Written by Ann Lo

Like most financially deprived medical students, we choose conferences to attend based on location. Out of my responsibility as this year’s APAMSA Regional Director for the west coast, I had to use my one-and-only free conference to go to St. Louis this year. Spoiled by previous exotic conference destinations like New York City or New Orleans, I wasn’t too thrilled about flying out to the “Gateway city” especially since much of the conference overlapped Game 6 & 7 of the World Series. As it turns out, I was quite mistaken.

The USC crew arrived in time on Friday night to attend the riverboat cruise by the Gateway Arch on the Mississippi. The boatload of Asian medical students, a rare sight on a Mississippi riverboat, completely bonded to ragtime tunes, of all things. We met students from all over the nation, especially those within our region. The following weekend, we attended numerous interesting workshops on refugee health, domestic violence, health care policy, cultural expressions of distress, acupuncture, hepatitis B, and international health. Instead of napping to recover from lost sleep during the week, I found myself avidly scribbling notes during these workshops. Our speakers ranged from previous APAMSA national officers to prestigious academics to prominent community leaders who were both Asian and non-Asian.

There was no question that we learned a lot of facts over the weekend. However the most important thing I took away from St. Louis was the contagious enthusiasm of all the other medical students with whom I shared so much in common. It was impossible to be untouched by the energy generated in at the conference. I wasn’t the only student infected…..the USC and UCLA students were all so inspired that we even made an unsuccessful bid for hosting the national convention for 2003!!!! Although we lost to Washington D.C., two UCLA and one USC student was elected to be on the national board.

The best example of this energy was witnessed in our regional meeting. As the leader of an extremely active chapter at USC, I realized how fortunate we were to inherit all that the previous USC APAMSA leaders had passed down. I was especially moved by the University of Washington APAMSA leaders who are struggling with new chapters and who cared enough to pay their own way to St. Louis. Regrettably, I didn’t understand how instrumental and effective a regional director could be to support these fledgling chapters. I was inspired by their dedication to trail blaze these paths that other USC APAMSA leaders before me had already paved. At the same time, it was extremely gratifying to see that the UDub students’ money was not spent in vain. They seemed to have gained more out of the conference than anybody else. My only regret was not aggressively advertising the conference to my own chapter. I understand now that it is a privilege for me to attend the national APAMSA conference without financial burdens. The most important thing for us to do now is to bring the energy back to USC. All in all, we all the left the conference touched and inspired to better serve our community.

+ Return to 2002 APAMSA National Conference