Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG)
Family Medicine Advocacy
One of the major goals of FMIG is to advocate for Family Medicine. Members are acquainted with various Family Medicine faculty and physicians from the community via lectures, panels, and workshops. Furthermore, many students express interest in a particular facet of Family Medicine, such as obstetrics, research, sports medicine, etc. Mentors are recommended to these students so that they are able to expand on their interests. For example, a strong interest was expressed in pursuing research within Family Medicine. FMIG responded by inviting Dr. Michael Rodriguez to speak about research opportunities within Family Medicine. In addition, the FMIG at UCLA worked directly with CAFP two years ago to help organize a local CAFP Resident and Student conference at the Sunset Village Conference Hall at UCLA. A Residency Fair was also held, in which attendees had the opportunity to network and meet residents and directors.
FMIG also strives to maximize UCLA students' clinical experiences with Family Medicine. Since a majority of preceptorship experiences are at Family Medicine clinics, a workshop is held early in the year to guide members in how to derive the most benefit with their clinical encounters. Community preceptors are invited to the meeting to allow students to directly question and learn from these leaders. Advocacy for Family Medicine is thus the unifying theme that has been purposefully threaded into all the activities that we engage in. By showing our students the diversity of opportunity that exists uniquely in this specialty, we are attracting deeper student interest into the field.
AAFP National Conference
One of the ways we advocate for Family Medicine is by strongly promoting attendance to the AAFP National conference in Kansas City, MO. Eighteen UCLA/Drew students attended the 2006 National Conference of Family Medicine in Kansas City, many of whom are current FMIG officers. This last National Conference was a huge success and was a great learning experience to all of us who attended. We benefited from enlightening workshops and meetings in the day and participated in the conference's social activities in the evening. There was outstanding representation on behalf of the nation's hundreds of Family Medicine Residency Programs, which served as excellent resources for students planning to pursue Family Medicine and who wanted more information about each residency program. Scott Nass, our President, represented our FMIG on the "FMIGs Make A Difference" panel. The panel was comprised of six student leaders from various medical schools around the country. The students answered questions about strengthening the presence of family medicine on campus and how to run a successful FMIG. We are currently in the process of selecting students to attend the upcoming 2007 National Conference and hope to have as many UCLA attendees as last year.
CAFP Medical Student and Resident Conference 2006
UCLA FMIG hosted this annual conference put on every year by a southern California FMIG chapter. Last year's conference was hosted by the University of Southern California and although it was a total success, very few UCLA Medical Students attended. By successfully bidding to host the conference at UCLA, we were able to maximize turnout by UCLA students while highlighting our own Family Medicine residency programs. Jose Avalos, our FMIG Senior Advisor, spearheaded this event. This conference brought together all the FMIG chapters across Southern California and representatives from more than 20 Family Medicine Residencies in the state making this the largest Family Medicine Residency Fair in the state. Members learned how to improve their leadership skills, collected ideas on how to improve our Chapter, and increased their chances of matching into the residency of their choice. Presentations and seminars for medical students touched on current health care issues within primary care, and scheduled interactive programs fostered peer relationships toward developing a regional communication network for medical students interested in Family Medicine. Our UCLA faculty, Denise Sur, MD, Lacey Wyatt, MD and Michael Rodriguez, MD, lead workshops and participated in the residency fair. Over 20 UCLA medical students attended this successful event.
Involvement with CAFP
Even outside the familiarity of our UCLA campus, FMIG officers and members remain active and dedicated to their leadership in the advocacy for Family Medicine. Our senior advisor, Jose Avalos, was the 2006-07 President of the California Student Association for Family Medicine (CSAFM). Funded by CAFP, the purpose of CSAFM is to serve as the umbrella organization representing all California FMIGs. As such, CSAFM's leadership is composed of medical student officers from several FMIGs from throughout the state. Although it serves a vital role as the liaison organization between the CAFP and all state FMIGs, its ultimate goal is to motivate medical students to pursue a career in Family Medicine. It achieves this through a variety of programming of which UCLA FMIG members take key parts in organizing.
Diana Nguyen participated in the CAFP Summer Preceptorship program over the summer. In San Francisco, she worked closely with a Family Medicine physician for four weeks. She shadowed him in clinic, treated patients and attended noon conferences. She had an excellent experience and felt it prepared her incredibly well for her second year of medical school.
Scott Nass was invited to participate on the Predoctoral Education panel at the CAFP Medical Education Conference this past year held in Los Angeles, CA. His presentation gave Residency Program directors from around the state insight into the role FMIG plays in educating medical students about the field of Family Medicine and how to encourage students to become active at their school, in their community and on a state and national level.