News

Incarceration during the COVID-19 pandemic, a potential mental health crisis

Author: Conor Burke-Smith, second-year medical student, Iowa This post is a series of mental health pieces from the AMSA WSL Committee Much has been written about the potential negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health. Many have felt isolation to a greater extent than ever before in their lives. Anxiety exists about various...

Survey of AMSACon 2020 Attendees Finds COVID-19 is Changing How Med Students Study

By: The Merck Manuals Editorial Staff AMSACon2020 was a little different than conferences in previous years. Given the realities of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s conference was entirely virtual – the first of its kind. Students, medical professionals, leading medical institutions found new ways to connect and learn. But COVID-19’s impact on medical students...

I studied Syringe Service Programs and harm reduction for an entire summer—here’s what I learned

By: Abiola Ogunbiyi, MS III—Trinity School of Medicine   Activate advocacy from within As an AMSA summer intern, I was truly able to utilize my voice and activate advocacy from a place of knowledge and excitement. Over the past few months, I have learned so much about syringe service programs (SSPs), harm reduction and the...

AMSA’s response to USMLE scoring change recommendations

The Invitational Conference on USMLE Scoring (InCUS) recently allowed public statements from medical students in regards to the potential USMLE Step 1 score change. The USMLE Step 1 was originally a pass/fail exam. However, this changed due to increased emphasis on the test to select residency candidates. Step scores have a huge influence on match...