Duke Med APAMSA

First General Meeting: Minutes from 9/25/09

2009-10-19T13:29:00.007-04:00

Any questions or suggestions? Please send an email to Victoria Kim or Rachelle Rebong or to dukemed.apamsa@gmail.com.

1. Intros & Mission of APAMSA (as outlined on the website)

2. Overview of past APAMSA activities
-Conferences: We've sent representatives to the National APAMSA meeting every year as well as the National Hep B meeting last year.
-Education: We've invited speakers to Duke -- Dr. So (Director of the Asian Liver Center at Stanford) and Dr. Fried (Director of Hepatology at UNC) -- to speak about Hep B.
-Service: We've participated in Hep B blood screenings, a blood pressure screening, and bone marrow drives at Asian health fairs and on campus.
-Miscellaneous: Our socials usually center around food (Asian food, of course). We've gone to Awaaz together as a group, had lunch with visiting Taiwanese students, held videoconference sessions with Duke-NUS, and welcomed incoming students during Second Look Weekend. The idea for Duke's Medical Chinese program also came from our members.

3. Announcements/Upcoming APAMSA activities
-Conferences: We are sending 3 representatives to the 2009 National APAMSA Conference in Los Angeles, with funding from the MRC. We are also sending 2 representatives to the National Hepatitis B Conference in Boston.
-Social: We will hold 1 social this fall semester. Awaaz? Any other suggestions?
-Bone Marrow Registry Drive: We are once again collaborating with SNMA and this time AMA to hold a Bone Marrow Registry Drive on the Duke undergrad campus. It will be held on 11/11/09 at the Bryan Center Walkway on West Campus from 11 am to 1 pm. We need volunteers so please mark you calendars! More details to follow soon.
-The Triangle Asian health fair usually held in the fall has been cancelled. We will continue to keep in touch with the fair organizers and try to work with them in the Spring.
-Officers: If anyone is interested in becoming part of the executive board for APAMSA this year, please let Victoria or Rachelle know.

4. Other ideas for future activities
-Work with Medical Chinese program to bring speakers to Duke
-Arrange a speaker prior to the Bone Marrow Registry Drive to talk to students about bone marrow donation
-Invite speakers about cultural sensitivity, holistic medicine, Eastern medicine

First General Meeting of Fall 2009

2009-09-23T16:28:00.001-04:00

What: Duke APAMSA's first general meeting/social of the school year
When: Friday, September 25th, 6PM
Where: Chai's (right on Erwin Rd. http://www.chai-noodles.com)/

Thanks to those who've RSVP-ed. If you have not yet but wish to, please do so now to Victoria or Rachelle.

APAMSA/SNMA Bone Marrow Registry Drive

2009-05-04T00:56:00.004-04:00

Last week, APAMSA and SNMA joined forces to hold a Bone Marrow Registry Drive on the Duke undergrad campus. APAMSA and SNMA took a special interest in this project because of the increased need for donors from certain racial or ethnic groups which are under-represented in the registry. Since patients are more likely to find a matching donor from the same racial or ethnic group, donors who identify themselves as Black or African-American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino, or multiple races are needed. Last week's drive was a great success! In just 2 hours, we registered 33 people: 13 Caucasians, 8 Asians, 11 Black or African Americans, 1 multiple races. Thanks to everyone who volunteered that day, and thanks to everyone who registered!

For those who missed the event but would like more information, please visit http://www.marrow.org/ or www.apamsa.org/home/programs/marrow/index.php.

Finally, here are some pictures from the event:

General Meeting Minutes (02/01/09)

2009-02-05T20:28:00.003-05:00

Any questions/comments/suggestions or if you want to get involved, email any of the APAMSA officers or dukemed.apamsa@gmail.com.

1. Bone Marrow Lecture and Drive: As part of the nationwide Pledge-It-Forward Campaign, Duke Med APAMSA will organize a bone marrow drive within the following months. For background information on the campaign, see http://www.asianamericansforobama.com/%20the-gift-of-hope-2009-presidential-inaugural-committees-national-day-of-service. For information on what Duke Med APAMSA plans to do and areas in which you can help, read on…
-Organize a lecture on bone marrow transplantation from Duke Heme/Onc physicians prior to the bone marrow drive
-Talk to SNMA about collaborating on the drive
-Date? March or April (will need to talk with SNMA and National Marrow Donor Program)
-Location? TBD
-Publicity? Newspapers, flyers, Asian markets/churches/etc

2. HepB Lecture and future projects: While our main focus this year is the Bone Marrow Drive, we hope to have some activities centered around HBV awareness as well.
-Organize a lecture on HBV in Asian communities
~~For whom: med students? students and residents?
~~By whom: Dr. Fried? Dr. Samuel So?
~~When: during Grand Rounds? depends on speaker’s schedule? Aim for first week of March or April
~~Other logistical concerns: place, time, food, pamphlets, funding (awaiting response from APAMSA HepB grant application)
-Work with UNC on their upcoming project “Project HBV Eradication”
~~Help out with UNC efforts
~~Carry out similar efforts at Duke, most likely during the upcoming school year

3. Cancer info session: Cancer is the leading cause of death for Asian Americans. Led by APAMSA’s National Cancer Co-Director Victoria Kim, we plan on holding an informal information session for med students (targeting the MS1 class first?). Nationally, APAMSA is working on increasing breast cancer screening efforts.

4. APAMSA article: Last semester, we talked about submitting an article on an issue pertinent to the Asian American community (experiences as an overrepresented minority? other topics?). We can submit article(s) to Inside Duke, VOICES, or other newsletters/newspapers. Please let us know if you have ideas and/or would like to help write an article this semester.

5. Other events:
-Organize a mixer (potluck?) with UNC students and other graduate student organizations
-Look into working with newly formed professional Asian organization (talk to Wendy and Yaqing for more info)

2009-02-03T20:38:00.006-05:00

General Meeting and Social this Sunday, Feb 1

2009-01-26T23:09:00.002-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

Our first general meeting/social will be held at 4:45 pm, this Sunday, Feb 1 at Twisted Noodles. We'll provide news, appetizers, and excellent company. Old and new members are welcome, so please spread the word. (For the football fans out there, hopefully this will leave you enough time to hang out with us for a bit and still catch kickoff.)

For directions to the restaurant, see www.twistednoodles.com. (It's behind Target, near Saladelia.)

Finally, if you're planning on coming, please RSVP so we know how much food to order. If you can't come and want to make an announcement, let us know and we can pass it on.

Thanks and hope to see you all there!

General Meeting Minutes (11/19/08)

2008-11-24T20:59:00.005-05:00

For those who couldn't attend the last meeting, here's what we discussed. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please email any of the board members or dukemed.apamsa@gmail.com.

1. News from recent APAMSA National Meeting
-Daniel and Victoria attended and gathered ideas.
-Daniel was elected as a regional director and Victoria was elected as a cancer director on the national board. Congratulations!
-Our region, Region IV-Southeast, includes medical schools in AL, FL, GA, MS, NC, SC, TN.
-10 medical schools
-traditionally not a very active region
-possibility of holding a Duke regional meeting in the future?
-USF proposed holding a regional meeting this year
-Do we want to help?
-Mike and Shoshana will look into helping with conference planning.
-Can we host a smaller regional meeting?
-possible lecturers/lecture topics: Dr. Jiang, bone marrow lecture, mental health, how diseases affect Asians uniquely, “bamboo ceiling”

2. Undergrad mentorship
-Recent undergrad Q&A session was poorly advertised and poorly attended by undergrads, but 6 med students (4 from Duke, 2 from UNC) attended and fielded questions.
-questions about admissions
-especially helpful to have former Duke undergrad there to answer specific Duke questions
-lasted ~1 hour
-Future events
-panel for undergrads with a powerpoint presentation and Q&A
-more casual events (i.e., invite undergrads to APAMSA socials)

3. Bone Marrow Registry
-Asia Grand Market would be happy to host us.
-How to attract people—balloons? candy?
-Spring semester goal: 2 bone marrow drives—1 at undergrad campus, 1 at Asian market
-Future idea: have a bone marrow info session from an attending, open to the entire med school (Krish and Victoria: advisor list or ideas?)

4. Recap of Dr. Jiang’s Grand Rounds
After the Sichuan earthquake, there was no mental health infrastructure available. People were silent and showed signs of depression but had no outlets for their thoughts. Dr. Jiang and her team were only there for 1 week, which wasn’t enough time to really help people. They tried to provide an outlet for people to vent. A lot of planning went into what amounted to a very short time with the people. Cultural sensitivity and a do-what-you-can attitude were key.

5. Socials
-Awaaz was awesome—should do this every year
-more socials, please
-1st week of December—end of the semester social (date and activity tbd)
-Spring events: Lunar New Year, monthly restaurant social (eat food and talk about Asian issues), potluck

6. Other updates
-Singapore—no updates yet
-Website—up and running
-community service: outreach to boat workers on the coast—Check http://www.ncfhp.org/fieldwork.asp for more info. Can APAMSA commit to a long-term project? If not, should we just pass this on to the med school community service committee? What would Community Health require before allowing students to participate in this?

7. Future ideas/goals
-Faculty database of people in different specialties—What are people interested in?
-Database of Duke APAMSA alumni, to provide some mentorship
-SNMA: Ethics Minority Discussion with SNMA (Rohit), “Rush Hour” collaboration
-Write an article for one of the school papers or journals related to APAMSA issues (i.e., what it’s like to be an Asian medical student or the experience of being an overrepresented minority)—ask Eun?
-Lunar New Year social
-APAMSA Tshirts?-Book Club?

3rd General Meeting: Saturday, Nov 8, 1 pm at 9N9 Restaurant

2008-11-02T10:48:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,

Meeting will be on Saturday, November 8, 1 PM, at 9N9 restaurant (2945 S. Miami Blvd, Durham, North Carolina, 27704; (919) 544-4496 - Corner of S. Miami & Alexander). (E-mail me if you have agenda items you want to add). RSVP’s not necessary but welcome to help predict appetizer ordering.

Regarding Awaaz: Friday (Nov 7) and Saturday (Nov 8) events are largely similar. I hear that Saturday is busier but also better. Tickets are $1 for dinner (Sitar), $1 for show; e-mail awaaz2008tickets@gmail.com to reserve tickets at the $1 price. If you plan on going, e-mail me back to let me know which day and if you plan to attend the dinner or just the show. I will send an e-mail out to everyone who replies by Thursday evening to help coordinate going as a group.

Thanks,
-Daniel

Updates

2008-11-02T10:44:00.001-05:00

Hello APAMSA!

A few announcements:

1. Mark your calendars for the next general meeting: Saturday, November 8. We’ll probably do lunch or dinner at a local Indian or Vietnamese restaurant with appetizers provided by APAMSA. (Will confirm time and location in an e-mail this weekend).

2. Thanks to Balaji, Shoshana, Krish, and Tony for volunteering yesterday at the AMSA pre-med Q&A session. We’ll debrief the experience at the next meeting and discuss ways to improve our involvement with the undergrad pre-meds.

3. Dr. Jiang’s grand rounds talks (mental health in post-quake Sichuan). 3 dates, same talk. I thought it’d be nice to pick one of the dates to attend as a group. Because teams on the wards usually round in the morning, perhaps we should try the Nov 7 talk at noon? Most teams and consult services are very accomodating if you let them know you’re interested in attending a talk during the workday. I will confirm the locations for these talks but wanted everyone to have the dates and times.
a. October 31, 8-9AM at Medicine grand round
b. November 7, 12-1:30PM at DCRI
c. November 13, 9:30-11AM at Psychiatry grand round.

4. Awaaz: Nov 7-8: I’d like to gauge interest in attending this event just for fun. Abe says tickets are being sold all this week for $1 at the Bryan Center. E-mail me back if you’re interested so that we can get a head count; if the price is really $1 and tickets are easy to purchase in batches, APAMSA will sponsor attendance.
a. Abe: can you confirm price and date (is it 2 days long?) and find out how many tickets each student can purchase?

-Daniel

2nd General Meeting

2008-10-19T12:42:00.004-04:00

We held our 2nd General Meeting at Chai's on October 11, 2008.

1. Upcoming Events
-Undergrad pre-med Q&A session scheduled for Oct. 27 at White Lecture Hall, 7 pm
-Dr. Jiang’s grand rounds (mental health in China): November 7 and Nov. 13. Mark your calendars!
-National APAMSA Conference, October 17-19 in Philadelphia
-National HepB Meeting, November 1 in San Francisco

2. Ongoing and future projects
-networking with Duke-NUS in Singapore (facebook? big sib/little sib match? Skype conferences? lecture series?)
-bone marrow registry drives on undergraduate campus (during Awaaz? during LNY?)
-bone marrow registry drive at Grand Asia Market in Cary
-community service projects via NC Farmworkers Health Program?
-mentorship program
-finding a faculty advisor
-host regional APAMSA meeting in the future?
-social events: karaoke? tea party? Rock Band at Station 9? movie night? BBQ at Shoshana's?

Let us know if you want more info on any of these projects, or if you want to add any other ideas.

1st General Meeting

2008-10-19T12:16:00.004-04:00

We held our first general meeting on August 9, 2008. Here's a summary of what we discussed:

1. Community Service
Last year we focused on Hepatitis B education and outreach. This year our focus will be bone marrow drives. Patients who need a bone marrow transplant are more likely to find a match with someone from their own race or ethnicity. Since Asians are currently underrepresented in the National Bone Marrow Registry, encouraging Asians to join the registry can increase the chances of finding a match for Asian patients. Our first bone marrow drive will be held at the TACAS Asian Health Fair in October. For more information, see www.marrow.org.

2. Conferences
The APAMSA National Conference and National Hepatitis B Conference will be held in October. We may be able to fund several members who are interested in attending, so let us know if you're interested.

3. Other Ideas
-connecting with Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore
-working with other Duke Asian graduate students and other graduate organizations
-working with Duke undergraduate population (mentoring? Team HBV collaborations?)
-mentoring program within APAMSA
-creating a database of local Asian physicians
-networking with other APAMSA chapters
-social events such as films or dinners

If you're interested in any of the above events/activities, let us know at dukemed.apamsa@gmail.com.

Welcome!

2008-10-19T01:14:00.013-04:00

Welcome to the Duke Med APAMSA blog! This blog will contain information about current and past chapter activities. If you'd like to post something that you think our members would be interested in, just send us an email at dukemed.apamsa@gmail.com.

For those who are new to APAMSA, here's some background information...
The Duke Med chapter of APAMSA is a relatively new organization which has been active for the past 3 years. In that time, members have engaged in a variety of activities. We have participated in local Asian fairs by holding bone marrow drives and offering free blood pressure and Hepatitis B screenings. Last year, we brought Dr. So, director of the Stanford Asian Liver Center, to Duke to speak about the impact of Hepatitis B and liver cancer on the Asian community. We have sent representatives to national conferences in order to network with fellow medical students and current health care leaders interested in Asian health issues. Several of our members also helped lay the foundation for the Medical Chinese class at Duke, which is now offered as a separate elective to first-year medical students.

This year, we hope to continue expanding as an organization. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave us a comment or send us an email. Please refer to future posts to see what we have planned for the coming year. We hope to see you at our next event!