We are the AMA
We are the AMA when we work together:
- Caring for patients
- Advocating for quality health care
- Providing expert medical advice
- Learning, teaching and advancing medical education
- Managing our businesses
- Exemplifying professional standards
- Supporting each other and the medical profession
Below are some of the ways you can engage with the Alberta Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association and become an active part of your association, from community advocacy and student affairs to the AMA Representative Forum and committees. Get involved and tell us what issues are important to you and your fellow medical students.
The AMA Committee on Student Affairs
The Committee on Student Affairs advises the board and RF on issues affecting student members. The committee is responsible for:
- Reviewing all applications for AMA student sponsorships
(The AMA allocates a budget annually for support of University of Alberta and University of Calgary student-run initiatives that foster student development.) Sponsorship supports initiatives organized by medical students for medical students and not the general population.- Learn about the 2023 sponsorship recipients
- Learn more about the sponsorship program
- Relaying events or the outcomes of meetings back to students.
- Keeping students informed about AMA scholarship/bursary deadlines and winners.
- Creating opportunities for students to connect with the AMA
(e.g., Meet-the-President sessions at the universities, Lunch/Dinner with Six, etc.).
- Assisting students with bringing issues to RF
Representatives are selected by student executives. The AMA Committee on Student Affairs is composed of:- Two RF student representatives
- Five other student representatives, three from the U of A, two from the U of C
Your current Committee on Student Affairs is:
- Gareth Jones, U of A
- Sana Samadi, U of A
- Giselle Tucker-Belliveau, U of A
- Chaim Katz, U of C
- Maren Kimura, U of C
- Daria Venkova, U of C
Lunch/Dinner with Six
Once per semester at both medical schools, the AMA president lunches/dines with six students. We’re buying, you’re talking. It’s an informal chance to interact with the president, ask questions about what’s happening in the system, the AMA or whatever happens to be on your mind.
For more information, contact your representatives to the AMA Committee on Student Affairs.
AMA Youth Run Club
The AMA Youth Run Club is an award-winning program for school-aged children and youth in Alberta. Established by the AMA and Ever Active Schools, this Many Hands™ initiative is offered free to schools and students and takes a walk/jog approach, making it accessible for everyone to participate.
If you want to help out with an AMA Youth Run Club, we can offer you all kinds of support. Learn more about the AMA Youth Run Club
Student delegates to the AMA Representative Forum
Two student representatives, one from each medical school in Alberta, are eligible to attend the RF and have voting privileges. Student representatives are elected or appointed by their respective medical student associations. Up to seven students from the U of A and seven from the U of C are eligible to attend the RF as observers.
The RF is the ultimate authority of the AMA. RF provides direction to the Board of Directors and has over 125 physician member delegates representing:
- Sections of medicine
- Provincial zones
- AMA past presidents
- College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta
- Universities
- Professional Association of Residents of Alberta (PARA)
- Students
Your current student RF delegates are Daria Venkova, U of C and Gareth Jones, U of A.
Catch up on RF reports and resolutions
Student observers on the AMA Board of Directors
A medical student representative is an observer (non-voting) at meetings of the AMA Board of Directors.
The board develops and implements policy, advised by the RF. The 10 directors are elected by and from the members of the RF.
Officers of the board include the president, president-elect and immediate past president. The general membership elects the president-elect, who goes on to become president and then immediate past president. Each term is for one year.
Meet your current student observer to the AMA Board of Directors
Student representatives on AMA committees
Committee activities offer you the opportunity to get involved and provide input. Through AMA initiatives, members speak out for:
- patients and quality health care
- physicians
- a provincial medical consensus on health care
To volunteer, please contact your AMA student representative on the RF. If more than one student volunteers for the same position, your representative will organize a selection and voting process before forwarding the name of the volunteer to the AMA:
Standing committees with student representatives
- Committee on Bylaws
- Health Issues Council
- Student Affairs
- Informatics Committee
- Indigenous Health Committee
Advisory committees with student representatives
- Physician and Family Support Program Advisory Committee
- Healthy Working Environments Advisory Committee
External committees with student representatives
- Physician Practitioner Workforce Planning Sub-committee (PPWPS) – Involved in collecting data from multiple sources to produce a report in September 2014 to help students make future career decisions and guide them in specialties or areas that will need physicians.
Learn more about AMA committees
Medical students and the CMA
Don’t forget: The AMA is a provincial division of the Canadian Medical Association. Your membership entitles you to the benefits, services and advocacy of both associations.
The CMA learns about student concerns through the national student association, which has representation on the CMA Board of Directors and its five core committees.
Address new challenges in health care
Medical innovation, new technologies and big data are bringing challenges and opportunities our way, and he CMA is facing them head on. Play your part in improving health care by contributing to grassroots and national initiatives. As a member, you can take on issues that matter by joining the Member e-Panel, connecting with your local MP through the CMA Advocacy Caucus or honing your advocacy skills.
Bring a patient perspective
The CMA is committed to supporting its’ members efforts to empower and care for their patients. They’re working to bring a patient perspective to everything they do — to strengthen and enrich their health advocacy work, like seniors care and to help develop policies that resonate within and beyond the profession.
Engage with stakeholders across the medical community
The CMA connects physicians, physicians-in-training, patients and medical community partners across Canada to expand their knowledge and influence. You can get involved by contributing to the CMA Health Summit, Communities of Interest or the Ambassador Program initiatives.
Help build a more vibrant medical profession
The CMA is partnering with physicians and physicians-in-training across Canada to improve health care performance and build a strong future for medical culture and professionalism. They make it easier for CMA members to connect with colleagues to address critical health concerns. The CMA is pressing forward on policies and programs that will help maintain health, well-being and professional satisfaction.
- Engage with CMA and help shape CMA Policy
- Visit cma.ca and click Get Involved in the main menu to learn about additional ways you can engage with the CMA.
