was pleased with the club’s first meeting, where 86 students attended.
“This isn’t just a pre-med group,” Guarnieri said. “Even though it’s titled that, it’s really to allow people who want to learn more about medicine, learn about opportunities to go work in hospitals—locally or abroad, workshops to work on their writing of personal statements, getting to invite speakers from other universities here.”
Members of AMSA, according to Georgakopoulos, hope to bring medically related speakers to campus, hold resumé and interview workshops and market volunteer opportunities for students. The club brought Dr. Kristy Richards to Bonaventure on Wednesday to discuss research in her presentation “Chance Favors the Prepared Mind: A Lymphomaniac’s Tale.”
“This club is necessary so that students seeking a health path will be able to do so with help from others who have gone through it and who are going through it,” Georgakopoulos said. “The workshops will prepare our peers, the speakers will motivate them and the fundraising and volunteering components will help others.”
As new president, Georgakopoulos said she is responsible for thinking of new ideas for the club, emailing professors about these ideas and overseeing each committee.
AMSA at Bonaventure is divided into five committees: events, fundraising, volunteering, education and public relations. According to Nicholas Gregorio, junior biology major and volunteering committee leader, each committee works together to contribute to the club.
“The vision of this committee is to find all sorts of volunteering opportunities—healthcare and otherwise—on campus, within the local Olean and Allegany community and in areas that have high ‘Bonnie populations,’ such as Buffalo and Rochester,” Gregorio said.
Gregorio referenced AMSA’s work with the Ronald McDonald House, which he said helps hospital patients and their families by collecting pop tabs. The tabs can be cashed in and used to support patients and their families with medical bills. Gregorio said various jars and boxes are set up on campus for students to donate.
Erin Izydorczak, sophomore biology major and club member, first approached Gregorio with the idea to work with the Ronald McDonald House.
“I’ve worked with the charity for a couple years now with my sister and my cousin,” Izydorczak said. “I know the patients and a lot of the families that stay there [are] so, so nice and I think this is a way for [students] to learn how to talk with the patients and connect with them. If I can help them in any other way besides just my knowledge of science, I think that’d be really helpful because they need the help.”
Students interested in joining AMSA can contact club secretary Sreenidhi Chintalapani, sophomore biology major, at chintas13@bonaventure.edu to be added to the email list. An interest meeting will be held in the fall semester, Georgakopoulos said.
Georgakopoulos said she is excited for AMSA and the opportunities it offers students.
“The goal for AMSA is to bring a group of motivated students together who all have a similar interest in helping people, changing lives and hoping to get into the health field,” Georgakopoulos said. “We are hoping that anyone who wants to go down the health career path will join our path and get the information that they need.”
