Physician Scientist Student Association provides highlights from 2018

Penn State College of Medicine’s Physician Scientist Student Association shared several highlights from its 2018 activities.

In spring 2018, past Vice President Kristin Lambert (G3) played an instrumental role in establishing the Physician Scientist Student Association (PSSA) as a formal organization within the College of Medicine, and PSSA now addresses the needs of MD/PhD students, equivalent to the Graduate and Medical Student associations.

In order to formalize PSSA, Kristin and past-President Eunice Chen (G5) helped draft an organizational constitution and created new student positions, including Retreat Chair (Patricia Yee, G2); Secretary (Natella Maglakelidze, M2); and Treasurer (Martin Johnson, M2), to better serve the growing MD/PhD program.

In addition, with help and input from other students in the program as well as program administrator Alison Smolinski, Lambert helped write a new student handbook with updated program policies. Throughout the process of formalizing PSSA, Steering Committee representatives Andrea Schneider (G3), Dan Goetschius (G2) and Sarah Jefferson (M3) were instrumental in relaying feedback to the program administration and working with program leadership to address student concerns.

For her work establishing PSSA as a formal organization, Lambert was awarded this year’s Student Leadership Award, and will be honored at the College of Medicine Student Leadership Dinner in January 2019.

The MD/PhD program accepted nine new M1 students this year, and PSSA organized a number of events to welcome them to Hershey. When the new students arrived on campus for pre-matriculation rotations in June, PSSA organized a welcome lunch as well as expeditions to the Biergarten for trivia, Hotel Hershey for Jazz on the Veranda and Troegs for happy hour. In August, PSSA Social Chairs Kris Manto (M2) and Heather Ren (G3) organized a successful back-to-school party for the program and helped to plan Dr. Leslie Parent’s annual picnic. Interviews for the entering class of 2019 began in October, and Recruitment Chair Kyra Newmaster (G1) has led the PSSA Recruitment Committee to organize hospital tours, dinner and social events for prospective students.

After receiving a supplement to the T32 training grant this summer, the program hosted the first annual fall and winter MSTP retreats, which focused on resiliency and professional development. Retreat Chair Patricia Yee worked with Kathy Simon from the Office of Graduate Education and Dr. Sarah Bronson to plan these new retreats. The fall retreat took place on the afternoon of Oct. 5 at the Hershey Lodge, and featured talks about MSTP and PSTP outcomes from Dr. Skip Brass of the University of Pennsylvania MSTP, Dr. Melissa Cunningham of the Medical University of South Carolina, and Dr. Valerie Brown of Penn State’s PSTP. Dr. Bronson also discussed burnout and resiliency strategies for students.

The winter retreat took place Dec. 15 at the Hershey Country Club, and featured talks from Dr. Albert Vicere of the Smeal College of Business Administration and Dr. Patricia Cameron of the Medical College of Georgia. During the retreat, Treasurer Martin Johnson successfully organized a Toys for Tots drive as a way for students from the program to give back to the Hershey community. Following the December retreat, the social chairs worked with Johnson and Saumya Maru (M4) to organize a holiday party for the program, which was documented by historian Spencer Katz (G3).

In addition to two new retreats, the program has also added new bi-monthly professional development sessions for students, which Clinical Research Conference Chair Jasmine Geathers (G1) has helped organize.

The T32 supplement will also allow the program to send more students to professional development conferences in 2019. This past year, Carson Wills (G3), Kris Manto and Eric Yau (G2) attended the American Physician-Scientist Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, and Sarah Jefferson, Scott Tucker (G4), Jerry Ren (G4) and Kristin Lambert attended the Annual National MD/PhD Conference in Keystone, Colo.

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