Hi everyone,

I hope you’re all enjoying your first week of Foundations of Medicine! I wanted to reach out to you all to provide a bit more information about our Interest Groups.

Interest Groups are student-led groups that highlight specific areas of interest, both within and beyond medicine. They do this by hosting events throughout the year that showcase what makes their focus unique. We have made significant changes to how the Interest Groups operate this year, and we hope that these changes will improve the program for your class and future pre-clerkship students! Interest Groups will now fall under one of five categories:

* Academic: Interest Groups for which there is an R1 CARMS program. * Leisure/Sports/Hobby: Interest Groups for interests outside of medicine. * Activism/Advocacy/Service: Interest Groups dedicated to promoting awareness and action on important topics in medicine. * Community: Interest Groups aimed to connect and support students within shared identity groups. * Externally Affiliated Groups: Groups that operate similarly to Interest Groups that are often smaller chapters of larger organizations.

A complete list of Interest Groups, as well as a summary of their objectives can be found in the attached document. Here is a brief overview of how the Interest Group Council will be structured:

* One Executive in Med 2 who will be responsible for overseeing the activities of the Interest Group Council * One Med 1 Representative who will help the Executive with their duties. The Med 1 Rep will transition into the Executive role upon starting Med 2. * Up to six Council Members, each with roles that are unique to the Interest Group. These positions will be a one year term. These positions are new this year, and the roles have yet to be finalized.

Each year the MMSA holds an Interest Group Information Night where the current M2 execs showcase their interest group in the Joe Doupe Concourse (2nd Floor of the BMS). This year our information night is scheduled to take place on September 4th from 6 to 8pm. There will also be a Non-Academic Interest Group information night happening September 5th from 5 to 7pm, which will showcase various groups from the Community and Advocacy/Activism/Service categories. Attendance is completely optional, but this is a great opportunity to learn about all of the interest groups available. Following the info night, I will send out instructions on how to submit your application for the groups you may be interested in! The first round of applications will be for the M1 Representative, and the application will consist of open-ended questions for you to fill out. Each application will then be blinded, and the current M2 execs will select candidates who they believe will be the best fit for the group!

Regards,

Dustin Erickson, B.Sc (Co-op) Vice Stick Internal Sr., Manitoba Medical Students’ Association Year 3 MD student Max Rady College of Medicine University of Manitoba