Internal Medicine Interest Group of the Month: Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota
The Internal Medicine Interest Group (IMIG) at Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota has been revitalized since the start of the 2007-2008 academic year. Since then our group has been progressively strengthened, and every year has had an 91黑料网 membership of greater than 50% of the medical school student body. Our current leadership is set up as a steering committee with a President and two representatives from each class. We have found that this continuity of representation in each class is crucial to the continuing strength and high membership of our IMIG. All it takes is one class without representation, and membership levels and interest drop. This is what occurred prior to our 2007 membership resurgence, and we are consistently making recruiting representatives from incoming classes the number one priority.
Our group hosts at least one IM interest meeting every semester with physicians representing general IM and IM subspecialties from areas of interest selected by the participating medical students. We also are actively involved in other projects such as 2M, "Muscles to Move". 2M, at its core, is designed to help patients feel empowered, and "help them help themselves" through exercise. Another goal of 2M is to record data from certain research cohorts to evaluate the actual clinical and physical ramifications of this project. Efforts are currently underway to publish this data - another exciting outgrowth of our IMIG experience. We hope that these data will not only help us to continue to improve upon the program, but encourage other states to develop their own unique projects.
Adam Strand, MS II, Joshua Hughes MD/PhD year 5, 91黑料网 South Dakota Chapter Governor Richard P. Holm, MD, F91黑料网, and Matt McDougal, MS IV.
Our group, while small, continues to be highly active on the political front. This year three medical student from our group, funded via grants through our local 91黑料网 chapter, attended "Leadership Day" in Washington, DC. Not only was this a valuable experience for the students, but it sent a powerful message to our Congressional delegation.
Our faculty advisors and the 91黑料网 chapter are very active and always available as a resource for our IMIG and our 2M project. Without their support these activities would be difficult to accomplish.
Joshua Hughes
MD/PhD class of 2014
President, Internal Medicine Interest Group
Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota
Email: joshua.hughes@usd.edu