The Australian Medical Students' Association is an independent association of the 17,000 medical students in Australia. AMSA was formed in 1960 in Brisbane, as a conference organised to network medical students from Australia. It has since grown to become the peak representative body for Australia's medical students—serving a mandate to connect, inform and represent medical students in Australia. Its tri-annual Council meetings include representatives from medical societies at each of Australia's 22 medical schools. AMSA is a member of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations.
History
In 1960, medical students from around Australia met in Brisbane for their first national conference. Never before had Australian medical students come together as one body to discuss ideas, share information and voice their opinions and concerns. Since then, the Australian Medical Students' Association has grown and evolved into one of Australia's largest student representative bodies.
2003: Nicholas Brown, The University of Queensland
Advocacy
2020 advocacy priorities
National Advocacy Priorities are determined through a National Survey distributed around August. The survey allows medical students to provide input into the national priorities for the following year, and comment on what is most important to them. Each comment is read and national priorities created off that. At the meeting of the third National AMSA Council of each year, AMSA presents the advocacy priorities. For 2020, they are as follows;
AMSA National Convention is the largest student-run conference in the world and brings together 1,000 medical students from across Australia and New Zealand. Since its inception in 1960, Convention has grown and evolved to be the highlight of the medical student calendar. The Convention program consists of 4 inspiring academic days, one sports day including the annual Emergency Medical Challenge and 5 themed social evenings culminating in the Gala Ball. In its 61st year, Convention will descend on Melbourne from the 29th of June 2020.
AMSA Global Health Conference
Originally known as the Developing World Conference, and established in 2005 by members of the Australian Medical Students' Association, the Global Health Conference is a meeting of medical students from around Australia that aims to fulfill the desire of medical students to discuss broader issues relevant to global health. The inaugural conference hosted 200 delegates in Sydney, whilst the 2006 conference in Perth saw more than 250 students attend. In 2007, Adelaide took the conference to new heights, hosting over 300 delegates at an event that sold out nationwide in less than 12 hours. The academic programme is filled with speakers from many disciplines, including workers from Medecins Sans Frontieres, Health Advisors to Non-for-profit organisations, Politicians and many many more; while the social programme allows students to meet like-minded individuals from around the country. The Global Health Conference aims to educate and empower medical students with knowledge about global health. The 2019 AMSA Global Health Conference was held in Sydney, NSW and the 2020 Conference will be in Gold Coast, QLD.
AMSA Rural Health Summit
Of AMSA's major conferences, the Rural Health Summit is the newest, having started in 2016. That year it was hosted in Melbourne and known as the Rural Health Colloquium, before taking on the name of Rural Health Summit from 2017 onwards. The Rural Health Summit has a focus on the health related challenges faced by Australia's rural and regional population, and illuminates the opportunities that exist for medical students to pursue a career in rural and regional areas. Previous locations for The AMSA Rural Health Summit:
2016: Melbourne
2017: Wollongong
2018: Albury
2019: Cairns
2020: Armidale
The 2020 AMSA Rural Health Summit will be held in Armidale, NSW.
AMSA National Leadership Development Seminar
AMSA's National Leadership Development Seminar is held each year in the nation's capital, Canberra. Running over five days and 4 nights, the seminar is an exclusive conference on the medical student calendar with only 80-100 students selected to attend. The seminar aims to bring together some of the brightest minds and challenge and develop their leadership and opinions.
Community engagement
Vampire Cup
The Vampire Cup is AMSA's national blood drive run in association with the Australian Red Cross. The 22 Australian medical societies compete for the prestigious cup with the society with the highest number of donations per capita being awarded victory. In 2019, there were 3461 donations nationally with Australian National University winning the Vampire Cup for the second year in a row with 79.3% of their cohort donating. James Cook University won the most total donations with a record 845 donations, the most in the history of the competition. This year Vampire Cup will be held from March 15 - May 9.
