Feature: Welcome from the Chair of the Council of Student Members
Welcome to the American College of Physicians (ACP) family that comprises over 31,000 Medical Student Members and 106,000 internal medicine physicians! As the professional home for internal medicine, ACP is the largest specialty organization in the United States composed of members of diverse backgrounds from across the country and around the world. ACP is committed to the future of medicine, and as a medical student, you are at the center of the College's attention.
As the Chair for the ACP Council of Student Members (CSM), I am very proud of the emphasis the College places on medical students. The CSM was established specifically to serve the needs and represent our interests as medical students. As such, I encourage you to communicate with us regularly. We want to hear your stories, successes, needs, ideas, and passions. The CSM meets regularly to discuss issues of particular importance to medical students and communicate them to ACP leadership. Your input and feedback are essential to CSM's mission to enrich your medical school experience and empower you to thrive in your endeavors.
As a medical student, ACP has a tremendous number of resources that you can use. MKSAP for Students 5 and Internal Medicine Essentials for Clerkship Students are invaluable tools to help ace your medicine clerkship and Shelf exams. In just a few weeks ACP will introduce ACP Smart Medicine, a new evidence-based clinical decision-support tool. ACP Smart Medicine will be extremely useful for all your clinical experiences as it delivers thorough coverage of internal medicine content and provides succinct answers to clinical questions right in the palm of your hand. If you are interested in advocacy and health policy, ACP's Advocates for Internal Medicine Network (AIMn) and annual Leadership Day event empower students to advocate for health care policy issues. ACP's Advocate blog keeps you current on events in Washington, DC, and the ACP Health Policy Internship provides an extraordinary opportunity for hands-on learning and active participation. To learn about additional ACP resources, including the monthly IMpact newsletter, JournalWise, and mentoring database, please visit the medical student section of the ACP Online.
For internal medicine interest group (IMIG) leaders, ACP and the CSM are here to help you. We pride ourselves on providing funding and support for your IMIG to ensure a successful year. The CSM has developed an IMIG Leader Resource Guide that contains "best practices" collected from IMIGs across the country. In addition, we will be holding an IMIG Leader Webinar on September 26 at 7 p.m. to help you get the year started and answer any questions you may have. Each school is also assigned a CSM representative who is always available to help.
Having been involved with ACP on the state and national levels for over three years, I continuously see the excitement ACP has for its Medical Student Members and its strong desire to help us succeed in our medical training, career, and life. I am extremely proud to be a Student Member of this great organization and I am confident that you will discover that same pride as you interact with ACP. On behalf of the CSM, I welcome you and look forward to our interactions and your active participation. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any assistance.
Sincerely,
Hao Feng
Chair, ACP Council of Student Members
Yale University School of Medicine 2014
Email: hao.feng@yale.edu